Dissecting The “Internet Freedom” Agenda 06/05/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Both radical civil society organizations and mainstream defenders of the status quo agree that the free and open internet is threatened: see for example the Delhi Declaration, Bob Hinden’s 2014 Year End Thoughts, and Kathy Brown’s March 2015 statement at a UNESCO conference. The threats include government censorship and mass surveillance, but also the failure of governments to control rampant industry concentration and commercial exploitation of personal data, which increasingly takes the form of providing “free” services in exchange for personal information that is resold at a profit, or used to provide targeted advertising, also at a profit, Richard Hill writes in a review of the new book, The Real Cyber War: The Political Economy of Internet Freedom.
EU Trade Commissioner New Paper On Investor-State Disputes In TTIP 05/05/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström published a concept paper on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms to be included in the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
EU High Court Rejects Spain’s Challenge To Unitary Patent 05/05/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has announced it has dismissed challenges by Spain against the European Union unitary patent package, ostensibly clearing the way for an EU patent to go into effect next year.
Q&A With The EU On The Benefits Of Amending The Lisbon Agreement 05/05/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Next week, the 28 members of the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization are expected to conduct a high-level negotiating meeting to agree on a new Act of the agreement. Major changes expected are the inclusion of geographical indications in the agreement, and the possibility for international organisations such as the European Union to become members of the revised agreement.
WIPO Members Demand Full Participation In GI Negotiations At WIPO 05/05/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment As the World Intellectual Property Organization prepares to host high-level negotiations next week to amend an agreement protecting appellations of origins to include geographical indications, a number of WIPO member states are asking that the whole WIPO membership be allowed to participate on an equal footing to the negotiations, not only the 28 members of the treaty.
Are You Looking To Sell Your Patent To Google? 01/05/2015 by Elena Bourtchouladze for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment From 8-22 May, US online search giant Google will open a streamlined portal for patent owners to let Google know about patents they are willing to sell at a price they set.
Industry Asks For Clarity On LDC Request To Extend TRIPS Pharma Waiver 01/05/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Least developed countries (LDCs) at the World Trade Organization have requested that a waiver allowing them to not enforce intellectual property rights on pharmaceutical products be extended beyond its deadline of 1 January 2016. The brand pharmaceutical industry this week stated that it supports access to medicines for LDCs but does not see the need for this extension as LDCs already benefit from a WTO waiver on all products until 2021.