What The US Government Shutdown Means For Patents 01/10/2013 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The United States Congress’ failure to pass a budget for the government by the end of the fiscal year on 30 September, which led to today’s shutdown, will have a variety of effects on the patent process, according to a new article.
Plurilateral Agreement On Geographical Indications On Its Way At WIPO 01/10/2013 by Alessandro Marongiu for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Last week, WIPO members that are parties to a special agreement on the protection of appellations of origin agreed to convene a diplomatic conference in 2015 to adopt a revision of the 1958 Lisbon Agreement. The revised treaty would extend to all geographical indications the protection already granted to appellations of origin. The decision to convene a diplomatic conference, however, stirred up controversy with a number of WIPO members that are not parties to the treaty.
EU Hearing: War Against Whistleblowers, War Against Journalists, War Against Democracy 01/10/2013 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Former US National Security Agency and British MI5 employees urged the European Parliament yesterday to push for better better democratic oversight over secret services and better protection of whistleblowers. Nothing less than the sovereignty of states and of citizens are at stake, warned former NSA official Thomas Drake.
WIPO Assemblies Put Industry, Creators, Policymakers In Touch; Enforcement Committee Gets Mandate 01/10/2013 by William New and Alessandro Marongiu for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Policymakers at the World Intellectual Property Organization annual General Assembly over the past week have had significant exposure to what industry and creators are up to. Meanwhile, WIPO members approved the mandate for the WIPO committee on IP enforcement.
