Critical Talks Ahead For WIPO Broadcasters’ Treaty 09/09/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New A proposed treaty to strengthen rights for broadcasters faces a critical test next week at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Government negotiators are under pressure to finish preliminary work on a draft treaty before the 25 September annual WIPO assembly, as increasing numbers of private sector stakeholders are digging in their heels […]
US Government On Internet Control: ICANN Can Go, IANA Is Ours 28/07/2006 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The United States government does not want to retain “all [its] historic roles” in the technical oversight of the Internet domain name system (DNS), a senior Bush administration official said this week. But while it might let go of the coordination role for names such as those ending […]
UK Music Groups Seek Copyright Licences and Levies for Digital Content 13/07/2006 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch The United Kingdom independent music sector wants content distributors to pay creators for transmitting their works over the Internet, mobile phones and other devices. At a 12 July London roundtable headed by the Association of Independent Music (AIM), indie labels, composers, songwriters, musicians, managers, publishers and collecting societies […]
Governments and Intellectual Property Community Fight For Open Whois Access 06/07/2006 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Should everybody who registers an Internet domain name be forced to publish his private address, email address and phone number on the Internet? A storm broke out over the question of the so-called Whois data at the meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) […]
Centre Highlights Brazil’s Leadership In IP, Free/Open Source Issues 22/05/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Debates over the intellectual property system, access to knowledge, and free and open source software are raging worldwide, but perhaps nowhere so much as in Brazil. And in that country, one forum for debate and analysis that stands out is the Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) Law School in Rio de Janeiro. Located at the FGV […]
France Forges Ahead With Copyright Law 16/05/2006 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch The French Senate on 10 May approved legislation aimed at aligning the country’s intellectual property law with the European Union Copyright Directive. The Senate package differs in several key respects from the one adopted in March by the National Assembly but is equally controversial, stakeholders said. The Senate-passed […]
WIPO To Proceed On Broadcasting Treaty Talks Without Webcasting 05/05/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Negotiators at the World Intellectual Property Organization today scheduled another meeting on a proposed broadcasters’ rights treaty before deciding whether to recommend a full negotiation. They also took the significant step of putting an unpopular proposal to include webcasting in the treaty on a separate, later negotiating track. The conclusion of the five-day meeting of […]
WIPO Broadcasting Treaty Talks Off To Slow Start As Opponents Grow 02/05/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment On the second day of a weeklong meeting at World Intellectual Property Organization on copyright issues, there is little indication so far whether member governments will recommend the full negotiation of a treaty boosting the protection of broadcasts, according to participants. At stake in the 1-5 May meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyrights and […]
Universities See “Disastrous Effects” For Education, Science In German Copyright Reform 30/03/2006 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch A German scientist who would like to read an online book owned by another department of his university soon may have to travel to the department and read it on site instead if a proposed copyright law is passed. “I will not be able to just use our […]
Potential WIPO Reform Discussed At Consumer Conference 22/03/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment BRUSSELS – A consumer-led conference on intellectual property touched on a wide range of issues during its second day, from whether the $9 physical production costs of CDs are saved through digital distribution, to what would be an ideal reform of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Antony Taubman, who heads the traditional knowledge division […]