Technology Debated In UNFCCC Barcelona Talks; IP To Follow

By Catherine Saez

BARCELONA - After only a short break from the Bangkok climate talks, some 30 days before the Copenhagen climate change conference in December, delegates are back at the negotiating table for the last stretch of intense discussions.

ACTA Internet Chapter Leak Signals Far-Reaching Copyright Policy

By Kaitlin Mara

As governments negotiating the secretive Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) meet in Seoul this week, public interest concern has surfaced over leaked information on internet enforcement.

The leaks “confirm everything that we feared,” wrote Gwen Hinze of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “It’s bad. Very bad,” said Cory Doctorow, at influential blog BoingBoing.

It “provides firm confirmation that the treaty is not a counterfeiting trade, but a copyright treaty,” said University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist.

TWN IP Info: TRIPS Council Takes Up Public Health, TRIPS/CBD, Drug Seizure Issues

Geneva, 2 Nov (Kanaga Raja) -- WTO Members, at meetings of the regular TRIPS Council on 27-28 October, amongst others, agreed to recommend extending by another two years an end-of-year deadline for Members to accept an amendment to the TRIPS Agreement in relation to TRIPS and public health.

WIPO Power Struggle Looms Over Development Agenda Coordination

By William New

A struggle over the power and reach of the World Intellectual Property Organization Development Agenda may be looming as members of the UN agency begin to take control of implementation with differing views.

Medicines Access Again Captures Attention At WTO As Progress Urged In Round

By Kaitlin Mara

Access to medicine and preservation of biodiversity topped the agenda at the World Trade Organization Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Council meeting this week, as a new alleged drug seizure in France, a concern over a largely-unused amendment to TRIPS intended to help developing countries gain access to medicine, and a renewed mandate on biodiversity at the World Intellectual Property Organization influenced the issues on the table.

Disagreements Remain In WHO Talks On Virus-Sharing After Chan Proposal

By Kaitlin Mara

World Health Organization members this week offered views on the global system for virus- and benefit-sharing for pandemic influenza following recently proposed solutions by Director General Margaret Chan aimed at changing the current, ad-hoc model to a more predictable, sustainably-funded system.

Perpetual Protection Of Traditional Knowledge “Not On Table” At WIPO

By Kaitlin Mara

Protection of traditional knowledge under intellectual property rights may have a time limit, though determining duration of protection measures will be more difficult than it is with Western scientific innovation, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry said yesterday.

Advocates Warn Against ‘Monsantosizing’ Of Global Food Sources

By Catherine Saez

As the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food prepares to present his report today at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a global appeal is being filed by farmers and environmental organisations against patents on plants and animals derived from conventional breeding.

EU Meeting to Draft Recommendations on Open Access

Four members of the Enabling Open Scholarship (EOS) Board will be attending the invitation-only conference hosted by the European Commission this week in Brussels.

How Do We Ensure That Creative Content and Work Are Accessible to All?

By Alice Taylor

The 20th Century Has Gone

The 20th Century has gone, and now we live in the 21st Century, a digital century, but sometimes when we look around it feels like the same old world it always was.