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The European Parliament today voted overwhelmingly in favour of a demand to be kept fully informed about the secretive Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement under negotiation by the European Commission and about a dozen countries outside Europe. Parliament also opposed controversial provisions such as personal searches at European borders and cutting internet access for anyone found infringing copyright online three times.

The backlog in patent processing could impose £7.6 billion (about USD$11.3 billion) in annual expenses on the global economy within the next five years if nothing is done to fix it, according to a new economics study from the United Kingdom released this morning before directors of several top global intellectual property offices.

Sous l’égide de la Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films (FIAPF), deux cinéastes africains, invités au festival annuel genevois Black Movie, ont tenu à partager leurs idées sur le dynamisme du cinéma africain et la protection du droit d’auteur.

Bill Pollock is the president and founder of No Starch Press, which publishes books on computing. Known to offer the “finest in geek entertainment,” the publishing house has released such titles as “Steal This Computer Book,” “How Linux Works,” “Hacking: The Art of Exploitation,” “The Cult of Mac,” and “The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide.” Its books are largely about hacking, open source, security, programming, and non-Windows-based operating systems, such as Linux. Mr. Pollock shared his thoughts with Intellectual Property Watch about hacking, piracy, and future of the book publishing business.

The United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) today released an annual report on information and communications technologies that prompted it to push governments to support continued investment in network rollouts and technology upgrades while pursuing regulations that support still-growing demand for mobile and broadband services. ITU issued its 10th edition of Trends in Telecommunication Reform, [...]

A representative of Google and of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union today spoke of internet freedom in repressive regimes and censorship in Western democracies.

A recent UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) conference on the benefits of agricultural biotechnologies in Guadalajara, Mexico, sparked strong reactions from peasant organisations and civil society.

Electronics manufacturers are taking legal action against users in the United States who communicate how to unlock or “hack” hardware devices. However, manufacturers’ use of their hired legal guns to crack down on hacking, which they say infringes on their intellectual property ownership rights, is a point of debate.

The United Nations goal of eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS is within reach, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said in a progress report released today.

Today the Brazilian government published a list of US goods that will be subject to higher import taxes when entering Brazil, according to a press release. This follows a WTO dispute settlement decision giving Brazil the authorisation to suspend Brazil’s concessions and other obligations in the WTO towards the US which was found in violation of [...]

Submissions to the United States annual review of how well it says the rest of the world is protecting US intellectual property are being assessed this week, with marked changes from previous years.

The World Trade Organization group tasked with negotiating an international register for geographical indications (product names associated with a particular place and characteristics) on wines and spirits will continue to discuss a set of questions and principles about the GI register. The group met yesterday in a formal Special Session. But positions of member states [...]

United States Senate Judiciary Committee bipartisan leaders today released details of much-anticipated compromise legislation aimed at reform of US patent laws. The new bill ostensibly makes significant steps toward resolving longstanding differences in legislative efforts to modernise US law for patent quality and efficiency, and make it more compatible with international laws.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation yesterday submitted a petition to the United States Federal Communications Commission demanding the FCC fill a loophole in its internet regulations that could allow for internet filtering of allegedly copyright infringing content. The petition accompanies a more extensive set of comments [pdf] on proposed FCC rules on internet neutrality, also sent to [...]

A letter from the United States government answering a variety of sticky questions about the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been released online. The 28 January letter is addressed to Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat, Oregon) from US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch The German Constitutional Court today declared German data retention legislation a violation of the fundamental right to privacy of correspondence and telecommunication (Article 10 of the German constitution). The law that is a transposition of the EU data retention directive from 2006 therefore is null and void, said the [...]

The World Trade Organization group on intellectual property rights met today and ended early, discussing a potential workshop on an amendment intended to ease access to cheaper generic medicines in countries without a pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, a new proposal from Bolivia and three separate longstanding IP issues with no major changes.

A new document on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) under negotiation has been circulated online. While it is unclear who it was leaked to, a copy of it is available here [pdf]. Apparently a working document from the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union to its delegations, it contains a comparative table of [...]

The Administrative Council of the Munich-based European Patent Organisation on 1 March elected Benoît Battistelli of France as next president of the European Patent Office (EPO), starting on 1 July. Battistelli is director general of the French National Institute of Industrial Property. He will succeed Alison Brimelow of the United Kingdom, and will serve a [...]

World Trade Organization members this week will hear a report on an informal meeting on an amendment to intellectual property trade rules intended to allow easier access to medicines, which some argue has had a flawed design from its inception.