By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch

The European Parliament today voted in favour of a resolution welcoming the start of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). With 460 votes in favour, 105 against – mainly the Green Party Group and the Left – and 28 abstentions, the resolution passed after a heated debate Wednesday night. The majority allowed for the flexibility asked for by EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht in the debate but nevertheless requested to “exclude cultural and audiovisual services, including those provided online.”

Other concerns listed are genetically modified organisms, cloning and consumer health. On the other side, the Parliament supported that the “agreement should include strong protection of precisely and clearly defined areas of intellectual property rights (IPRs).” A competing resolution by the Green Party which declared IPR protection “an area where there are deep transatlantic divergences and which requires agreement on exceptions to rights, limitations to remedies and proportionate enforcement” and recommended to keep it “for a later stage of negotiations” did not pass.

Controversial were also the different requests for transparency. While the majority settled on “the need for proactive outreach and continuous and transparent engagement by the [European] Commission with a wide range of stakeholders,” the Green Party resolution asked for a higher level of transparency, including webstreaming of the EU Council’s deliberations on the mandate. Council will decide on the mandate in a dedicated session on 14 June. The draft mandate was leaked first by US publication Inside US Trade (link see on the website of European Digital Rights [EDRi], here).

The EU Commission tried to counter arguments about being non-transparent, beginning invitations for a second stakeholder dialogue meeting. Both EDRI and the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) reported about the first dialogue meeting.

Infojustice.org reports from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations in Lima, Peru that the intellectual property chapter shows no sign of resolution and the end of the TPP talks in 2013 is now highly unlikely.

“There is a strong sense in the halls of the current TPP negotiation that the end is not in sight,” wrote Prof. Sean Flynn of the American University law school in Washington, DC. “And one of the primary reasons for the blocked progress is a lack of consensus on intellectual property and pharmaceuticals issues.”

Infojustice reports:

“Officially, the Chief Negotiators have backed off the prior commitment to end the TPP negotiation by October, but are still clinging to a goal to end the negotiation by the ‘end of the year.’ But privately, none of the negotiators or stakeholders at this round would express any confidence that the intellectual property issues could be resolved by then. The issues still under contention are massive.

The intellectual property chapter has grown to over 80 pages of text – including all the bracketed suggestions and alternatives. Some negotiators describe it as the longest text currently under negotiation.

Many of the issues are completely blocked. There has not been any new negotiation text offered on the most controversial pharmaceutical provisions since the Melbourne round over a year ago. There is currently no mandate from many countries to negotiate (they only ‘consult’ and ‘discuss’) the pharmaceutical reimbursement chapter. Barbara Weisel described the pharmaceutical issues as being in a ‘period of reflection,’ and had no comment on when that period might end.”

Read the full text of the report here.

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch

While controversies over the role of governments in internet governance could not be avoided at the World Telecom Policy Forum this week, six prepared opinions were all passed with only minor changes. But a Brazilian proposal to “operationalize the role of governments in the multistakeholder framework of internet governance,” discussed at some length during the concluding day of the forum, did not find consensus.

More about the six opinions on the 13-16 May WTPF can be found here: (IPW, ITU/ICANN, 14 May 2013). The opinions support and promote internet infrastructure, among other things.

The Brazilian proposal included small steps with regard to underlining the need to involve all parties in the internet governance processes and, second, to assign the International Telecommunication Union a facilitating role “to ensure meaningful government participation” in these processes.

A majority of countries, including the United States and many European states, pointed to lack of time for discussion, but also to a procedural issue: the six prepared opinions had been discussed by the Informal Expert Group over quite some time. Brazil’s addition, as well as opinions from Russia and India, were filed late in the process. With no compromise possible, countries in the end fought about where the controversial issues should be discussed further with much the same lines of difference.

The Russian delegation declared it a matter of the ITU Council Working Group (CWG) on Internet Related Public Policy Issues, while the US and EU delegations recommended to tackle it also (or especially) at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) or other multi-stakeholder internet governance fora. Civil society who agreed with Brazil that participating in the WTPF preparatory process had been difficult welcomed a statement by ITU Secretary General Hamadoun Touré urging an opening up of the CWG. Openness still has to be put into practice in the processes at the ITU as members of the civil society groups reported.

The followup process to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS 10+) was prepared in closed meetings among governments only, warned Wolfgang Kleinwächter, professor at the University of Aarhus. The next stop for the discussions of the role of governments and the ITU will be the plenipotentiary in 2014, where the temporary post-WCIT truce might be over.

By Kelly Burke for Intellectual Property Watch

Global exports of creative goods and services reached a record US$ 624 billion in 2011, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Such creative goods include arts and crafts, books, graphic and interior design works, fashion, films, music, new media, printed and visual media, as well as audiovisuals.

This figure is up from US$ 536 billion in 2009 and US$ 559 billion in 2010.

China remains the leading exporter of creative goods and growth in other developing country exports was strong, according to a UNCTAD press release [doc]. However, there are “very few developing countries among the top 20 global players in the world market for creative goods,” the UNCTAD said.

Creative services exports, including audiovisual services and research and development services, accounted for US$ 172 billion of the total, reflecting an expanding knowledge-based economy, the release said.

The statistics pointed to continued challenges for the publishing and printed media sector as it contends with the increase in electronic publishing and distribution, but nonetheless amounted to US$ 43 billion in 2011.

In addressing the market for global music and other online content, the UNCTAD said that “rapid advances in digital technologies and information and communication technology (ICT) tools combined with shortcomings in methodology make it increasingly difficult to capture trade flows or to compile reliable figures for music as a physical creative good (such as CDs and tapes).”

By Kelly Burke for Intellectual Property Watch

A new report released today by the International Chamber of Commerce Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP) calls for increased regulation in free trade zones to stop the facilitation of counterfeiting and piracy in these areas.

The report [pdf] addresses the “increasing abuse of free zones by organized crime networks to facilitate the manufacture, distribution and sale of counterfeit goods” and urges governments all over the world to “retake control of free trade zones and ensure that national laws and customs procedures are effectively applied.”

“Free trade zones are intended to improve free movement of goods to facilitate legitimate international trade and development, but this does not mean that effective Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement in free trade zones must be compromised to achieve these goals,” BASCAP Director Jeffrey Hardy said in an ICC press release.

The report offers key actions for the World Customs Organization (WCO), World Trade Organization (WTO), national governments. Some of the recommendations include: strengthening government adherence to international conventions, empowering customs authorities, and clarifying the jurisdiction of the WTO Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

Titled “Controlling the Zone: Balancing facilitation and control to combat illicit trade in the world’s Free Trade Zones,” the report was presented at the 2013 WCO IT Conference and Exhibition in Dubai.

By Rachel Marusak-Hermann for Intellectual Property Watch

While the World Health Organization’s latest health numbers show that great progress has been made in improving the health in low-income countries, significant inequalities remain between people living in the richest and poorest countries. Access to even the most basic medicines continues to be a major challenge due to high prices.

The WHO released this year’s World Health Statistics today, highlighting progress that has been made in achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and reducing the health gap between people living in the world’s most-advantaged and least-advantaged countries.

The latest stats show that compared to the MDG 1990 baseline year, the health situation in low-income countries is improving and health inequalities are lessening. In particular, a WHO news release points to the “considerable progress” which has been made in reducing childhood deaths, improving nutrition, and reducing death from HIV infection, TB, and malaria.

Nonetheless, many of the health-related MDGs are projected to remain out of reach by the impending 2015 target. When it comes to improving access to essential medicines, the 2013 World Health Statistics indicate a long road ahead.

According to the statistics summary, “almost half of the countries surveyed have access to less than half the essential medicines they need for basic care in the public sector.” Consequently, many people living in low- and middle-income countries turn to the private sector where the cost of even basic, generic medicines, can be up to 16 times higher.

By Georges Bauer for Intellectual Property Watch

A recent report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Patent Office (EPO) looks at the role of the patent system in clean energy technology (CET) transfers in Africa. One of the highlights of the report is that less than 1 percent of identified CET-related patent applications have been filed in Africa, despite there being a high level of potential in renewable energy sources.

The report is available here [pdf].

The report goes on to cite the desire of developing and least developed countries to have CETs excluded from patenting, a view opposed by industrialised countries. It also shows that increased funding and technical support has helped African countries implement strategic patent policies at the national and regional levels. This leads to one of the report’s conclusions: “With its approach not to exclude a priori any technology from legal protection the patent system is an adequate tool for promoting the diffusion of CETs in Africa.”

According to the report, energy in Africa continues to be primarily sourced from fossil fuels (such as oil and coal) and traditional biomass (such as wood burning), both of which have been shown to have negative effects on health and the environment. The report further cites a study that claims that Africa could provide enough clean energy – through hydro – to satisfy the continent’s needs and have enough left over for export.

Georges Bauer recently obtained a Masters of International Law and Economics degree from the University of Bern’s World Trade Institute. Through his studies in political science and trade he developed an interest in intellectual property issues.

The World Trade Organization General Council today gave final approval to the appointment of Brazilian Amb. Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo as the next director general of the WTO. He will take over from Pascal Lamy on 1 September for a four-year term.

“Today, we have sent out a strong message that the WTO can take decisions by consensus and follow intricate processes seamlessly,” the General Council Chair Shahid Bashir of Pakistan. “We need to carry this momentum further. I am confident that we can work together for a positive outcome at our Ministerial Conference in Bali.” The next WTO ministerial meeting is scheduled to be held in Bali, Indonesia on 3-6 December.

Also at today’s meeting, Lamy pledged to work closely with Azevêdo to ensure a smooth transition.

The statements from today are available here.

By Kelly Burke for Intellectual Property Watch

The European Commission today announced plans for a Global Internet Policy Observatory (GIPO), an online platform to improve knowledge and participation on issues related to global internet policymaking.

The GIPO would “act as a clearinghouse for monitoring Internet policy, regulatory and technological developments across the world,” according to a Commission press release. The platform would monitor internet-related policy development, identify policy trends, and provide easy-to-use reports to increase understanding among all players in internet debates, the release said.

“The GIPO will not replace existing mechanisms and fora where global Internet governance is discussed, such as the Internet Governance Forum,” the release says. “Its objective is to be a tool-box for stakeholders and an instrument to strengthen existing Internet policy-making processes, making full use of modern technology.”

A number of countries and nongovernmental organisations dealing with internet governance are expected to be involved in the project’s development. These include: the African Union, the Association for Progressive Communication, Brazil, the Diplo Foundation, the Internet Society, and the government of Switzerland.

Pending the results of a feasibility study to be carried out in the coming months, GIPO’s development could begin in 2014.

By Kelly Burke for Intellectual Property Watch

The 2013 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum opened today to address the future of information and communication technologies (ICT). This meeting of the WSIS Forum marks ten years since the first phase of the summit was held in Geneva in 2003.

The WSIS Forum will review and measure progress towards targets set at the second phase of the WSIS in 2005.

More than 1,500 participants from government, private sector, civil society and international organisations will gather to discuss diverse topics, such as ICT infrastructure, cyber security, enabling environment, e-learning, e-health, e-agriculture, media, accessibility, and ethics, according to an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) press release.

More information about the 13-17 May event can be found here.

The WSIS Forum this year is jointly organised by the ITU, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and UN Development Programme (UNDP).

By Kelly Burke for Intellectual Property Watch

US President Barack Obama yesterday signed an executive order that requires federal agencies to make data publicly open in machine-readable formats, while appropriately safeguarding privacy, confidentiality, and security.

The goal of the new order is to make “troves of previously inaccessible or unmanageable data more easily available to entrepreneurs, researchers and others,” the White House said in a press release.

Along with the order, a new open data policy [pdf] was released by released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The policy declares information a “valuable national resource” and instructs agencies “to collect or create information in a way that supports downstream information processing.” This includes using machine-readable data, adhering to data standards, and modernising information systems to maximise accessibility.

It was also announced that in the coming months, the US government data hub, data.gov, will launch new services such as improved visualisation, mapping tools and better context to help users understand the information, according to the White House press release.

By Georges Bauer for Intellectual Property Watch

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has released a new report focused on the issue of green economies and international trade. The report examines six sectors – agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture, forestry, manufacturing, renewable energy and tourism – that are of particular interest to developing countries.

The UNEP report is available here.

The panellists – which included World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy, UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, three ambassadors and representatives from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) – discussed issues such as what they viewed as one of the impediments to progress on this global issue. One suggestion was an acknowledgement that in the current political climate, many of the innovative climate policies are being seen as protectionist. This and others are major hurdles that the international community must overcome to tackle environmental issues, panellists said.

The report touches upon intellectual property rights in a section devoted to the “Technology Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies.” It highlights the role of green patents and how IPRs could create a barrier to further innovation. The report suggests a green patent pool as a possible way around this issue.

Georges Bauer recently obtained a Masters of International Law and Economics degree from the University of Bern’s World Trade Institute. Through his studies in political science and trade he developed an interest in intellectual property issues.

By Kelly Burke for Intellectual Property Watch

Advanced cyber espionage tools are readily available for use by foreign governments and organised criminal groups to coordinate cyber attacks on US computer networks, a United States law enforcement official said today in a prepared statement to a congressional panel.

The US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism held a hearing today to examine how the government and private sector are responding to cyber threats.

“Dozens of countries have sophisticated cyber espionage capabilities, and these foreign cyber spies have become increasingly adept at exploiting weaknesses in our computer networks,” Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division Assistant Director Joseph Demarest said in his prepared testimony for the hearing. “Once inside, they can exfiltrate government and military secrets, as well as valuable intellectual property – information that can improve the competitive advantage of state-owned entities and foreign companies.”

Continued partnerships with law enforcement and cyber specialists overseas, as well as improvements in abilities to track IP addresses back to their source, have allowed the FBI to make significant strides in addressing cyber threats, Demarest said.

Demarest’s full prepared testimony can be found here.

The World Trade Organization today announced that the three facilitators charged with consulting WTO members have recommended Brazilian Amb. Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo become its next director general.

The facilitators said Azevêdo is the candidate most likely to gain consensus among member states. The membership is expected to approve the recommendation at a special meeting on 14 May, according to a WTO press release.

Azevêdo beat out eight other top candidates in a consensus-taking process over the past few weeks. The final round was between him and former Mexican Trade Minister Herminio Blanco.

The WTO General Council chair told members that Azevêdo carried the largest support by members in every round, and garnered support from members “from all levels of development and from all geographic regions and has done so throughout the process.”

The director general position is a four-year term, renewable for another four years.

By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch

Internet users who merely read or view copyright-protected webpages enjoy a temporary copying exception under European Union and United Kingdom law and do not need permission from rights holders, the UK Supreme Court said in a 17 April ruling.

The case, Public Relations Consultants Association Limited [PRCA] v. The Newspaper Licensing Agency Limited and others, “raises an important question about the application of copyright law to the technical processes involved in viewing copyright materials on the internet,” the court said: Whether looking at a cached copy of protected content, without downloading or printing it, amounts to infringement. Lower courts held that it does, a finding unanimously rejected by the Supreme Court.

However, acknowledging that the “issue has a transnational dimension and that the application of copyright law to internet use has important implications for many millions of people across the EU making use of what has become a basic technical facility,” the court decided to ask the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling “so that “this critical point may be resolved in a manner which will apply uniformly across the European Union.”

The Supreme Court judgment “is absolutely right in ensuring that acts of end users which were perfectly lawful in the analogue world remain lawful in the digital world,” said Baker & McKenzie London Head of Intellectual Property Michael Hart, who represented the PRCA. “Any other decision would have severely restricted perfectly reasonable consumer Internet use,” he said in a press release.

The decision is available here [pdf].

By Kelly Burke for Intellectual Property Watch

Three media standards bodies have formed a Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM) to define a strategy to develop a packet-based network infrastructure for the professional media industry.

The JT-NM will bring together manufacturers, broadcasters, industry trade associations, and standards bodies. The standards bodies include: the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), and the Video Services Forum (VSF).

“The task force’s primary objective is to ensure interoperability in packet-based systems (networking, equipment and software) for professional media,” according to an EBU press release.

To achieve its mission, the task force will adopt a three-phase approach. According to the release, the phases include: 1) Defining the business-driven use cases and requirements; 2) Defining the framework and reference architecture; and 3) Defining and coordinating tasks required to realize the output of phases 1 and 2.

Sangeeta Shashikant writes: “Developed countries, particularly the United States and the European Union, have offered a poor and impractical deal of an incredibly short extension of 5 years with restrictive conditions to least developed countries that are entitled to be exempted from implementing the WTO TRIPS Agreement.

Particularly problematic is their demand that the LDCs agree to a ‘no-roll-back’ clause, a TRIPS plus condition that will prevent LDCs from rolling back  (i.e. providing a reduced degree of IP protection) their current laws, even if they adversely impact their development concerns.

The US and EU are also insisting to include in the extension decision a section on need-assessment on IP, to facilitate implementation of TRIPS standards.

According to sources, this deal was offered in informal consultations between developed countries (US, EU and Japan) and the LDCs coordinated by Australia. The last such consultation took place on Friday, 26 April.

Last November the LDCs exercised their legal rights under the TRIPS rules, and submitted a request to the TRIPS Council requesting an unconditional extension of the transition period for as long as a country remains an LDC.  The current transition period expires on 1 July 2013.”

Read the full article here.

Cuba has joined several other World Trade Organization members in filing a dispute settlement case against Australia over its new rules requiring tobacco products to be sold in plain packages. The measure was instituted this year as a means of reducing use of tobacco products.

According to the WTO: “Cuba notified the WTO Secretariat, on 3 May 2013, of a request for consultations with Australia on the Australian Tobacco Plain Packaging Act of 2011 that regulates the appearance and form of retail packaging used in connection with sales of cigars, cigarettes and other tobacco products.”

Cuba argues that the measures are inconsistent with Australia’s obligations under the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) of 1994, according to sources.

More information will be available in the coming days, under document WT/DS458/1, WTO said in a statement.

Other countries that have challenged the Australian measure include: the Dominican Republic (DS441), Honduras (DS435), and Ukraine (DS434) (IPW, WTO/TRIPS, 7 March 2013). There are also some countries – such as New Zealand and in Europe – that have expressed support for the Australian measure and which are considering similar measures.

A panel was established by request from Ukraine, but has not yet been composed to study the disputes, the sources said.

This marks the first time Cuba has been a complainant or as a respondent in the WTO Dispute Settlement System. But it has participated as a third party in 15 cases.

Just days after the celebration of 20 years of the open WorldWideWeb, more than two dozen advocacy group are circulating a petition to prevent the World Wide Web Consortium from accepting a proposal to allow restrictive new copyright measures on the underlying Web used by hundreds of millions of people.

The fight is against digital rights management (DRM), technical measures employed to ensure copyright holders get paid by those using their work. DRM is seen as contrary to the free flow of information on the internet.

In the efforts, “freedom activists rallied against DRM in HTML5, stressing this technology’s harmful effects on innovation and users’ freedom,” the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) said in a release. On today’s Day Against DRM, FSFE said, its sister organisation, the Free Software Foundation, will deliver the petition signatures opposing DRM in HTML5 to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in Boston.

Earlier this week, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) celebrated 20 years since it put its WorldWideWeb technology in the public domain (IPW, Information and Communications Technology, 30 April 2013). The W3C has long been seen as a voice for keeping the internet open.

FSFE, FSF and 25 other organisations have signed the petition, which is available at defectivebydesign.org, here. The petition had nearly 25,000 signatures by press time.

“By accepting to implement DRM in HTML5, W3C would endanger interoperability and open the door to the implementation of restrictive technologies in the heart of the internet,” FSFE said.

“Device manufacturers and corporate copyrights holders have already been massively infecting their products with user-hostile DRM,” the group said. “Tablets, smartphones and other minicomputers are sold with numerous restrictions embedded that cripple users freedom. The proposal at table in W3C goes even further.”

“DRM creates damaged goods that users cannot control or use freely,” it said. “It requires users to give-up control of their computers and restricts access to digital data and media.”

“Millions of Internet users came together to defeat SOPA/PIPA, but now Big Media moguls are going through non-governmental channels to try to sneak digital restrictions into every interaction we have online,” the petition states.

By Kelly Burke for Intellectual Property Watch

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has launched an intellectual property portal to serve as a hub for ASEAN on IP-related issues.

The portal can be found here.

The site aims to consolidate IP information for the entire region and “enables ASEAN stakeholders to access relevant IP information,” according to a news release from the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). “The increased accessibility to information will help strengthen IP systems of ASEAN Member States and raise the level of IP awareness in the region.”

ASEAN includes original members Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, plus Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

The portal was officially launched by an ASEAN Working Group for Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC).