Germany: Fight Escalates Over Copyright Fee For Computers 17/08/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The fight between German collecting rights societies and hardware companies is escalating. This week the CEO of the society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights, Harald Heker, heavily criticised the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), claiming it was denying authors and artists […]
IP, Content Delivery Key To Telecom-Broadcasting Convergence 17/08/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New with Pravir Palayathan Content delivery and telecommunications are becoming rapidly intertwined in a “converging” world, bringing new opportunities but also likely leading to a dogfight among the high number of networks platforms for content delivery currently available, according to experts. “Not every horse can win the race at the same time, and there is a lesson there for ‘convergence’,” David Wood, head of new media at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), told Intellectual Property Watch. “Every day a new means of providing media to the public seems to come out of the woodwork, all convinced they will be popular, valuable, and make a lot of money. But it can’t happen. There will be winners and losers.” The EBU hosted a 21-22 June “meeting of high-level experts” jointly with the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU). “Our hope in organising the conference jointly with the EBU and ITU was to bring this into focus; and, if we accept that not everything can be successful, to see through to which would be more likely to succeed,” said Wood.
US Elevates WTO IP Case Against China By Seeking Panel 13/08/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The United States has asked the World Trade Organization to take to the next level a case it filed on China’s intellectual property rights protection after four months of consultations did not lead to the desired results, the US Trade Representative (USTR) said. The case on copyright and trademark protection […]
La criminalisation des importations parallèles deviendra-t-elle réalité ? 13/08/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Par Monika Ermert pour Intellectual Property Watch Le Parlement européen s’est prononcé contre la criminalisation des importations parallèles de marchandises dans le cadre de la proposition de directive de l’Union européenne relative aux mesures pénales visant à assurer le respect des droits de propriété intellectuelle (IPRED 2). Pourtant, ces nouvelles importations de produits commercialisés dans […]
Recording Industry Faces Uphill Legal Battle In P2P Network Fight 13/08/2007 by Bruce Gain for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Bruce Gain for Intellectual Property Watch The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and other associations representing record labels are facing significant challenges in their efforts to enforce European Union copyright laws against unauthorised downloads of music files over peer-to-peer networks. It remains to be seen whether the EU Copyright Directive and other EU mandates, as well as thousands of lawsuits filed against downloaders, will be enough to contain file sharing in the EU. Different degrees of enforcement and the reluctance of some criminal courts to convict so-called “music pirates” in the different EU states can make it difficult for recording industry groups to successfully seek court remedies against individuals who illegally download copyrighted files.
Modificación de la directiva de la UE sobre observancia podría penalizar las importaciones paralelas 09/08/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Por Monika Ermert para Intellectual Property Watch El Parlamento Europeo ha votado en contra de la penalización de la importación paralela de artículos en la directiva propuesta en la Unión Europea sobre medidas penales destinadas a garantizar la observancia de los derechos de propiedad intelectual (IPRED2). Sin embargo, estas reimportaciones de artículos comercializados por los […]
Rejected Novartis Cases Leave India’s TRIPS Compliance Unchallenged 07/08/2007 by Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch As Indian lawyers for Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis comb through a High Court judgment published today, the question of whether the Indian patent law is compliant with a World Trade Organization treaty remains unanswered. The judgment, from the Indian High Court in Chennai, threw out two highly contentious […]
Mobile, IT Industries Form Patent Pool-Style Scheme 06/08/2007 by Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch Some of the biggest names in the mobile phone industry have joined forces to share intellectual property but have stopped short of establishing the mobile industry’s first patent cooperative, known as a patent pool. Intel, Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Qualcomm are among the manufacturers that have agreed to […]
Change To EU Enforcement Directive Could Criminalise Parallel Imports 03/08/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The European Parliament has voted against criminalising parallel imports of goods in the proposed European Union directive on criminal measures aimed at ensuring the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRED2). Yet these re-imports of products marketed by rights holders in other countries may be criminalised if Parliament does not change a “cleaned-up” draft text of the directive that has quietly emerged, sources say. The directive is a follow-up to the IP Enforcement Directive (2004/48/EC, IPRED1) passed by the EU in 2004 and will add criminal sanctions against piracy and counterfeiting of a commercial scale. Both IPRED1 and IPRED2 brought about fierce debates about how far protection of intellectual property should go in Europe.
US Congressional Panel Mulls Royalty Right For Songs On Radio 31/07/2007 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Well-loved American performers, members of Congress and the US Register of Copyrights squared off Tuesday against the country’s powerful broadcast lobby in a bid to change US copyright law to reward artists for songs played on terrestrial radio stations. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and […]