Swiss Government Postpones ACTA Signature 10/05/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Switzerland has postponed signature of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) until it has more information from several ongoing processes in Europe, the government said yesterday.
Call For Transparency In The Trans-Pacific Partnership Negotiation 10/05/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In this post, three US law professors explain a recent call by over 30 legal scholars for the US Trade Representative to increase transparency for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement intellectual property chapter, and their response to Ambassador Kirk’s response that he is “strongly offended” by the suggestion that the negotiation is not adequately transparent already.
WIPO Development Agenda Implementation: The Ongoing Fight For Development In IP 09/05/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment As World Intellectual Property Organization members engage this week in discussions about the extent of change to the UN agency’s development orientation, a new substantive proposal for reform has been put forward based on an external review of WIPO technical assistance.
INTA: Corporate Call To Action On New Domains, Social Media, Counterfeiting 08/05/2012 by Liza Porteus Viana, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Washington, DC – Corporations need to become more involved in the battles being fought over the internet – from expanding top-level domain names, protecting brands on social media, to counterfeiting and internet security – or they are going to be left on the sidelines as policy is created both in the United States and elsewhere, speakers at the International Trademark Association (INTA) said yesterday.
German Ministry Advises Developing Countries Not To Sign ACTA 08/05/2012 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 7 Comments Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) advises developing countries against signing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, BMZ official Frank Schmiedchen said during a meeting of the Committee of Petitions of the German Parliament today.
Viacom v. YouTube: Chipping Away At The DMCA 03/05/2012 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment It was a major legal battle between copyright owners and online businesses. Then, on 5 April, online businesses won. Mostly. The US appellate court ruling in Viacom International, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. basically upheld the legal protection that a key US statute grants to online firms. However, the ruling also opened several holes in that protection.
Eben Moglen’s Warning: Beware Of Media Consuming You 02/05/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Eben Moglen, a professor of law and history at Columbia University, made a haunting appeal to participants of the 6th re:publica conference that opened in Berlin this morning: Do not to fail in completing the fight for freedom of thought.
Industry Report On Trade Secret Theft, Congressional Demand For IP Protection, As US-China Meet 01/05/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A report released today asserts that trade secret theft is occurring on a massive scale worldwide, and that most companies are not taking sufficient steps to stop it. The report, which comes on the eve of bilateral economic meetings between the United States and China, offers a set of recommended actions for companies and others. Also today, leading Democratic members of Congress urged the Obama administration to demand improvements in China on intellectual property rights protection.
Music Industry Groups Await Judgment On Breakthrough Royalty Agreement 01/05/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Groups representing a range of music industry companies in the United States recently struck what they call an “historic” agreement on the tricky matter of mechanical royalty rates and standards in a digital age. Now, they are awaiting final approval on the agreement.
Some Major Trading Partners Are Biggest IP Violators, USTR Says 01/05/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The United States Trade Representative’s office yesterday issued its annual report naming countries that it says are the biggest infringers of US intellectual property rights, among them some of the country’s biggest trading partners. Meanwhile, questions were raised about the close adherence to industry views in the report.