WIPO Goes To Bat For Trademark Owners At ICANN 16/05/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization has urged the organisation responsible for the internet domain name system to step back from revising its procedures for judging disputes about cybersquatting. WIPO said a 6 May letter that ICANN has not sufficiently taken trademark owners’ concerns into account.
World Information Society Summit Assessment: ICT Services Deemed Less Costly 16/05/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments More than five years since the last UN-led World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and less than five years before the 2015 target date of the Millennium Development Goals, experts and representatives of needy countries are in Geneva to assess how it is going. One thing they are being told: the price of information and communications technology services has dropped in the past two years.
Patent Licensing Experts Share Lessons Learned In Making Deals 16/05/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment NEW YORK – Experts at a recent conference on licensing revealed some of the behind the scenes thinking within industry on how to do great deals and keep from getting burned.
Challenge To Apple’s EU Trademark On ‘App Store’ 16/05/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Several large technology companies such as Microsoft and Sony Ericsson have filed applications at the European Trademark Office seeking to invalidate Apple’s obtained rights to the trademarks ‘App Store’ and ‘Appstore.’
Sounding The Alarm: Return Of US Legislation Against Global “Rogue” Websites 15/05/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments Intellectual property rights holders, access to knowledge proponents, presumably online scam artists, and possibly governments and international organisations interested in internet governance heard the call of the introduction this week of the “Protect IP Act” in the US Senate. The bill is aimed at strengthening US law enforcement’s ability to stop international websites offering counterfeit goods or unauthorised copyrighted content.
New EU-Industry Agreement Against Counterfeits 15/05/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The European Commission recently signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at boosting cooperation between rights holders and internet platforms in the fight against counterfeit products sold online.
New Reports On TRIPS And Tech Transfer, LDC Needs 14/05/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Two new reports circulated in Geneva this week examine ways to improve technology transfer to least-developed countries (LDCs) as mandated under international intellectual property trade rules, and assessments of the intellectual property needs of LDCs in recent years.
Indigenous Peoples Won’t Be “Wished Away” In Traditional Knowledge Treaty Talks 14/05/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Colonial history says that indigenous peoples were in the past sometimes asked to sign treaties that may not have been in their best interest or that were not honoured. Now, under the aegis of the United Nations, some indigenous peoples fear it may be happening again, only this time they are fighting to be at the table as the subject is their traditional practices, and the outcome would apply on a global scale.
WIPO Members Tee Up Negotiation On Traditional Knowledge, Cultural Expressions 13/05/2011 by Catherine Saez and William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments World Intellectual Property Organization members this week set the stage for text-based negotiations for an international instrument on the protection of traditional knowledge, folklore and genetic resources.
New Texts In Play In WIPO Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources Talks 12/05/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Negotiators trying this week to advance talks for UN World Intellectual Property Organization treaties on traditional knowledge, genetic resources, and folklore have made progress on draft texts, but are facing sharp criticism from indigenous groups and some governments claiming their concerns are being ignored.