WTO Paper Could Spark New Ideas On TRIPS Special Compulsory Licence For Medicines Export 12/10/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments A carefully agreed 2003 waiver from international intellectual property trade rules to allow export of medicines made under compulsory licence to benefit needy countries has been quietly implemented by a large number of World Trade Organization members, according to a new analytical paper from the WTO. The analysis explores the limited use of the waiver to date and how the situation has changed since then, providing grist for a potential fresh look at the provision at this week’s annual WTO review of IP and public health.
Trademark: Low Visual Similarity, No Phonetic Similarity, But Still Confusingly Similar? 12/10/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In 2007, a Polish company filed an application for a composite European Community trademark comprising the representation in colour of a crocodilian with its torso made up from the letters of the word “kajman” in printed characters for, among others, classes 18 (leather goods) and 25 (clothing, footwear).
WIPO Explains Its Role In Sustainable Development Goals And The UN 11/10/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization is a United Nations agency based in Geneva. At the time of the recent activity at UN headquarters in New York over the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, Minelik Alemu Getahun, WIPO Assistant Director General, took time to explain in a written Q&A what WIPO’s involvement is in the SDGs and IP agency’s evolving relationship with the UN.
New Book Launched At WTO: The Making Of The TRIPS Agreement 07/10/2015 by Catherine Saez and William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The 1994 World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has been a landmark pact in the IP world and beyond. Now on the 20th anniversary of its entry into force, former TRIPS negotiators and other experts have come out with a book recounting the remarkable set of circumstances and compromises that took place to bring this agreement into being.
WIPO Director Sees Tougher Times For Multilateral IP Treaties 05/10/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Negotiations for new global policies on intellectual property has become more challenging due to a greater competition in innovation, knowledge asymmetries, and the push for bilateral and regional treaties, the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization said today.
WTO Panels Look At Partnerships, Digital Trade 04/10/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Among the many topics at last week’s World Trade Organization Public Forum were panels on o partnerships and on digital trade. This article takes a brief look at two of the panels that touched on intellectual property rights.
R&D, Innovation Highlighted In Industry-Backed Report On Mobile Tech 04/10/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment We are in the midst of a “mobile revolution” that may equal the industrial revolution, and a key contributor is industry research and development and innovation protected by intellectual property, says a new report.
IP-Watch/Yale FOIA Case Decided: USTR Can Keep TPP Texts Secret, But Maybe Not Communications With Industry Advisors 30/09/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments As government negotiators dig into perhaps the final round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations this week in Atlanta, they may take comfort in knowing that nothing they are doing has to be shared with the public they represent until years after it is over. That’s because a federal district court in Manhattan decided this week, in a closely watched Freedom of Information Act case brought by Intellectual Property Watch, that draft texts of the trade deal can be kept secret. The court did, however, cast doubt on the government’s reasons for also keeping its communications with industry lobbyists from the public eye.
IFRRO Comments On European Copyright Society Opinion In Reprobel Case 29/09/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment IFRRO, the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations, has issued comments on the recent opinion offered by the European Copyright Society on European Court of Justice Case C-572/13, Hewlett-Packard Belgium v. Reprobel.
Russian Court Orders vKontakte To Stop Infringement, IFPI Says 29/09/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The London-based International Federation for the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) today announced that a Russian court has ordered popular Russian social network vKontakte to use technology to effectively block infringement of two record companies.