IP, Content Delivery Key To Telecom-Broadcasting Convergence 17/08/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New with Pravir Palayathan Content delivery and telecommunications are becoming rapidly intertwined in a “converging” world, bringing new opportunities but also likely leading to a dogfight among the high number of networks platforms for content delivery currently available, according to experts. “Not every horse can win the race at the same time, and there is a lesson there for ‘convergence’,” David Wood, head of new media at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), told Intellectual Property Watch. “Every day a new means of providing media to the public seems to come out of the woodwork, all convinced they will be popular, valuable, and make a lot of money. But it can’t happen. There will be winners and losers.” The EBU hosted a 21-22 June “meeting of high-level experts” jointly with the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU). “Our hope in organising the conference jointly with the EBU and ITU was to bring this into focus; and, if we accept that not everything can be successful, to see through to which would be more likely to succeed,” said Wood.
Recording Industry Faces Uphill Legal Battle In P2P Network Fight 13/08/2007 by Bruce Gain for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Bruce Gain for Intellectual Property Watch The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and other associations representing record labels are facing significant challenges in their efforts to enforce European Union copyright laws against unauthorised downloads of music files over peer-to-peer networks. It remains to be seen whether the EU Copyright Directive and other EU mandates, as well as thousands of lawsuits filed against downloaders, will be enough to contain file sharing in the EU. Different degrees of enforcement and the reluctance of some criminal courts to convict so-called “music pirates” in the different EU states can make it difficult for recording industry groups to successfully seek court remedies against individuals who illegally download copyrighted files.
Change To EU Enforcement Directive Could Criminalise Parallel Imports 03/08/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The European Parliament has voted against criminalising parallel imports of goods in the proposed European Union directive on criminal measures aimed at ensuring the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRED2). Yet these re-imports of products marketed by rights holders in other countries may be criminalised if Parliament does not change a “cleaned-up” draft text of the directive that has quietly emerged, sources say. The directive is a follow-up to the IP Enforcement Directive (2004/48/EC, IPRED1) passed by the EU in 2004 and will add criminal sanctions against piracy and counterfeiting of a commercial scale. Both IPRED1 and IPRED2 brought about fierce debates about how far protection of intellectual property should go in Europe.
US Patent Reform Advances But Outcome, Global Impact Uncertain 25/07/2007 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Legislation for sweeping reform of the US patent system emerged from House and Senate committees last week. Among other changes, the bills would more closely align the US scheme with international patent practice, create an additional opportunity to challenge the validity of questionable patents, and limit damages in some infringement lawsuits. But the bills’ future is unpredictable, observers say.
US Ruling Creates Uncertainty For Famous Foreign Trademarks 20/07/2007 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Steve Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch In a ruling that surprised many trademark experts in the United States, one of the country’s most respected appellate courts recently cut back on the protection given to famous foreign trademarks. If such marks are well known in the US but are not registered or used in the country, they are unprotected by federal law, according to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Second Life Copyright Case: New World, Same Old Laws? 13/07/2007 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Far from being a bizarre by-product of the online society created by Second Life, a recently launched US intellectual property (IP) infringement case against one of its “avatars” is very much grounded in the real world, legal experts say. However, the fact that the first-of-its-kind case involves a “virtual” product raises interesting legal and social questions, they say.
July Edition of IP-Watch Monthly Reporter Now Available 11/07/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Reporter features the most important news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the IP community at the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Geneva missions, regional and national IP offices, industry and non-governmental organisations, plus News Briefs on reports and events that do not […]
Nokia Patent Case Against Qualcomm Reinvigorated 10/07/2007 by Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch A patent infringement case brought by US technology firm Qualcomm against Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia at the US-based International Trade Commission (ITC) has been reinvigorated, with a hearing scheduled for 10 September.
Window May Be Closing For EU Patent Harmonisation 29/06/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch MUNICH – After years of debate, the window of opportunity could be closing for the proposed next step for harmonising the European patent system by creating a centralised European patent court, judging by comments from officials. German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, at a two-day symposium on the Future of the European Patent Jurisdiction in Munich this week, said that if European governments were unable to agree on an overall concept, “we should have the courage to put an end to the discussion and stay with the status quo.”
WIPO Patent Agenda Expected To Be Revived In 2008 22/06/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment After a one-year hiatus, the World Intellectual Property Organization likely will renew its agenda on patent policy issues in 2008 following members’ informal approval Friday of a study on patents to be conducted by the WIPO secretariat in autumn, according to officials.