Intellectual Property Watch

The UN World Health Organization Executive Board opened its annual January meeting today with a substantive agenda of reform, election, and a variety of issues that touch on intellectual property rights, research and development and innovation. And with the organization in reform and funding straits in a rapidly changing world, the director general stressed the agency’s steadfast approach and role in addressing the increasing global inequality between rich and poor. Related Articles:

• WHO Board Backs Reform Plan For UN Agency
• WHO Board Lays Out Steps To UN Agency’s Reform
• New Rules Eyed For Election Of WHO Director General

The turning of a new year offers the opportunity to catch up on a range of recent personnel changes in the international IP policy and legal communities. Related Articles:

• Autumn Brings Personnel Changes In Geneva
• Change In USPTO Representation At WIPO Could Reflect Shift In Priorities
• People: New Lead For US Global IP Policy; KEI Lawyer To MSF; Copyright Kings In Washington

Among Denmark's many priorities for its six-month presidency of the European Union which started this month are advancing intellectual property rights, international trade, research and innovation. IP issues include a unitary EU patent, trademark rules modernisation, and orphan works legislation. Related Articles:

• G8 Highlights Internet, IP Rights, Innovation, WIPO
• Europe Calls For Radical Change On Innovation; EU Patent In Works
• Partnership To Share Research, Keep IP Rights, On Neglected Diseases

US President Obama today announced a proposal to combine six government agencies working in areas of international trade and economics, aimed at boosting efficiency. This includes the Commerce Department, which currently houses the US Patent and Trademark Office, and it appears it would affect the USPTO. Related Articles:

• USPTO Issues Proposed Rules Implementing America Invents Act
• USPTO, Small Businesses Talk Patent Reform, Harmonisation, Fee Diversion
• New White House IP Advisory Committees Elevate IP Enforcement To Highest Level

This year could bring major changes in US intellectual property law. Congress and the nation’s courts will be confronting a variety of issues that have broad ramifications for copyrights, trademarks and patents. Here are some of the top developments to watch in 2012. Related Articles:

• Multiple Defendants In Patent Infringement Filing Under New US Law
• Tech Industry Sees Harm To Internet In US “Rogue Website” Bill
• Most-Read IP-Watch Posts Of 2011 Tell Story Of International IP Policymaking

In a move public health advocates say is likely to bring negative consequences for low-income patients with HIV and AIDS, as well as negative publicity for the company, Johnson & Johnson recently announced that it would not enter into negotiations with the Medicines Patent Pool for voluntary licences that would allow several of key treatments to be made in more affordable generic form in developing countries. Related Articles:

• Medicines Patent Pool Aims To Increase Access To HIV Drugs In Developing Countries
• Medicines Patent Pool Boosts HIV Drug Prospects With First Licence
• Open Access Database Of Key HIV Patents Launched By Medicines Patent Pool

The next round of negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement is expected to be held in March in Australia, but secretive intersessional meetings on a variety of topics are being held in the meantime. Meanwhile, the Canadian government is considering joining the TPP talks, and is asking for public comments on the idea by 14 February. Related Articles:

• US Chamber Urges Highest IP Standards In Trans-Pacific Trade Pact
• ACTA Still Open To Interpretation, Legal Experts Say; Transparency Fight Ongoing
• Canada Considers Amendment To Compulsory Licensing Regime For Medicines Access

On the eve of the start of the application period for new generic top level domains (gTLDs) on the internet, the chair of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Steve Crocker, described the program as a "major step in the globalisation of the internet." For the first time there will be equal access and an equal invitation to users from all over the world to have generic domain names, Crocker said at the National Press Club in Washington, DC today. Related Articles:

• ICANN Board Approval Opens Internet To Many New Domains
• ICANN Warns US Not To Undermine Multistakeholder Model
• UN, IMF, WTO, Other Organizations Raise Concern About New Domains

Current global institutional reforms of agricultural innovation systems and the commodification of crop diversity are not answering concerns regarding international equity in access to plant genetic resources, the handling of agricultural research, and the sharing of benefits arising from this research, according to a new book by Claudio Chiarolla, research fellow at the Paris-based Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI). Related Articles:

• International Seed Treaty Hears Concerns Of Corporate Concentration, DNA Patenting
• UN Rapporteur On Food Offers Long-Term Answer To Food Crisis: Agroecology
• WIPO Seminar: IP Is Spearhead Of Agricultural Innovation, Solution To Food Shortage

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is launching a large expansion of the available top-level domains on the internet on 12 January, has told international organisations the expansion will not hurt them. Related Articles:

• WIPO Says Cybersquatting Filings Sharply Up, Watches ICANN’s Domain Name Expansion
• UN, IMF, WTO, Other Organizations Raise Concern About New Domains
• US Gets Threatening Over ICANN’s New Internet Domain Plan

A new report from the United States Department of Commerce on competitiveness and innovation details the US need to boost innovation in order to compete globally and grow the economy. But while it stresses the need for strong intellectual property rights enforcement to create high-priced monopolies as an incentive for innovation, it also acknowledges that access to inexpensive technology and ideas is key to innovation and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it shows that the rise in IP rights in recent years has been accompanied by a drop in innovation. Related Articles:

• US ITC Report On China Piracy Shows Billions In Losses: Senators Demand Action
• Special Report – US IP Attachés Report On Strategies Abroad
• TRIPS Amendments Needed To Restore Balance In IP, Researchers Say

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published four notices of proposed rulemaking implementing provisions of the patent reform law signed last year. The issuance of the rules, which came ahead of schedule, opens a 60-day comment period on the draft rules. Related Articles:

• America Invents Act Forges Ahead; Concerns Remain About First-To-File, Other Provisions
• USPTO In Obama’s Proposed Consolidation Of Trade-Related US Agencies?
• USPTO Director Kappos Outlines A Pro-Active, Value-Driven Patent Office

The sudden change in officials in charge of international policy at the United States Patent and Trademark Office could reflect shifting priorities at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Related Articles:

• As Bilateral Trade Deals Proceed, WIPO Hears Warnings, Calls For Change
• US Copyright Office Releases Priorities For Next Two Years
• USPTO In Obama’s Proposed Consolidation Of Trade-Related US Agencies?

The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has announced its support for additional policies for new generic top-level domains on the internet, with conditions. The Commerce Department agency will stick to the 12 January start of the application period for new domains, but it has requested that the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) take additional precautions when opening up the process. Related Articles:

• UN, IMF, WTO, Other Organizations Raise Concern About New Domains
• ICANN Board Approval Opens Internet To Many New Domains
• ICANN Warned Again In The US On New Internet Domains

The dates have been set for this year's high-level negotiation for a treaty on audiovisual performances at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Related Articles:

• WIPO To Negotiate Audiovisual Treaty In Beijing In Summer 2012
• In Boost To Multilateral System And WIPO, Audiovisual Treaty Set For 2012 Completion
• WIPO Calls On Film Industry Stars To Promote Audiovisual Treaty

A "call for evidence" has been issued for an independent feasibility study on developing a Digital Copyright Exchange in the United Kingdom. Members of the "creative industries" are being asked to respond to the assertion made in a preceding study by Professor Ian Hargreaves that the current copyright licensing system is not fit for the digital age, as well as definitions used by Hargreaves. Related Articles:

• UK Copyright Modernisation Effort Picks Up Steam
• EU’s Kroes Calls For New Thinking On Copyright System
• Copyright Infrastructure In The Digital Age: Raising Awareness At WIPO

The most-read Intellectual Property Watch stories of 2011 demonstrated the versatility and range of our readers from around the globe, from an intense focus on international and national copyright issues to bilateral and plurilateral free trade agreements, to issues in India and Brazil, patent laws, patents in agriculture, scientific knowledge, and of course, policies emerging in Geneva at the World Intellectual Property Organization, World Trade Organization, World Health Organization and elsewhere at the multilateral level. Most of all, they tell the story of the year gone by, with clear signals of what's to come in 2012. Related Articles:

• An Urgent Letter From Intellectual Property Watch
• Indigenous Peoples Won’t Be “Wished Away” In Traditional Knowledge Treaty Talks
• Europe’s Outlook For 2011: EU Patent, Digital Content, Innovation And Free Trade

The European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee approval this week of a single patent for participating European Union members sets the stage for a February plenary vote in Parliament. But members’ inability to agree on where to locate the new unified patent litigation court means the Polish presidency won’t get to see finalisation of the process that will now head into 2012 under the guidance of Denmark. Related Articles:

• Proposals For Single EU Patent Issued; Doubts About EU Patent Court Remain
• EPO, European Commission Renew Commitment To Unitary Patent
• ‘Long Overdue’ US Patent Reform Deal Reached; House Could Vote This Week

The Geneva-based International Publishers Association today joined organisations demanding that the interim Egyptian government stop attacks on an Egyptian publisher, and uphold the internationally recognised right to freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of assembly and association. Related Articles:

• UN Expert: No Government Internet Restrictions For Political Reasons, IPRs
• US ITC Report On China Piracy Shows Billions In Losses: Senators Demand Action
• In Egypt, Director Of Famed Library Of Alexandria Under Fire

With a recent decision by the Agriculture and Fishery Council of the European Union, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) seems to have made a big leap forward. And with recent breakthroughs in other countries, ACTA’s final hurdle may be in the European parliaments. Related Articles:

• Mexican Senate Urges Rejection Of ACTA
• New “Final” ACTA Text Published, Open For Signature
• Parliament Study: ACTA Not Fully In Line With EU Rules