WIPO Development Agenda Coordination Seizes Up; Projects Approved 27/11/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment As the first flurries of snow gave Geneva a foretaste of winter, delegates yesterday ended a week of negotiations in the World Intellectual Property Organization committee overseeing implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda. They agreed on some projects and postponed discussions on others until the next session, but remained frozen without agreement on details of the coordination mechanism for Agenda implementation. Numerous corridor discussions and informal meetings did not help the process.
Study Of Public Domain, Copyright At WIPO Offers Recommendations 26/11/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 9 Comments A better definition of the public domain is needed, but copyright and public domain are not antagonistic, said a study commissioned by the World Intellectual Property Organization presented this week. Also this week, a book on the role of copyright in access to knowledge in Africa was launched.
Friction Arises Over WIPO Development Agenda Coordination 25/11/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week are working through details of projects related to boosting the UN agency’s development orientation. But simultaneous closed, informal meetings on a mechanism for coordinating WIPO Development Agenda activities have proven more difficult, as developed countries try to contain the spread of the development committee’s influence – and work through their own differences, according to sources.
Should WIPO Lead Creation Of A Global Repertoire Database? 22/11/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch and William New 2 Comments To solve many of the dilemmas facing copyright holders in the digital age, some say the World Intellectual Property Organization must create and administer an international repertoire database, compiling information about who owns what rights related to specific artistic works.
WIPO Works On Its Development Agenda Implementation This Week 22/11/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Members of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization this week are in discussions on how to ensure that WIPO activities are development-oriented. A particular focus will be the implementation of a Development Agenda coordination mechanism approved at the last session in May. Also new on the table this week is an agenda item on development-related issues and a proposal for a new project on cooperation between developing countries.
Global Copyright Licensing Doubts And What To Do About Them 22/11/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch and William New Leave a Comment What do the fearsome leader of France’s three-strikes agency, a top Microsoft counsel, Google’s copyright counsel, a free software activist, Egyptian and British librarians, a South American development-oriented academic, and a European music authors’ representative have in common? While one might be tempted to say, ‘very little’, a recent gathering showed one thing – they represent the very wide range of current views on the future of copyright licensing.
Making The Case For Responsible Science For A Safe Environment 19/11/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Innovation or “jugaad” has always driven the Indian economy. However, the last decade has been witness to an emerging paradigm shift to high-quality value-added innovation, writes industry lawyer Sunita K. Sreedharan.
WIPO Copyright Committee Agrees To Extra Time On Visually Impaired Access 15/11/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments The World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee has reached an eleventh-hour agreement on a work programme that could help ease access to reading materials for the visually impaired.
WIPO Copyright Committee In Fight To Overcome Differences On Exceptions, Limitations 12/11/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments On the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on copyright’s final day of weeklong negotiations, the hopes of visually impaired readers and others – librarians, schools – looking for an agreement on copyright exceptions and limitations hang on whether delegates can resolve differences and create a plan for future work.
Global Copyright Reform — A View From The South In Response To Lessig 12/11/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch 7 Comments “Given that global copyright rules have acquired such a pervasive impact in many facets of our lives, their reform needs to take place through an open, inclusive and participatory consultation process where ‘all of us’ have a say,” writes Ahmed Abdel Latif.