Europe May Put ACTA Back On Faster Track 16/07/2008 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Despite earlier statements by European negotiators that the planned Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) would need time for fine-tuning, nations seem to accept a fast track movement now. ACTA has been mentioned as an agenda item of the French presidency of the European Union (from July to January), the […]
Modalities Drafted For WTO Geographical Indications, Biodiversity Amendment 15/07/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Kaitlin Mara A confidential draft text circulated recently among some World Trade Organization members reveals an attempt to consolidate separate proposals aimed at the protection of product names with location-related associations and characteristics (called geographical indications) and at the protection of biological diversity and traditional knowledge. Proponents appear to still be seeking support in […]
Modalities Text On IP Issues Floated At WTO Available Here 15/07/2008 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A confidential text, dated 30 June and available here, and circulated recently among some World Trade Organization members reveals an attempt to consolidate separate proposals on the protection of geographical indications, biodiversity and traditional knowledge.
New Southern/East African Copyright Network Targets Protection, Local Innovation 15/07/2008 by Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch Seventeen African ministers of arts and culture have officially launched the newly formed Southern and Eastern Africa Copyright Network (Seaconet) in a bid to strengthen regional collaboration and cooperation in the field of creative industries, copyright and related rights. “The need to create Seaconet is due to the […]
Intellectual Property: A Means To An Access And Benefit-Sharing End? 14/07/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Kaitlin Mara Intellectual property is a useful leveraging tool for developing countries eager to see the creation of a global access and benefit-sharing regime on genetic resource use, said a recent panel on biodiversity protections in international law. “Benefit-sharing was viewed as an integral part of the main bargain between developed and developing countries” when the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was first formed, said Timothy Hodges, a Canadian official who co-chairs an access and benefit-sharing working group under the CBD.
WIPO Development Committee Ends First Year On Mostly Agreeable Note 12/07/2008 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By William New The World Intellectual Property Organization’s newest and potentially highest impact committee – aimed at ensuring all of the organisation’s activities are sufficiently development-friendly to fit its wide-ranging membership – completed its first year with some concrete progress and lots of hints for the future, including many new faces taking over the debate […]
WIPO Development Committee Makes Careful Progress On Implementation 11/07/2008 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New Members of the new World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) this week are negotiating implementation of agreed changes to WIPO practices intended to ensure they are development-friendly. Perhaps predictably, countries with the majority of the world’s intellectual property rights, the leading developed countries, are generally providing an […]
Advocates Say Geographical Indications Will Benefit Developing Nations 11/07/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Kaitlin Mara An association of producers of geographical indications – product names associated with a particular place and characteristics – is promoting the idea that extending the high-level protection of geographic indications currently enjoyed by wines and spirits to other goods (called GI extension) is in the interest of developing countries. GI extension is […]
Draft Chair’s Summary Of WIPO Committee On Development And IP 11/07/2008 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments Chairman Trevor Clarke of the WIPO Committee on Development and IP on 10 July drafted a summary of the committee’s second meeting, being held 7 to 11 July. Members will discuss the text on Friday, and send the agreed version to the September WIPO General Assembly for approval.
Group of Eight Developing Islamic Countries (D-8) Approve Ten Year Roadmap 10/07/2008 by Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch Leaders of the Group of Eight Developing Islamic Countries (D-8) this week adopted an ambitious 10-year blueprint to substantially expand trade and economic cooperation with the aim of improving the position of Muslim developing countries in the global world economy, according to the Kuala Lumpur declaration on meeting […]