Dérégler l’horloge d’ACTA 29/06/2010 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment La petite ville guindée de Lucerne, en Suisse, accueille cette semaine le neuvième round de négociations visant à la signature de l’Accord Commercial Anti-Contrefaçon (plus connu sous sa dénomination anglaise, ACTA : Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). Pendant que les onze parties prenantes aux négociations devaient se retrouver au Palace Hotel, le Parti Pirate suisse et ses homologues allemands et autrichiens devaient organiser un rassemblement en gare de Lucerne.
Scope Of Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement Again A Big Issue In Round Nine 26/06/2010 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment MUNICH – The staid little Swiss town of Lucerne this week sees round number nine of the negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). While the 11 negotiating parties gather in the Palace Hotel, the Swiss Pirate Party together with their Pirate colleagues from Germany and Switzerland will organise a rally at the Lucerne train station.
No Decision On WIPO Treaty For Blind Persons Misses ‘Golden Opportunity’ 26/06/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 12 Comments Member states at the World Intellectual Property Organization late Thursday night were unable to reach agreement on a draft chair’s conclusions text summarising a four-day WIPO copyright committee meeting, crashing the prospect of swift progress on improving international access to literary material for the visually impaired.
More Delay To ICANN Introduction Of New Internet Domains? 23/06/2010 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment BRUSSELS – Applicants for new top-level internet domains may face another round of discussions before the long-awaited application period for .nyc, .shop or .gay can happen.
New US IP Enforcement Plan May Have International Impact 23/06/2010 by Liza Porteus Viana, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments The Obama administration’s release of its national intellectual property strategy yesterday was welcomed by many groups representing businesses and intellectual property holders who said it could serve as an example to other countries.
High Expectations This Week For Progress On Exceptions And Limitations At WIPO 22/06/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Limitations and exceptions are once again a major topic at the UN intellectual property organisation’s meeting on copyrights and related rights. Delegations this week are discussing several draft proposals to improve access, in particular for visually impaired people, each with their own set of recommendation. With a fourth and new proposal from the African countries on the table, delegates are meeting to try to find common ground, raising the expectations of civil society.
Comparative Analysis Shows US Patent Office Scores Poorly On Patent Quality 18/06/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Quality across patent systems has been understudied but a new methodology put forward by the former chief economist of the European Patent Office suggests that the EPO provides higher quality services than its United States and Japan counterparts. Efforts at collaborative work between patent offices are being made but mutual recognition might not be possible or desirable without some harmonisation in the way the different systems operate.
Questions Arise On Value Of GIs For Poor Countries; Register Stuck At WTO 14/06/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments While World Trade Organization members met with their usual stasis last week on a mandated register for geographical indications, industry proponents of GIs continued lobbying to raise the awareness of delegates of countries not historically concerned with this form of intellectual property protection.
The Biosimilars Pathway: An Invitation To Litigation 11/06/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Lynn C. Tyler writes: The litigation provisions of the recently-enacted legislation establishing a pathway to bring biosimilars to market contain “patent” ambiguities in key areas, particularly whether the various lists of patents to be litigated are exclusive. Courts will have to resolve these issues over the next several years, likely at great (and unnecessary) expense and uncertainty to litigants.
FIFA, Vuvuzelas And Facebook: The Global Trophy Of IP Protection 11/06/2010 by Emma Broster for Intellectual Property Watch and Cheikh Kane for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment In the run-up to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in South Africa, sometimes described as the biggest marketing event in the world, there have been a number of instances where FIFA and local businesses have conflicted over the use of terms to advertise their products.