“Entrenched Anti-Consumer Bias” Found In Copyright Laws; Creators Launch Petition For Better Contracts 23/04/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments A major consumer group today released the results of its annual survey of 30 countries’ copyright laws and concluded that bias against consumers in favour of multinational copyright holders is “entrenched” and that there is a “global outcry” about overly strong copyright enforcement legislation. Meanwhile, international journalists groups joined songwriters, composers, film directors, screenwriters, illustrators, photographers and visual authors across Europe today to launch a public campaign “to bring an end to the unfair contractual practices facing creators.”
Text Of Kenya Judgment On Anti-Counterfeiting Now Available 23/04/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A copy of a key judgment by the High Court of Kenya last week that found a national anti-counterfeiting law was overly broad and might interfere with access to generic medicines is now available on Intellectual Property Watch.
Frustrations Show At Slow Progress On Protection Of Traditional Knowledge at WIPO 21/04/2012 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments At the close of a WIPO meeting to advance a text to become a potential treaty to protect traditional knowledge, some countries found that the results of the session were somewhat disappointing, although some progress had been achieved.
Divergences Clarified On Protection Of Traditional Knowledge At WIPO 18/04/2012 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments From the outset of a World Intellectual Property Organization meeting to advance a potential treaty text on the protection of traditional knowledge, discussions on draft articles of the possible treaty confirmed divergence of views, notably between developed and developing countries.
EU: Key Committee Urged To Seek Parliamentary Rejection Of ACTA 17/04/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The rapporteur of the lead committee of the European Parliament on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, David Martin, today published his draft recommendation on the highly controversial agreement. If the International Trade Committee agrees on the draft, the plenary will be asked to state that it “declines to consent to conclusion of the agreement.”
Is ACTA Dying And Are G8 Countries Reacting To Its Impending Death? 15/04/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Rapporteurs for three committees of the European Parliament (Legal, Industry and Trade, and International Trade) have tabled reports or announced what they will propose on the plurilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). And the Group of 8 may have signalled a shift to a narrower approach on intellectual property rights at its meeting last week.
Interview With Vladimir Nika: Enforcing IP Rights In Albania 2010 – 2015 12/04/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In 2010, institutions in Albania created a strategy to help enforce intellectual property rights within five years. Intellectual Property Watch recently conducted a written Q and A with Vladimir Nika, Albanian office director for the Eastern European law firm PETOŠEVIĆ, on the progress and prospects for the Albanian legislature’s implementation of the 2010 IPR enforcement strategy.
US Government Report: IP Boon To US Economy, Accounts For 40 Million Jobs 12/04/2012 by Liza Porteus Viana, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Intellectual property-intensive industries in the United States support at least 40 million jobs and contribute more than $5 trillion – or 34.8 percent of – US gross domestic product (GDP), according to a report released by the Obama administration Wednesday.
Court Issues Decision On Intermediary Liability In Viacom v. YouTube 05/04/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Today, a US appellate court released its decision in a key case in which rights holders asserted that online video site YouTube should be liable for copyright infringing content appearing on its site. According to a preliminary reading, the appeals court reversed the earlier decision, signalling that YouTube, owned by Google, could have known about infringing content and therefore may not fit under the safe harbor clause of the US Digital Millenniumn Copyright Act limiting the liability of online service providers.
‘Counterfeit’ Dropped From New WHO Protocol On Illicit Tobacco Trade 04/04/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment A new treaty protocol against illicit trade in tobacco products struck today at the World Health Organization saw a late-stage decision to strip out references to “counterfeit” products from the text, according to sources.