WIPO Assembly Ends In Deadlock Over Budget, Director General 04/10/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By William New The annual General Assemblies of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization ended in a stalemate Wednesday with no approval of a new budget or proposed cuts in patent fees and no decision on the fate of embattled Director General Kamil Idris, according to early reports from some participants. “It was a catastrophe,” […]
US Courts Swinging Toward Higher Threshold For Patentability 04/10/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch For years, the United States has appeared unusually generous towards patent applicants. The country has extended legal protection to many inventions, such as business methods, that typically are not patentable in Europe and other parts of the world. Now, however, America appears to be back-pedalling. Two recent court rulings in the United States have significantly cut back on the types of inventions that can patented in the country. And these decisions may be just the beginning. More court-imposed restrictions may be coming soon, according to some experts.
Debate On Director General Reaches Breaking Point 02/10/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New Governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization on Tuesday appeared to be near a breaking point on the effort by developed countries to discuss possible improprieties and mismanagement by the WIPO director general and their effort to get him to resign. The issue has clouded the entire 24 September to 3 October […]
The Idris Dilemma And The WIPO Development Agenda 02/10/2007 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Sisule F. Musungu On Friday, 28th September 2007 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) General Assembly finally adopted a development agenda for WIPO. The Assembly adopted a set of 45 proposals under six clusters, namely: technical assistance and capacity building; norm-setting, flexibilities and public domain; technology transfer, ICTs and access to knowledge; assessment, evaluation […]
Open Letter to WIPO Director General Kamil Idris 01/10/2007 by Intellectual Property Watch 6 Comments English version here De Salvatore Di Palma, ex Directeur adjoint, OMPI 1er octobre 2007 Lettre ouverte au Directeur général Kamil Idris C’est avec un grand intérêt que j’ai pris connaissance du « Rapport de Revue Interne concernant l’OMPI » de Ernst & Young ainsi que du rapport du Corps commun d’inspection des Nations Unies du […]
WIPO Panel: Rights Management Information At Core Of IP Protection 01/10/2007 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Catherine Saez The growing volume of audiovisual, musical or text-based content online offers opportunities and challenges to copyright owners, intermediaries such as search engines, and users, according to panellists at a recent World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) seminar. Among the challenges are the ownership, licensing and management of intellectual property. Rights Management Information (RMI), as defined in the 1996 WIPO “Internet” treaties, identifies content protected by copyright or related rights, the rights owners for such content and the terms and conditions of use associated with it. RMI is playing an essential role in protecting copyrights in the network environment, according to panellists, most of whom were from an industry perspective.
WIPO Launches New Agenda On IP And Development 29/09/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By William New The member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization on Friday formally adopted a new Development Agenda, launching an enhanced development orientation across all of its activities, with details on implementation to be determined later. “This is an important day,” Argentina Ambassador Alberto Dumont told a press briefing. “Our group is very […]
WIPO Group On DG At Impasse As Idris Defence Challenged 28/09/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment A special panel of member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization appears to have reached impasse on its mandate this week of examining reports on possible wrongdoing involving the WIPO director general. The group, formed after key members called for the WIPO head to step down, has been working in an atmosphere of accusations […]
WIPO Calls For “A Regular and Fair Procedure, Please” 28/09/2007 by Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments By André Heitz, director of the WIPO Coordination Office in Brussels As widely reported on this site, there are strong moves to push Mr. Kamil Idris out of his position of Director General, this against the background of various allegations of wrongdoings and abuse. By requesting the inclusion of an agenda item phrased “WIPO Internal […]
Kenya Probes Official Link Into Bid To Strip Government Of CL Powers 28/09/2007 by Paul Garwood for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Paul Garwood Kenyan authorities are probing who in government may have been “compromised” by the pharmaceutical industry to try strip the African country of its right to produce medicines without patent-holder approval, a senior official said Friday. Ahmed Ogwell, head of international health relations at Kenya’s Health Ministry, said the Attorney-General’s office is investigating […]