Global Health R&D: Evidence, Priorities, Coordination 29/05/2017 by Mara Pillinger for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment World Health Assembly Agenda Item 13.5 is descriptively-yet-uninformatively labelled “Follow-up of the report of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG).” But that anodyne title actually masks an important milestone in the World Health Organization’s long-running efforts to increase R&D around neglected diseases and diseases of poverty.
WIPO Launches Strategic Plan 2017-2021 For Re:Search Program 25/05/2017 by Elise De Geyter for Intellectual Property Watch and William New Leave a Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization this week has striven to show its commitment to contributing to the debate on intellectual property and health, and the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, through advancement of its Re:Search program for the next five years.
Exceptions To Copyright, Protection Of Broadcasters – Entangled Subjects At WIPO 09/05/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Efforts by the newly elected chair of the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee, and ongoing studies and initiatives commissioned by WIPO to move past irreconcilable differences on limitations and exceptions to copyright, had little effect last week in terms of agreeing a work programme. However, the committee agreed to ask the WIPO secretariat to propose a draft action plan on those items, and also adopted a new version of a text on the protection of broadcasting organisations. But there was no agreement on recommending to the annual General Assemblies in October to convene a diplomatic conference to finish negotiations on a broadcasting treaty.
YouTube And Others Hide Behind Safe Harbours, Bigger Threat Than Piracy, Music Industry Tells WIPO 04/05/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments If piracy is still very much a concern of the music industry, the growing shadow of free online streaming platforms, in particular YouTube, has now become a bigger stinger, according to speakers from the industry at an event at the World Intellectual Property Organization on 2 May. Hiding behind safe harbour legislations originally designed to protect internet service providers from being responsible for unlawful downloading by users, YouTube and other such platforms are threatening the industry and the artists, they said.
WIPO Copyright Committee This Week: Broadcasting, Exceptions, Resale Rights, Digital Environment 01/05/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A packed week is underway for the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee. Delegates are hoping to find agreement on core principles of a treaty protecting broadcasting organisations’ rights, and continue work on possible limitations and exceptions to copyright for education, libraries, and research. In addition, they will decide if they want to work on the issue of resale right, and will consider copyright in the digital environment.
Industry Group Nears Completion Of List Of Geographical Indications Worldwide 14/04/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment A private sector project to identify and compile all geographical indications in the world in a database is expected to be completed in the fall. The compilation is aimed at helping intellectual property professionals, trademark owners, and other users in their decision-making, and will be freely available, according to the organization for an international Geographical Indications Network (oriGIn). There is currently no international register of GIs.
Developing Countries Weigh Restarting Talks For TRIPS Amendment On Biological Resources 29/03/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment NEW DELHI, India — Biopiracy is ongoing in many developing countries, and as long as there are no international obligations for patent applicants to disclose the origin of the genetic resources or traditional knowledge they use, the issue will endure, according to speakers at a recent conference in New Delhi. The broken conversation at the World Trade Organization needs to be rekindled so that an international regime of protection is set up, they said.
Country Names As IP, Geographical Indications, Industrial Designs At WIPO Next Week 23/03/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment What can you do if you are a country and a private company has registered your name as a trademark, preventing even your own companies from using your name? The issue is expected to be discussed at next week’s World Intellectual Property Organization’s committee on trademarks. The meeting also includes a special session illustrating practices of national and regional protection of geographical indications. However, the question remains whether or not delegates will discuss a draft treaty text on industrial designs, after that conversation was pushed back in the fall.
Brazilian Legend Celso Amorim Recounts Negotiation For TRIPS Flexibilities 16/03/2017 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Minister Celso Amorim of Brazil has had a significant impact on the state of global negotiations in his professional lifetime, including on global intellectual property rights.
Revelations Illustrate Aggressive CIA Hacking, Sloppy Security Of Smart Services 08/03/2017 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Thought about buying a smart phone, smart TV, smart car? – think twice. Wikileaks today (7 March) released over 8,000 documents illustrating hacking activities of the Central Intelligence Agency, CIA. In what has been described by some commentators as a bigger leak than the Snowden revelations about the National Security Agency in 2013, the whistleblower platform allowed a glimpse into the CIA hacking into smart TVs and smartphones and presented a list of zero day vulnerabilities found, bought and sometimes shared with colleagues in other agencies, including British colleagues. Wikileaks announced that today’s leak was the “Year Zero” tranche of the much bigger “Vault 7” project: more redacted details from the documents and much more documents will be published.