Hamadoun Touré Of Mali Elected ITU Secretary-General 10/11/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New Development and Internet governance issues may have gotten a boost at the United Nations International Telecommunication Union today as members elected Hamadoun Touré of Mali to be the next Secretary-General. Touré has been director of the ITU Telecommunications Development Bureau since 1999. In a third round of voting on 10 November, Touré […]
Group B+ Draft Patent Harmonisation Treaty Emerges 07/11/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By William New and Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The wealthy members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have created a draft patent harmonisation treaty to be negotiated outside WIPO in the hope of removing basic differences in national and regional practices. But while the countries say they have the momentum and political will to […]
WIPO At The Internet Governance Forum: DRMs, Access To Information, And Flexibilities 07/11/2006 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment At the recent UN Internet Governance Forum in Athens, a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) representative said there is a “new emphasis on limitations and exceptions to copyright and user rights in areas such as freedom of expression and access to information.” But there is a need to promote interoperability of technology standards in areas […]
“Dynamic Coalitions,” The New Sword In Internet Governance Debates 05/11/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By William New ATHENS – The World Summit on the Information Society told the world to build “dynamic” coalitions to address problems related to the Internet, and this week, the world responded. At the four-day Internet Governance Forum here ending 2 November, seemingly more than a dozen coalitions emerged on every topic of concern related […]
ITU Candidates Tread Lightly On Internet Governance 03/11/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The candidates for next week’s election to succeed UN International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi are not following his platform of drawing international pressure to change the US-centric Internet domain name system.
Copyrights, Knowledge Access, Democracy Debated At Internet Forum 01/11/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By William New ATHENS – Whether intellectual property rights protection is inhibiting the free flow of information was hotly debated at the Internet Governance Forum on 31 October. “Just about every aspect of the free flow of information is now hampered” by technologies, laws and other reasons, said Joichi Ito of Creative Commons. “Suddenly the […]
UN-led Conference Grills Corporations On Support For Restrictive Internet Regimes 31/10/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New ATHENS – Participants in this week’s Internet Governance Forum here saw strong support for ensuring public access to knowledge as tough questions were put to technology corporations for their apparent support of restrictive government practices. But representatives of the corporations, including Cisco Systems, Google and Microsoft, held their own in the debate. […]
New Internet Governance Proposal Would Trim US Role, Boost Private Sector 31/10/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New ATHENS – As hundreds of Internet practitioners and visionaries gathered here for a forum on governance of the Internet, two long-time stakeholders have issued an updated proposal aimed at defusing the biggest policy tensions by moving governance to the private sector and increasing international involvement. The proposal comes from Becky Burr, a […]
Online Content Among Many Issues At Internet Governance Forum 31/10/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New ATHENS – The four-day Internet Governance Forum opened on 30 October by addressing many topics, among them the availability of content online. Content on the Internet will be addressed in a variety of ways this week, including ways to boost local content creation in developing countries, ways to protect intellectual property rights, […]
Assemblée de l’OMPI : dur labeur en perspective pour les gouvernements l’an prochain 18/10/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Par William New Le 3 octobre dernier, les assemblées annuelles des États membres de l’Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle (OMPI) se sont achevées dans un esprit de coopération inhabituel, tout en rappelant le travail normatif et administratif difficile qui devra être accompli l’an prochain. À l’Assemblée générale de l’OMPI qui s’est tenue du 25 […]