US High Court Removes Economics From Patent Law 08/07/2015 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Economics be damned. So said the US Supreme Court on 22 June, when it reaffirmed a 50 year-old ruling that limits how patent owners can license their patents. The court conceded the limit does not make economic sense, but asserted that patent law has its own logic. That could change many aspects of patent law, according to experts.
Copyright And The Public Interest: Not Necessarily Competing Forces 07/07/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Copyright protection advances the public interest, and good public policy must properly consider “the role of intellectual property as a tool for economic emancipation, a catalyst for cultural diversity, and a powerful protector of individual dignity and fundamental human rights,” argues RIAA’s Neil Turkewitz.
Special Report: ICANN Reviews Process For New Domains; Names Proposal For IANA Transition Done 28/06/2015 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments Experts at last week’s meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Buenos Aires reached a milestone with a final proposal from the ICANN working group for the transition of internet control away from the United States. But global governance without oversight remains difficult, as the ongoing review of the introduction of new generic top-level domains aptly illustrates.
US Political Trademarks And Campaign Branding 2016 25/06/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments As prospective presidential candidates prepare to plunge voters in the United States into campaign purgatory, it is time for pundits to examine how candidates are branding their political campaigns and crafting their messages to appeal to the electoral audience. With the presidential race beginning to heat up, which candidate will seize the message that resonates most with American voters? And what will that message be?
ICANN Is Not The Internet Content Police 16/06/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment ICANN’s Allen Grogan writes: Allow me to say this clearly and succinctly – ICANN is not a global regulator of Internet content, nor should the 2013 Registry Accreditation Agreement (RAA) be interpreted in such a way as to put us in that role. Our mission is to coordinate, at the overall level, the global Internet’s systems of unique identifiers, and in particular, to ensure the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s unique identifiers. ICANN was never granted, nor was it ever intended that ICANN be granted, the authority to act as a regulator of Internet content.
WIPO-WEF: Pairing Developing Country Inventors With Patent Attorneys 15/06/2015 by Elena Bourtchouladze for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Under the new Inventor Assistance Program established jointly by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Economic Forum, inventors and small businesses with limited financial means coming from a developing country will be able to seek pro bono legal assistance of patent attorneys to obtain patent protection.
African Civil Society: Disillusionment, Mistrust In Bonn 10/06/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment We, the African civil society organisations participating in the Bonn Climate Change Conference, are gravely concerned about the progress of negotiations and wish to express our utmost disillusionment on the mistrust reigning the corridors of the new World Conference Centre here in Bonn.
US Approves New Loophole In Patent Protection 08/06/2015 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals clearly likes patents. Over the years, the court has issued a long string of rulings that greatly strengthened the rights of patent owners. But several weeks ago, in Akamai Technologies v. Limelight Networks, the court reluctantly created a major loophole in patent protection.
Confidential USTR Emails Show Close Industry Involvement In TPP Negotiations 05/06/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 45 Comments While a full range of stakeholders would be affected by the outcome of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement under secret negotiation by the United States and a dozen trading partners, corporate representatives have had a special seat at the negotiating table, as shown by hundreds of pages of confidential emails from the US Trade Representative’s office obtained by Intellectual Property Watch. The emails give a rare and fascinating perspective on how policy is developed in the trade office.
UN Review Of WSIS Intensifies; Questions About ICANN Board Role In IANA Handover 02/06/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment This year’s United Nations review of implementation of the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is picking up pace. Meanwhile, intensive efforts continue to meet a September target for the handover from the United States of key underlying functions of the internet.