US IP Enforcement Ambitions In Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement Stir Reactions 16/03/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment An alleged official document leaked last week showed that the United States is taking the lead in escalating intellectual property rights enforcement in negotiations for a regional trade agreement among countries bordering the Pacific Ocean. But there may be some concern about IP protection going beyond existing international trade obligations.
Would US Senate Patent Reform Bill Harmonise US Law With The World? 16/03/2011 by William New and Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The bill to reform United States patent law recently passed by the Senate purports to bring US law closer to laws of other major patent-filing nations. But how close would it come?
White House Issues Proposals For IP Legislation 15/03/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The Obama administration today issued a series of recommended legislative changes to further beef up domestic intellectual property rights protection, including boosting criminal punishment of pharmaceutical counterfeiters and those engaged in “economic espionage,” increasing wiretapping, making infringing online streaming a felony, and giving more powers to customs officials.
WHO Opens Expert R&D Financing Group To Public Scrutiny 15/03/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The 5-7 April meeting of the Consultative Expert Working Group on research and development: financing and coordination (CEWG) will partly be open to the public to enhance transparency, the World Health Organization said today. The expert group is part of the WHO global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property […]
UN Agencies Encourage Use Of WTO Measures To Lower HIV Medicines Costs 15/03/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Three United Nations agencies have joined together to explain to their member countries the little-understood but hard-won flexibilities to applying stiff international intellectual property rules. The focus of the new policy brief is on improving access to HIV treatment, and it offers a series of actions for governments and international organisations.
Copyright System Must “Adapt Or Perish,” WIPO Director Says 15/03/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments The traditional copyright system’s balance for encouraging yet controlling access to copyrighted works in order to extract value for them has met with a destructive force in the internet that it cannot overcome without changing itself, the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization said recently in a landmark speech. And he proposed several elements for the way forward.
New Leadership At Brazil’s Copyright Office Raises Questions 14/03/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The head of the Brazilian intellectual property office was recently removed by the new Culture minister, replaced by an official who has some wondering if a swing toward stronger copyright protection is in the works for the government.
Draft Review Finds No WHO Malfeasance On Pandemics 14/03/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The draft report of the committee reviewing the World Health Organization’s actions in response to the 2009 spread of H1N1, or swine flu, has been issued. Looks like the WHO may be cleared.
International Seed Treaty Hears Concerns Of Corporate Concentration, DNA Patenting 14/03/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is holding the fourth regular session of its Governing Body this week in Bali, Indonesia.
IP Enforcement Permeates ICANN, US Internet Policy 13/03/2011 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The push for ever more far-reaching intellectual property enforcement in the domain name system was heavily criticised at a conference of the Non-Commercial Users’ Constituency (NCUC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Friday. The NCUC conference on “Internet Governance and the Global Public Interest” took place one day before the first constituency meetings of the 40th ICANN meeting in San Francisco (13-18 March).