Agreement On Future Work For Development Committee Snatched From Defeat At WIPO 12/05/2012 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments In what could be compared to an obstacle course, World Intellectual Property Organization members agreed late at night yesterday on the future work of a committee working on the development dimension of the organisation’s activities.
ICANN IP Advisory Group: Whois, Dot-Brands, Contracts Key Sticking Points In New Domains 11/05/2012 by Liza Porteus Viana, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Washington, DC – Wary eyes are on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which on 12 January opened a first window for applications for new generic top level domains (gTLDs), expected to be made public later this month.
Fast By Senior WIPO Official Raises Old Staff Questions At UN Agency 11/05/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment A senior official at the World Intellectual Property Organization recently sent an internal letter to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry announcing that he would be undertaking a fast, depriving himself of food during a period of reflection in protest of his treatment as staff after more than two decades there. And while the complaint is a personal one, the official’s letter brings attention to the sometimes uncomfortable strategic realignment taking place at the UN agency.
Swiss Government Postpones ACTA Signature 10/05/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Switzerland has postponed signature of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) until it has more information from several ongoing processes in Europe, the government said yesterday.
Call For Transparency In The Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiation 10/05/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In this post, three US law professors explain a recent call by over 30 legal scholars for the US Trade Representative to increase transparency for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement intellectual property chapter, and their response to Ambassador Kirk’s response that he is “strongly offended” by the suggestion that the negotiation is not adequately transparent already.
As WIPO Director Reports On Development Agenda, Developing Countries Demand Full Implementation 10/05/2012 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A World Intellectual Property Organization committee meeting this week to assess the development dimension of WIPO activities heard the progress report of the director general. Developing countries took the opportunity to claim that the mandate of the committee was not completed, in particular because the development dimension was kept out of two important WIPO bodies.
WIPO Development Agenda Implementation: The Ongoing Fight For Development In IP 09/05/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment As World Intellectual Property Organization members engage this week in discussions about the extent of change to the UN agency’s development orientation, a new substantive proposal for reform has been put forward based on an external review of WIPO technical assistance.
German Ministry Advises Developing Countries Not To Sign ACTA 08/05/2012 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 7 Comments Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) advises developing countries against signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, BMZ official Frank Schmiedchen said during a meeting of the Committee of Petitions of the German Parliament today.
WIPO Standards Committee: IP Geeks Meet Policy Wonks 07/05/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization is by its nature a crossroads of IP technical expertise and global public policy wrangling. But the difference between the two became more pronounced at last week’s meeting of the WIPO Standards Committee, according to participants.
Viacom v. YouTube: Chipping Away At The DMCA 03/05/2012 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment It was a major legal battle between copyright owners and online businesses. Then, on 5 April, online businesses won. Mostly. The US appellate court ruling in Viacom International, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. basically upheld the legal protection that a key US statute grants to online firms. However, the ruling also opened several holes in that protection.