OECD Calibrates Role In Fast-Changing Internet Society 15/10/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment OTTAWA – The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Paris-based club of 30 of the world’s largest economies, is moving fast to keep up with the newest trend on the Internet: user-generated content. Referred to generally as ‘Web 2.0’, this trend includes collaboratively developed websites such as Wikipedia and YouTube, social networking platforms such […]
EU Copyright Levies Extend To New Media As Harmonisation Lags 11/10/2007 by Alicia Martin-Santos for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Alicia Martin-Santos and Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch European Union countries are imposing copyright levies on a whole new range of digital media, including digital music players, USB flash sticks, hard drives and, potentially, mobile phones and wireless connections, as efforts to harmonise Europe’s heterogeneous copyright landscape continue to languish. Copyright levies are imposed on blank material (such as blank CDs, DVDs or paper) or digital recording media (used to store digital content) in order to compensate authors for end-users’ private copying. They first appeared in the 1960s and were charged on paper, photocopying equipment and tapes. New recording media, such as mp3 players (like iPods) or even mobile phones are being examined for potential levying.
UN Talks On Public Health Access And Innovation Face Challenges 10/10/2007 by Paul Garwood for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Paul Garwood Next month’s round of negotiations on a United Nations plan to boost access to medicines for the world’s poor are set for a rough ride, with countries and regions split on contentious issues such as intellectual property rights and how to spur drug innovation for the benefit of all. The World Health […]
NGOs Having Major Impact On WIPO Agenda, Panel Says 05/10/2007 by Paul Garwood for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Paul Garwood Non-governmental organisations have been able to influence the debate and priorities within the World Intellectual Property Organization and make IP issues more understood in the developing world, speakers at a seminar in Geneva said Monday. Wend Wendland, head of WIPO’s programme on traditional knowledge, which began in 1998, said civil society had […]
WIPO Panel: Rights Management Information At Core Of IP Protection 01/10/2007 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Catherine Saez The growing volume of audiovisual, musical or text-based content online offers opportunities and challenges to copyright owners, intermediaries such as search engines, and users, according to panellists at a recent World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) seminar. Among the challenges are the ownership, licensing and management of intellectual property. Rights Management Information (RMI), as defined in the 1996 WIPO “Internet” treaties, identifies content protected by copyright or related rights, the rights owners for such content and the terms and conditions of use associated with it. RMI is playing an essential role in protecting copyrights in the network environment, according to panellists, most of whom were from an industry perspective.
Concern Rises Over EU Bilaterals With Developing Countries 20/09/2007 by David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch BRUSSELS – Concern is growing in both Europe and developing countries about whether a series of free trade agreements slated for signature later this year will contain overly stringent rules on intellectual property. The European Union’s executive, the European Commission, has proposed that the Economic Partnership Agreements it […]
Development Agenda Implementation Discussed Before WIPO Assemblies 18/09/2007 by Paul Garwood for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Paul Garwood More technical assistance to developing countries, closer collaboration between UN agencies and overhauling the World Intellectual Property Organization were among calls made during a conference of leading players in the intellectual property community held Monday. The conference, entitled “The Reform of WIPO: Implementing the Development Agenda,” was the second such event. The […]
Data Mining: Consumers’ Convenience, Privacy’s End 12/09/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch LINZ, AUSTRIA – How distant is the realisation of a “prevision” and prevention culture as portrayed in the Steven Spielberg movie Minority Report? Telling the future is not as far off as critical minds might hope for, US author and activist Brian Holmes warned at the Ars Electronica, […]
US Internet Radio Royalty Deals Announced; Webcasters Seek Lower Rates 04/09/2007 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Despite recently trumpeted deals with SoundExchange, which collects fees for record labels and artists, large and small US webcasters say royalty rates for Internet music performances are still too high and should be lowered by the US Congress. The fee caps are the latest development in the dispute […]
Germany: Fight Escalates Over Copyright Fee For Computers 17/08/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The fight between German collecting rights societies and hardware companies is escalating. This week the CEO of the society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights, Harald Heker, heavily criticised the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), claiming it was denying authors and artists […]