Remembering Ville Oksanen 04/12/2014 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment From EDRi: Ville Oksanen, Vice President and a founding member of Electronic Frontier Finland (Effi), passed away on Sunday 23 November 2014 in Helsinki from a sudden illness. He was 37 years old.
Civil Society Files Opposition To Monsanto Climate-Related Soybean Patent 03/12/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A civil society coalition is after one of European Monsanto’s patents, accusing the giant seed corporation of biopiracy. The patent granted in February was challenged by the No Patents on Seeds coalition, which filed an opposition a few days ago.
A Middle Path: Advocate-General’s Opinion On Abuse Of Dominance For FRAND-Encumbered SEPs 02/12/2014 by Magda Voltolini for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment For the first time, the European Advocate-General has suggested on the grounds of European competition law the context for negotiations of fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) terms, and has set criteria for the enforcement of injunctions and other remedies in actions involving infringement of standard-essential patents (SEPs). The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decision is still pending.
EU Law Does Not Adequately Protect Performers, Study Finds 02/12/2014 by Elena Bourtchouladze for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The Association of European Performers’ Organisations (AEPO-ARTIS) has released a study showing that EU legislation does not provide adequate protection to performers for the legal exploitation of their performances on the internet.
US Courts Recognise New Performers’ Rights 24/11/2014 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment For performers and record labels in the United States, it is terrific news. They possess previously unrecognised rights in audio recordings, according to three recent court rulings. But not everyone is pleased about this. The decisions not only upend 75 years of US copyright law, they create big problems for broadcasters, webcasters and many other internet firms, all of whom now face hefty liability for copyright infringement.
UK High Court Orders ISPs To Block Trademark-Infringing Websites 20/11/2014 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment In what may be a test case for trademark owners battling counterfeiters, the UK High Court has ordered five internet service providers (ISPs) to block websites that were advertising and selling bogus goods. The ruling could have implications beyond Britain, the court said. ISPs, meanwhile, said the best way to handle infringing websites is to remove them at source rather than blocking.
Geneva Conference Looks At Internet Governance ‘At A Crossroads’ 20/11/2014 by Elena Bourtchouladze for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment “Internet Governance at a Crossroads” was the title of the Geneva Internet Conference, which took place in Geneva this week for the first time.
ITU Looks Into Issues Of Counterfeit, Substandard ICT Products 18/11/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment This week, the International Telecommunication Union is holding an event highlighting the UN agency’s entry into what it describes as the growing problem of counterfeit and fake information and communication technology (ICT) products. Officials from the neighbouring World Intellectual Property Organization and World Trade Organization remarked during the meeting that counterfeit relates to an intellectual property right infringement, which is a different issue from substandard products.
Index: Pharma Industry Improves On Access To Medicines, Needs Work On Ethics, Patent Disclosure 17/11/2014 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The 2014 edition of an independent ranking of leading pharmaceutical companies’ efforts to help developing countries released today found new initiatives undertaken in the past two years. But it said corruption and insufficient disclosure of existing patents continue to plague the industry.
The Caravan Has Set Out For Neo-Liberal Capture Of Global Governance 17/11/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Net Mundial initiative of the World Economic Forum represents the first time that such a corporate-led venue – although sold as multistakeholder, open, and voluntary, among others – is positioned as being ‘the’ mechanism for global governance in a specific sector, the Just Net Coalition writes.