Battle For A New WIPO Treaty On Broadcasting Begins In Earnest 19/06/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New World Intellectual Property Organization members are engaged in a critical weeklong meeting that will determine the fate of a proposed WIPO treaty on broadcasters’ rights. At the end of a second slow day, it was unclear which way it will go, according to participants, but things are intensifying and WIPO is watching […]
In A ‘Major Achievement’, WIPO Negotiators Create New Development Mandate 18/06/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New Members of a World Intellectual Property Organization committee addressing proposals for a WIPO Development Agenda last week potentially rewrote the UN body’s mandate, pending approval. Negotiators concluded a weeklong meeting with agreements on a wide range of proposals for new development-related activities – some hard to imagine for WIPO two years ago […]
WIPO Committee Reaches Breakthrough Agreements On Development Agenda 15/06/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New with Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) committee negotiating proposals this week for a stronger development focus at WIPO appeared to be on track to finishing work by meeting’s end Friday, though some hurdles remained. At press time, breakthrough agreements had been reached on contentious issues such as […]
US, China Fail To Resolve Differences In Consultations On WTO IP Cases 11/06/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New The United States and China last week failed to resolve differences raised by the US dispute at the World Trade Organization over China’s intellectual property protection and market access for US copyrighted material, according to the Chinese government. The United States filed two WTO disputes on 10 April (IPW, Subscribers, 24 April, […]
G8 Summit Agrees On Africa Declaration With Weakened TRIPS Language 08/06/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The Group of Eight (G8) final declaration on “growth and responsibility” in Africa is being met with initial reactions from observers that it contains a weaker approach to address patents and medicines to ensure “universal access.” Discussions about patents and medicines in any forum appear to lead to the World […]
G8 Summit Strengthens IP Protection; May Undercut Compulsory Licensing 07/06/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch, and Tove Gerhardsen The strengthening of intellectual property rights protection in “a new dialogue” between Group of 8 and emerging economies moderated by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the possible establishment of an “IPR Task Force focussing on anti-counterfeiting and piracy” are among decisions […]
TRIPS Council: Big Boost For Biodiversity Amendment; Enforcement Debated 06/06/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Broad new support emerged this week for a proposal to amend World Trade Organization rules on intellectual property to better protect countries’ biological resources, while efforts to increase discussions on intellectual property protection remain unresolved. The issues led the agenda at the 5 June meeting of the WTO Council on […]
Case Could Signal Weakening Of Digital Rights Management In Europe 04/06/2007 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch A ruling by the Helsinki, Finland, District Court could have far-reaching implications for the use of technical protection measures (TPMs) in Europe, according to legal experts. The 25 May decision held that the Content Scrambling System (CSS) now used in DVD movies is “ineffective” as the term is […]
Quiet TRIPS Council Meeting Expected; Enforcement Push Continues 01/06/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Next week’s meeting of the World Trade Organization’s intellectual property committee is expected to be “business as usual,” continuing work on difficult topics, including the committee’s role in the enforcement of intellectual property rights. On this, Switzerland has introduced a new document, according to officials. The WTO Council on Trade-Related […]
US Courts Leave Patent Holders Seeking Stronger International Enforcement 29/05/2007 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Steve Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch As more and more commerce crosses national borders, so do more and more items seen as infringing on patents. And patent holders are making a case for stronger international rules on enforcement to protect themselves. International intellectual property treaties enable an inventor to file one patent application and obtain patent rights in multiple countries, but the treaties do not provide similar mechanisms for multinational enforcement. A patentee can sue in each country where infringement occurs, but this is often prohibitively expensive, they say.