Special Report: World’s First IP Financial Exchange To Come Online This Year 15/04/2011 by Liza Porteus Viana, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The first financial marketplace for the trading of patent rights is scheduled to go online this year, and other countries are eyeing the United States’ progress with interest.
Europe Creates Orphan Works Registry, Copyright ID System; Digitises EU Content 12/04/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A European Commission-backed project to identify copyright holders and define orphan works – whose copyright owners cannot be found – recently presented its results and is heading to a second phase with more partners. The project advances the European effort at digitalising content through the Europeana project, a competing project to the Google Books project.
WIPO Slowly Advances Industrial Design Treaty, Eyes ISP Liability For Trademarks 04/04/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Governments meeting last week to discuss a possible new treaty on industrial design harmonisation snagged slightly at the end over how to chart a course to a treaty negotiation, but otherwise reported a smooth week of talks. Officials also agreed to plan a meeting on internet service provider liability.
A Special Day: WIPO’s Vision Gets A Little Fuzzy 01/04/2011 by Martin Frobisher for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment In a surprise and fully uncorroborated development, it appears that World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry has been named a new contributor to an illustrious IP blog. The announcement came at the same time as news that WIPO will likely embark on wishing for an annual crackdown list of global IP blogs deemed to be inadequately living up to the highest levels of intellectual property protection and decorum.
WIPO Says Cybersquatting Filings Sharply Up, Watches ICANN’s Domain Name Expansion 31/03/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Filing complaints about cybersquatting, which the World Intellectual Property Organization defines as the “abusive registration of trademarks as domain names,” is on an upward trend, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said today. Meanwhile, WIPO also launched a review of its dispute panellists.
India, WIPO Connect On Traditional Knowledge Protection, With Or Without Patents 28/03/2011 by William New and Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization went to India last week to highlight the country’s success in creating a digital library of Indian traditional knowledge, which it uses to prevent illegitimate patenting of its resources. But whether WIPO found a way to fit the Indian project into the UN agency’s mission to protect and promote intellectual property rights was unclear.
ICANN Suggests Moving Internet From US Control 27/03/2011 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments Comments on the future of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) – which makes the underlying changes to the internet – are slowly trickling in at the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), with five days to go to the end of a consultation period. In its comments, the body managing the IANA functions for the United States suggests moving control of those functions out of longstanding, singular US control.
Google, Authors, Will Need To Rethink Digital Book Settlement 23/03/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Google’s efforts to resolve questions of copyright infringement in its digital library project did not yield the hoped-for result as a district court judge yesterday rejected the agreement. But the judge left open the possibility that the parties could come back again with revisions.
Tech Industry Blasts Obama Administration, Says Legitimate Anti-Counterfeiting Efforts Being ‘Hijacked’ 17/03/2011 by William New and Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Legitimate efforts in the United States to address counterfeiting problems have been “hijacked” to benefit rights holders who should protect their own interests and change their business models, the Computer & Communications Industry Association has said.
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.