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Intellectual Property Law

Intellectual Property Watch

Reports on the interests and behind-the-scenes dynamics that influence the design and implementation of international intellectual property policies.
By Intellectual Property Watch

Post Frequency: 15.8/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 09:41:17

Would US Senate Patent Reform Bill Harmonise US Law With The World?

Posted on March 15, 2011
The bill to reform United States patent law recently passed by the Senate purports to bring US law closer to laws of other major patent-filing nations. But how close would it come? Related Articles:Are The Stars Aligned For US Patent Reform This Year? US, WIPO Officials Assess Patent Reform, PCT, Copyright Priorities US Senate Patent Reform Steps Forward

New Leadership At Brazil’s Copyright Office Raises Questions

Posted on March 14, 2011
The head of the Brazilian intellectual property office was recently removed by the new Culture minister, replaced by an official who has some wondering if a swing toward stronger copyright protection is in the works for the government. Related Articles:US Online Counterfeit Crackdown Raises Global Policy Questions Retired US Copyright Chief On Copyright Clearance Center Board Inside Views: Brazil’s Copyright Reform: Schizophrenia?

Draft Review Finds No WHO Malfeasance On Pandemics

Posted on March 14, 2011
The draft report of the committee reviewing the World Health Organization's actions in response to the 2009 spread of H1N1, or swine flu, has been issued. Looks like the WHO may be cleared. Related Articles:WHO Review Of Pandemic Flu Response Underway Chan Denies Pharma Influence As WHO Review Proceeds WHO Undertakes Independent Review Of Its Pandemic Flu Efforts

International Seed Treaty Hears Concerns Of Corporate Concentration, DNA Patenting

Posted on March 14, 2011
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture is holding the fourth regular session of its Governing Body this week in Bali, Indonesia. Related Articles:International Experts See Backswing In Pendulum Of Biological Patenting New Draft Biodiversity Treaty Text Shows Much Work Remains; Co-Chairs Hopeful NGOs: Biopiracy Ongoing As Governments Slowly Negotiate International Instrument

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Copyright System Must ?Adapt Or Perish,? WIPO Director Says

Posted on March 14, 2011
The traditional copyright system?s balance for encouraging yet controlling access to copyrighted works in order to extract value for them has met with a destructive force in the internet that it cannot overcome without changing itself, the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization said recently in a landmark speech...

IP Enforcement Permeates ICANN, US Internet Policy

Posted on March 13, 2011
The push for ever more far-reaching intellectual property enforcement in the domain name system was heavily criticised at a conference of the Non-Commercial Users' Constituency (NCUC) of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Friday...

EU Takes Actions On Patent Law; ACTA May See Legal Fight

Posted on March 12, 2011
In a flurry of patent-related developments in Europe this week, plans for a single European patent moved a step closer, efforts to create a European-wide patent court faltered, the United Kingdom sought guidance in a case with implications for medicinal research, and the EU high court may be asked to review the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)...

Caribbean IP: Establishing An Arbitral Tribunal For The Region

Posted on March 11, 2011
The use of arbitration across the Caribbean has been largely within the context of trade union disputes and is still something of a novelty in resolving commercial and private disputes in the region, Abiola Inniss writes. Related Articles:Fair Usage In Caribbean Intellectual Property Caribbean IP: Ensure Unending Local Protection Of Traditional Knowledge Intellectual Property Watch Thanks You For Your Support

World Blind Union Won?t Be Sidetracked In Quest For Treaty On Reading Access

Posted on March 10, 2011
In a significant development for ongoing copyright negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organization, the World Blind Union has distanced itself from initiatives it sees as distractions from a primary goal at the international level: To get agreement on a treaty promoting better access to reading material for visually impaired readers...

Vaccines Alliance Gets New CEO

Posted on March 10, 2011
A key Geneva-based public-private initiative to increase global vaccination has named a new CEO. Related Articles:TB Alliance And DNDi Team Up To Fight Neglected Diseases Study: Boon Of Drugs, Vaccines From Public Research IP & Traditional Cultural Expressions: An Unnatural Alliance?

Medicines Patent Pool Aims To Increase Access To HIV Drugs In Developing Countries

Posted on March 10, 2011
The newly created Medicines Patent Pool promises to increase access to HIV/AIDS medications in developing markets. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the pool operates a scheme in which pharmaceutical patent holders voluntarily licence their drugs to generic manufacturers who then produce more affordable versions for patients in poorer countries Related Articles:Unbiased HIV Patent Pool: A Free-Market, Middle-Income Countries Open Model UNITAID-Backed Patent Pool Final; Drug Licence Talks Can Begin Canada Considers Amendment To Compulsory Licensing Regime For Medicines Access

Law Firms Making Changes To IP Staff

Posted on March 09, 2011
A number of law firms and a key trademark industry group have made changes in recent weeks aimed at boosting their intellectual property practices. The International Trademark Association (INTA) named a new leader of its Washington, DC office to develop and implement the association?s government relations strategies in the United States...

Commerce Secretary Locke Nominated US Ambassador To China

Posted on March 09, 2011
US President Obama today nominated current US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to be ambassador to China. US intellectual property rights holders see it as a positive contribution to what they see as a fight against massive piracy and counterfeiting from China...

UN Rapporteur On Food Offers Long-Term Answer To Food Crisis: Agroecology

Posted on March 09, 2011
The annual report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, to the sixteenth session of the UN Human Rights Council yesterday is unequivocal. There must be a global agricultural shift toward more productive, environmentally friendly, sustainable modes of production, using natural resources to remediate world hunger, away from industrialised agriculture...

Free Press Changes Leaders

Posted on March 09, 2011
Free Press, a US non-profit working to reform media, announced that its president is stepping down after almost a decade, to be replaced by the current managing director in mid-April. Josh Silver, who is outgoing president and CEO, was a co-founder Free Press in 2002...

Media Piracy In Emerging Economies Report Stirs Debate

Posted on March 09, 2011
A large (440-page) new report on media piracy in emerging economies is stirring significant debate in internet copyright and open access circles, as it purports to turn rights owner assertions and the basis for developed country IP policy on their heads...

Canada Considers Amendment To Compulsory Licensing Regime For Medicines Access

Posted on March 08, 2011
The Canadian Parliament is on the verge of amending the nation?s patent regime to make it easier for generic drug companies to provide low-cost HIV medications for developing countries. Related Articles:TRIPS Council Discusses Efficacy Of ACTA, Public Health Amendment Would Canada-EU Trade Proposals Add $2...

New Director For Free Software Foundation

Posted on March 08, 2011
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has announced the appointment of a new executive director. Related Articles:Free Software Used To Fight Piracy, Broaden Knowledge Access In Ecuador Senior Changes At The Gates Foundation With An IP Twist USPTO Deputy Director To Leave Next Month

Governments, ICANN Still Deep In Negotiations Over New Internet Domains

Posted on March 07, 2011
BRUSSELS - In an arm-wrestling exercise, governments and the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) last week tried to reach common ground on intellectual property rights protection and governments' ability to intervene with applications for new top-level domains that they see as ?sensitive? or ?vulnerable? like ...

Panel: Help Needed With IP Implications Of Nagoya Protocol On Genetic Resources

Posted on March 07, 2011
The new international agreement on access and benefit-sharing of genetic resources has many IP implications, according to panellists at an event last week. And at least one United Nations agency is launching an effort to help countries with those IP implications...

US Panel Puts Google, Facebook, Communications Platforms On Human Rights Frontline

Posted on March 04, 2011
Recent events in the Arab region have brought the issue of access to the internet and social platforms sharply into the spotlight as governments have tried to block or limit internet access and cut millions of people from communication. A United States-hosted panel discussion in Geneva yesterday brought together representatives of Google, Facebook, and Access, a civil society group defending digital freedom...

In Brazil And The IP World, It’s Tropicalization Time!

Posted on March 04, 2011
Benny Spiewak writes: There used to be a time when Brazil meant almost exclusively Carnival, Samba and Soccer. Well, those days are over and there is an undeniable message that will echo through the knowledge-based, creative, innovative world: Wake-Up, World, It?s Tropicalization Time! Related Articles:Brazil And The Defence Of Public Health: Do As I Say, Not As I Do ITU In A Converging World: Interview With ITU Strategist Alexander Ntoko The US-Cotton Case: The Truth Behind Brazil?s Cross-Retaliation Against US Intellectual Property

WIPO Draft Treaty Text On Genetic Resources Joins Folklore, Traditional Knowledge

Posted on March 04, 2011
Country experts this week took up the challenge of doing the groundwork for negotiations towards a treaty on the protection of genetic resources at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Breaking uncharacteristically early on the final day today, the experts? work delivered a set of options reflecting all points of views for negotiators to work from...

Genetics Company Myriad May Shift From Patents To Proprietary Data

Posted on March 03, 2011
Myriad Genetics, a United States-based biotechnology company with exclusive patent rights over a key breast cancer diagnostic test in the US, may shift its patent strategy from its inventions to protecting its data in the face of drawn out litigation and upcoming competition, an industry journal has reported...

Draft WIPO Instrument On Genetic Resources Shows Lists Of Options

Posted on March 03, 2011
A new draft document was issued yesterday by a drafting group of experts at the World Intellectual Property Organization. The drafting group was in charge of cleaning up a text with aspirations to become a draft international instrument on the protection of genetic resources, and added a number of options for a possible treaty...

WTO Talks On Geographical Indications Unable To Achieve Lift-Off

Posted on March 03, 2011
World Trade Organization members on Thursday combed through a composite text displaying the different views on a mandated multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications on wines and spirits. The composite text was developed last week as the result of several informal meetings...

WHO Working Group Gives Guidelines To Fight Bad Medicines; IMPACT In Exile

Posted on March 03, 2011
After three days of intense negotiations on the role of the World Health Organization in the fight against low standard or falsified medicines, delegates provided recommendations for the UN agency. A subject of dissent was the relationship between the WHO and its taskforce against counterfeit medicines, with some countries calling for a suspension of the taskforce?s work, though in the end no consensus was found...

Patentable Subject Matter, IP Waiver For Health Discussed At WTO

Posted on March 02, 2011
Patentable subject matter was discussed this week at the World Trade Organization with entrenched positions, according to sources, and the momentum started in October on ways to improve a public health exception within the WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, appeared to have lost some steam...

Former Senator To Head Motion Picture Association

Posted on March 01, 2011
The Motion Picture Association of America, the influential US film industry group, has landed a highly regarded former US senator as its next chairman and chief executive officer. Related Articles:Wide Industry Coalition Backs US Internet Anti-Piracy Bill Both Sides Of US Copyright Wars Reloading For 2011 Worning Named Acting Head Of WHO IP Division

Public Input Sought In Review Of WIPO Technical Assistance

Posted on March 01, 2011
Public input is being sought this week for an external review of technical assistance provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). For years, questions have been raised over the fairness and appropriateness of the guidance and training provided to developing countries by WIPO provides, the UN agency whose aim is to promote protection of IP rights...

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