European Parliament Trade Committee Backs Cultural Exclusion From EU-US FTA 26/04/2013 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The International Trade Committee (INTA) of the European Parliament yesterday passed a resolution welcoming negotiations for a Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States (23 in favor, five against, one abstention). While most of the 198 amendments to the report of the rapporteur, the INTA Committee Chair Vital Moreira (Socialists and Democrats Group) were rejected by the majority, an amendment asking for the “exclusion of the cultural and audiovisual services, including those provided online” in the negotiation mandate was adopted.
German Parliament Sends Message: Stop Granting Software Patents 22/04/2013 by Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments The German Parliament has passed a joint motion against the growing trend of patent offices to grant patents on software programs. The resolution on “Secure Competition and Innovation in the software development,” obliges the German government to take steps to ensure that software is protected by copyright only and no additional patent protection is granted.
ISOC, IETF Promote Open Standardisation, Consider What’s “Open”? 19/04/2013 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Berlin – Open standardisation processes, their problems and their value for economy and society were the subject of discussion at a conference on 17 April at the German Ministry of Economy and Technology in Berlin.
Is ICANN Policymaking Around Its Bottom-Up Multistakeholder Process? 12/04/2013 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment This week, registry, registrar and user constituencies at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) complained about what they saw as deviations from the bottom-up multistakeholder process by late additions made to policies or by processes never being laid out to the community for review.
Debate In Beijing: ICANN As Online Content Regulator? 12/04/2013 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The publication by governments of additional safeguards for new top-level domains at this week‘s 46th meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) sparked warnings that the private net management body should avoid becoming a content regulator.
Brand Owners Seek Their Own ICANN Constituency Group 09/04/2013 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Brand owners that have applied with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) for their brand’s top level domain (TLD) are seeking to create their own constituency group.
ICANN CEO Wants To Shift “Centre Of Gravity” Away From US 09/04/2013 by Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments In an effort to improve internationalisation, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will open hubs in Singapore and Istanbul, to serve the Asia-Pacific and Europe, Middle East and Africa respectively. ICANN’s headquarters in Los Angeles will become the hub serving the Americas.
At ICANN: More Contractual Obligations For New TLD Operators? 06/04/2013 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Members of the Government Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) are pushing for additional contractual clauses for applicants of new generic top-level domains (TLDs).
ICANN Trademark Clearinghouse: Preregistration Rights Only For Those Who Pay? 26/03/2013 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Starting today, trademark owners from around the world will be able to have their rights recorded in the Trademark Clearinghouse of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Designed to help trademark owners manage the flood of new internet domains being launched by ICANN, it’s an open question whether they will be satisfied with it.
German Parliament Votes To Protect News Snippets From Republishing 22/03/2013 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Munich – A controversial update to German copyright law providing for an auxiliary protection for tiny extracts from press articles has been finally passed by the German Upper House (“Bundesrat”).