All WIPO Filings On The Rise, Serving Mainly Developed Economies; Telecoms Increase 19/03/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Today, the World Intellectual Property Organization released the 2014 numbers of filings for its systems for patents, trademarks, and industrial designs, which form the basis of the revenue of the UN organisation. Filings under the three systems grew in 2014, with a notable presence of telecom companies in patent filing activity. Except for China, top filers in the three systems are developed countries. Also noted was that so far, the significant increase in internet domain names has only led to a slight rise in new domain dispute cases.
New Book: ACTA And The Plurilateral Enforcement Agenda: Genesis And Aftermath 19/03/2015 by Elena Bourtchouladze for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The new book, “The ACTA and the Plurilateral Enforcement Agenda,” offers an insightful read on the highly debated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), an effort to raise intellectual property protection that was met with opposition by many countries and was subject to intense scrutiny from non-state actors, including industry, civil society and academics.
Central European Countries Establish Visegrad Patent Institute To Reduce Costs, Facilitate Applications 18/03/2015 by Jaroslaw Adamowski for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment WARSAW – In a move towards increased regional cooperation in the field of intellectual property, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have signed an agreement to set up the Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI). And representatives of the parties to the agreement say that their ambitions reach further, towards ensuring the recently-established body becomes a regional hub for patent cooperation in Central-Eastern Europe.
IP-Watch Geneva IP Delegates List Updated 17/03/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Intellectual Property Watch offers a partial list of the government delegates in Geneva with responsibility for intellectual property issues at the United Nations and World Trade Organization. The newly updated list is now available, exclusively for subscribers. [Note: IP-Watch content is free to most developing countries, just register online here]
Gathering Looks At Governance Of WIPO, IP, In Multilateral Fora 16/03/2015 by Elena Bourtchouladze for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment On 5 March, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) in collaboration with Oxford University’s Global Economic Governance Programme (GEG) hosted an event in Geneva to discuss challenges and issues in intellectual property governance.
UN Human Rights Council Debates Report Criticising Copyright 11/03/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 13 Comments Copyright might run counter to human rights, says a new report from the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights. In the report, she provides a number of recommendations, including encouraging UN World Intellectual Property Organization members to support the adoption of international instruments on limitations and exceptions to copyright. The report is under consideration by the Human Rights Council and was debated extensively today.
WIPO Encourages Participation Of Women In Intellectual Property System 11/03/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments As the United Nations celebrated Women Day on 8 March, the World Intellectual Property Organization had an ongoing initiative to encourage women’s participation in a WIPO social media platform on technology and innovation. Kaori Saito, gender and diversity specialist in the WIPO Human Resources Management Department, and Tomasz Liharewski, program officer, WIPO Global Infrastructure Sector, sat down this week with Intellectual Property Watch’s Catherine Saez to describe what the initiative was about and its outcome.
No, Democracy is Not Excess Baggage 11/03/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 9 Comments There was quite some controversy at the 3-4 March 2015 UNESCO Connecting the Dots Conference regarding whether or not the term “democracy” should be included in the conference’s outcome statement to make it clear that internet governance must be democratic.
European Commission Urged To Fix EU Law Before Addressing IPR Protections In Third Countries 09/03/2015 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Efforts to revamp protection for and enforcement of intellectual property rights in non-EU countries are welcome, but the European Commission should get Europe’s IPR house in order first, a new draft report by the European Parliament International Trade (INTA) Committee says. Meanwhile, internal IPR reform is advancing on several fronts, said the EC, which gave Intellectual Property Watch an update on the various measures.
Revolving Chairs In The IP World: People Shift Positions. But Interests? Not So Much 06/03/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A lot has happened among the global intellectual property community over the past months. Beyond the usual shifts in law offices, many key positions have either changed hands or been filled. For example, the European commissioners changed, and the United States nominated a new “piracy czar” and a new head of the US Patent and Trademark Office. The International Telecommunication Union, UNITAID and other organisations have new heads. And the World Intellectual Property Organization has a new top management team. Non-governmental organisations and the private sector also saw a lot of movement in recent months, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, the International Trademark Association, the International Publishers Association, and the Motion Picture Association of America. In this article, we take the opportunity to catch up. Here is a look at some of the changes.