WIPO Broadcasting Treaty Advances Past Disagreements 14/09/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New A proposal to negotiate a treaty to expand the rights of broadcasters and cablecasters cleared a key committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization on 13 September despite outstanding disagreements among committee members. “The draft basic proposal [the document upon which talks will proceed] is full of contradictions,” Surinder Kumar Arora, India’s […]
UN Researcher Envisions Framework For IP, Innovation and Development 06/09/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New The impact of intellectual property policy on innovation and development may have been overstated, and a framework is needed for analysing the linkage between these concepts in developing countries, according to a United Nations researcher. While intellectual property policy is a key element of innovation policy, “the focus has been selective, and […]
Nine Candidates Proposed For WHO Director General Position 31/08/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The 5 September deadline to fill the top leadership post at the World Health Organization (WHO) is drawing nearer and at least eight candidates have been put forward, of which six are from developing countries and two are women. The formal list of the candidates will be published on 6 […]
US May Remove Trade Benefits For Developing Countries 07/08/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment US Trade Representative Susan Schwab announced on 7 August a review of a key programme offering duty-free access for products exported by developing countries to the US market. The review will look at whether key trading partners still should be eligible for the benefits which are offered unilaterally by the US government. Under the Generalized […]
Brazil Publishes Biodiversity Generic Name List 04/08/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Brazil has published a list of more than 5,000 generic terms from the Portuguese language related to Brazilian plant biological diversity to raise awareness and prevent further misuse of trademarks that hinder Brazilian exports. The Brazilian government has been, and is, involved in a number of trademark disputes with companies that, for example, take a […]
WTO Doha Round Suspended Indefinitely, IP Issues May Be Kept On Table 24/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment After some five years of negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) free-trade talks were halted today as ministers of key countries left the negotiating table. But key intellectual property issues will be kept on the table for whenever they return, sources said. Ministers of six key members – Australia, Brazil, the European Union, India, Japan […]
Replace UK Patent Office And Expand Its Mandate, IP Experts Say In Consultation 21/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United Kingdom Patent Office should be replaced by an institution with the same power and responsibility that it has today but with an extra duty to also serve the public interest, a group of intellectual property experts has proposed. The proposal was made to UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in a major […]
WIPO Programme/Budget Committee Concludes Work 14/07/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization Programme and Budget Committee finished its work for the year with the acceptance of a proposed mechanism to insert member governments more fully into WIPO’s budget processes. The committee also heard updates on proposed new construction and an assessment of all WIPO jobs. According to participants in the 11-13 July […]
Biological Diversity Policy Enthusiast Leaving Indian WTO Mission 14/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Atul Kaushik is in his last week of work as first secretary (legal) of the Permanent Mission of India to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva this week (week of 10 July). Kaushik, who has played a major role in the proposal from a number of larger developing countries to include new language related […]
UK Music Groups Seek Copyright Licences and Levies for Digital Content 13/07/2006 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch The United Kingdom independent music sector wants content distributors to pay creators for transmitting their works over the Internet, mobile phones and other devices. At a 12 July London roundtable headed by the Association of Independent Music (AIM), indie labels, composers, songwriters, musicians, managers, publishers and collecting societies […]