New US Ambassador Hamamoto Highlights Internet Governance, Ebola, IP 08/09/2014 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Newly arrived United States Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Pamela Hamamoto last week met with journalists for the first time by highlighting internet governance and Ebola, with a mention of intellectual property rights, among other issues.
UN Internet Governance Forum Sees New Challengers, From Top Down And Bottom Up 08/09/2014 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments ISTANBUL – The Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow in the end somehow reconnected the 9th Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the new Internet Ungovernance Forum held in Istanbul last week. The nearly decade-old UN-led IGF initiative is facing profound new challenges as the global split widens over the future of the internet.
India’s IP Policy On Stage As Modi Heads To US 05/09/2014 by Patralekha Chatterjee for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Will India’s new government bring in radical changes in the country’s intellectual property rights regime? That question has generated enormous buzz but no definitive answer ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power with a decisive mandate in May this year. [Update: the Indian government has announced that it has begun a process for a comprehensive IPR policy over the next six months, including a government think tank. See report here. The government website is here.]
Review Of WIPO Programmes, Staff: Lisbon Agreement, Global Challenges, Geographic Diversity 04/09/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization Program and Budget Committee is meeting this week to scrutinise the UN agency’s inner workings. At the meeting, the director general’s report on programme performance gave member countries the occasion to comment on WIPO’s various programmes. They also reviewed the annual human resources report. [Note: article corrected]
IP-Watch Celebrates 10 Years With An Update! 04/09/2014 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment At Intellectual Property Watch, www.ip-watch.org, we’re celebrating our 10th anniversary by innovating to bring you the best independent coverage of international intellectual property policy possible. We are excited to announce our new website design, aimed at making our content easier to read, navigate and organize, with a simpler layout, clear text, more images, and new features like the From the Regions section.
WIPO Members Work To Strengthen Oversight Of UN Agency 03/09/2014 by William New and Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments World Intellectual Property Organization member governments are hard at work this week trying to improve auditing and oversight of the UN agency, coming after a successful year financially but a year of questions about governance and transparency. Proposed changes include a number of measures on conflicts of interest and investigations even at the highest levels of the organization.
Group Calls For ITU Constitution Amendment To Protect Right To Privacy 01/09/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the right to privacy in the digital age has been lauded by a group of civil society organisations who also called states to curtail mass surveillance and for the ITU constitution to be amended.
Industry Applauds Marti Nomination As US IP Enforcement Coordinator 01/09/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The US IP industry is applauding the nomination of trademark attorney Daniel Marti to be the next US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.
UN Inspectors Find Need For Transparency, Changes In Governance At WIPO 28/08/2014 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) has issued a substantive analysis of management and administration in the UN World Intellectual Property Organization. And while the report highlights significant progress in a number of areas, it offers a list of ways WIPO can do better – including on transparency and sorting out staff concerns and strengthening member state oversight.
New Proposal To Keep Indigenous Peoples On WIPO Traditional Knowledge Committee 26/08/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A group of countries has submitted a new proposal to the upcoming meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization budget committee to allow the continued participation of indigenous peoples representatives in WIPO’s committee on traditional knowledge and genetic resources.