First Geneva Dialogue On Traditional Knowledge This Week 18/03/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A multi-stakeholder group open to participants will meet this week for the first Geneva Dialogue on Traditional Knowledge, to informally discuss negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organization scheduled to resume next week.
Innovating To Help African Students Learn With Legal, Affordable Textbooks 17/03/2014 by Linda Daniels for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment An innovative South African start-up is offering local university students a way around buying cheap pirated books with a legal print-on-demand service that slashes the price of expensive academic textbooks.
US Claims Final Separation From Privileged Internet Oversight 15/03/2014 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The Obama administration has announced a decision to make a last step towards completing privatisation of internet core infrastructure oversight, namely the central root zone of the domain name system. But it is not clear what this will mean for international efforts to increase intergovernmental control over the internet.
TTIP Still In ‘Exploratory’ Phase On GIs; Data Flows Tied To Privacy Regimes 14/03/2014 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Press conferences, stakeholder meetings and presentations as well as picture-tweets about consultations have become a habit of the negotiators of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Still, after this week’s round of negotiations, answers to tougher questions like what are the chances of reconciling regimes on the protection of geographic indications or data flows and data privacy seem far from clear.
EU Parliament To Vote On Compulsory Publishing Of Clinical Trial Data 14/03/2014 by Julia Fraser for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The European Parliament is scheduled to vote on 3 April on amended draft legislation that would oblige pharmaceutical companies to publish all clinical trial data in a publicly accessible database.
EU Parliament Passes Call Against Surveillance And For Digital “New Deal”; TTIP Can Proceed 12/03/2014 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A huge majority of the European Parliament today called for a stop to mass surveillance and a digital “New Deal” to enpower European citizens and companies following a six-month inquiry into the US National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence service surveillance programmes by the Parliamen’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs.
WTO-WIPO IP Training Course For Governments 12/03/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Trade Organization and World Intellectual Property Organization are jointly offering a course this week on all aspects of intellectual property to a group of officials from developing countries and countries in transition, the WTO has said.
“Shame On You” – EU Parliament Pressured On Vote Over Surveillance 11/03/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment On the eve of European Parliament’s final decision on consequences from revelations of mass surveillance directed against citizens, several members of the Parliament heavily criticised EU governments for the lack of action.
US To Hold Forum On Copyright Notice And Takedown System 10/03/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A United States government agency later this month will hold the first meeting of a multistakeholder forum on improving the operation of the widespread notice and takedown system for removing infringing content from the internet.
New Constitutions Of Egypt, Tunisia Provide For IP Rights Protection For First Time 10/03/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Last January, Egypt and Tunisia enacted new constitutions which provide for the protection of intellectual property rights, at the constitutional level, for the first time in the history of both countries. In addition, they include clauses which give priority to building a knowledge economy, Ahmed Abdel-Latif writes.