Media Companies Offer UK Unlimited Music … Or Else! 17/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Media giants Virgin Media and Universal Music have teamed up to create the world’s first unlimited digital download service that comes with the blessing of content owners – though only for residents of the United Kingdom. Britons using Virgin Media’s broadband to connect to the internet will soon be able to download or stream any […]
Talks On Traditional Knowledge And Access, Benefit-Sharing 16/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment An expert body on traditional knowledge as it relates to an access and benefit-sharing regime on genetic resources began discussion Tuesday in India. They will examine the way in which proposed aspects of the regime relate to indigenous communities and the way in which they manage and protect their knowledge. The creation of an international […]
Trademark Worry Over Facebook Usernames 12/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Facebook users starting Saturday will get the chance to add a nickname of their choice to the web address of their profiles. These new usernames, which will make Facebook addresses easier to find and easier to remember, are being assigned on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 12:01 am Eastern Daylight Time on 13 June. […]
Heated Debates Over US-Free Internet 10/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Warnings about a possible split of the single root zone underlying the global internet have been made by internet governance experts outside the United States following a hearing of the US congressional Subcommittee on Communication Technologies and the Internet on the future of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the internet’s technical […]
Pirate Party To Enter European Parliament 08/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The Swedish Pirate Party harvested 7.1 percent of the Swedish vote in preliminary results from the European Parliament elections on Sunday, 7 June, according to official sources. The Party aims to fundamentally reform copyright law, get rid of the patent system and ensure citizens’ right to privacy. According to the Parliament’s provisional seat repartition, the […]
US Bill Would Prohibit Generics Delay 04/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The practice of brand name companies paying generic manufacturers to delay the entry of lower-priced generics into the market could become illegal, if a bill before the United States House of Representatives passes. The bill (available here [pdf]) is “to prohibit brand name drug companies from compensating generic drug companies to delay the entry of […]
China Blocking Key Foreign Media Sites 03/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments China is blocking its citizens’ access to leading international social media and news websites in the lead-up to the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square anti-democracy massacre in Beijing. Media and information sharing sites such as Twitter, YouTube, Blogger, and Flickr as well as mainstream media such as the Financial Times, New York Times and […]
CVs Of WIPO Leadership Nominees Now Available 03/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Names and biographies of the seven people who will likely lead the World Intellectual Property Organization secretariat under Director General Francis Gurry have been officially released on the WIPO website here [pdf]. Intellectual Property Watch reported on the new deputy and assistant directors general last week (IPW, WIPO, 28 May 2009), but the WIPO document […]
US Supreme Court To Rule On Business Method Patents 03/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United States Supreme Court, the nation’s highest court, has decided to review a case involving patenting of business methods, which could have a significant impact on the future of patenting. On 30 October 2008, the US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals – often called the country’s “patent court” – issued its decision in In […]
Advice To Obama On Global Health: Open Access 28/05/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment With US health resources, a “wide gap remains between what can be done with existing knowledge and what is actually being done” says a new report by the National Academies Institute of Medicine, which is meant to advise the Obama administration’s health policy. Some activities that it said need more attention involve intellectual property rights. […]