Did WIPO Get Cool? UN IPR Agency Joins Creative Commons Initiative 17/09/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization exists to protect and promote intellectual property rights, including copyright. As a large international organisation, it is also a producer of a great amount of data and information that users around the world want to access.
New Opinion Of The European Copyright Society On “Reprobel”- Case (C-572/13) 16/09/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment From the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI), University of Strasbourg: On 5 September 2015, the European Copyright Society issued an Opinion on the conclusions presented on June 11, 2015 by the Advocate-General Pedro Cruz Villalón in the HP Belgium v. Reprobel-case pending before the Court of Justice of the EU (case C-572/13), following a request for preliminary ruling from the Brussels Court of Appeal (Belgium) lodged on 8 November 2013.
Assange, Manning, Snowden At The Door Of The UN In Geneva 14/09/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The Place des Nations, home to the United Nations in Geneva, is adorned with a temporary exhibition this week. The work of Italian artist Davide Dormino representing Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden was inaugurated this morning.
US Proposes Suspension Of WIPO TK Committee; Switzerland And Others Counter 11/09/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The normative work at the World Intellectual Property Organization on the protection of traditional knowledge, genetic resources, and folklore was suspended last year. In the lead-up to the 2015 WIPO General Assembly, the United States has proposed to discontinue the mandate of the committee working on the subject. The US suggests replacing the committee with seminars, studies, and an experts working group. Meanwhile, Switzerland, on behalf of a group of countries, has proposed that the committee’s work resume. And still other countries may be seeking to make the committee a permanent feature at the UN agency.
European Commission Supports Indefinite Exemption Of LDCs From IPRs On Pharmaceuticals 10/09/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments In a communication today, the European Commission said it agrees to support a least developed country request at the World Trade Organization to prolong indefinitely a current exemption on the enforcement of IP on pharmaceutical products. Now the decision moves to the EU member states.
German Bundestag Not Happy About Being Kept Out Of TTIP Reading Room In Berlin 09/09/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Transparency in negotiating free trade agreements continues to be a controversial issue, despite attempts of the official negotiators, especially European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem, to pour oil on troubled waters. Regardless of Malmstroem’s transparency initiative for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the US-EU FTA, a storm is brewing in an area not easily neglected by negotiators.
Neglected Diseases R&D Initiative To Expand Portfolio To Hepatitis C, New Antibiotics 09/09/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is moving into new disease areas and has moved away from one, it announced this week.
Encouraging The Use Of Patent Information… Through Research Competition? 08/09/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Many developing countries lack enough human resources with the necessary skills to access patent information. Although patent documents are often unintelligible, strengthening the ability to search them in databases could help reduce information asymmetries in developing countries, Luis Gil Abinader writes.
Biopharmaceutical Industry Protests French Regime For Off-Label Products 08/09/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment France is in the firing line of the biopharmaceutical industry for allowing the use of some products for other therapeutic indications than the one for which they obtained marketing authorisation.
Your “Reality” Must Be Original To Win Copyright Protection 04/09/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Since the debut of Candid Camera in the late 1940s, unscripted television of varying genres (from game shows to documentaries) has been a staple of American television. Not until the worldwide success of shows such as Survivor, however, did the genre, and in particular the staged competition variety of unscripted “reality” television, become a dominant source of programming in the US market. Reality television often takes on a familiar pattern – as the season progresses contestants are eliminated by audience and “expert” votes leaving one person or couple to win the grand prize. The myriad ways in which to package this formula has no limits, and in light of the success of such shows, a vast number of people are creating and pitching what they believe to be both original and the next Survivor. And that leads to lawsuits.