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Fresh air at WIPO, but old habits die hard
,----[ Quote ]
| The result of all this was that despite excellent high-level speakers from
| international organisations, the conference ended up mainly representing the
| positions of those who have long been in control at WIPO: Governments of the
| US, the EU and Japan, along with large industrial rightsholders. There were
| hardly any industry stakeholders from developing countries, and no public
| interest NGOs represented among the speakers.
|
| By not including the broader picture, WIPO has missed out on the best
| opportunity in years to demonstrate that it wants to play a productive role
| in helping humanity to manage its knowledge wisely. There clearly are good
| intentions in the organisation. Now WIPO only needs to act on them.
`----
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=241
WIPO can be seen as a 'front' mostly used by people in power and companies that
monopolise with pieces of paper. WTO is not as bad.
Recent:
D Ravi Kanth: A Trips-plus agenda at WIPO
,----[ Quote ]
| Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat itâ is a timely
| reminder for key actors who are bent on pushing failed agendas. As
| governments and multilateral institutions struggle to recover from a
| pervasive crisis of confidence stemming from the current political and
| economic climate, it is important to not make the same mistakes all over
| again. But the tendency is to cock a snook at such warnings.
|
| [...]
|
| Internally, the abrupt removal of Ram Kishan Singh, a junior official, who
| worked for nine years in the organisation with an outstanding record and the
| proposed reforms in the staffing pattern raise serious questions whether
| developing country officials are specific targets in the onward march of a
| renewed western IP agenda at WIPO!
`----
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/d-ravi-kanthtrips-plus-agenda-at-wipo/364449/
Chasing the WIPO representative
,----[ Quote ]
| I think Iâll try to follow up on this on Tuesday. The meeting will be long
| done by then and the treaty proposal probably clobbered, but itâs a worthy
| battle. The problem is, this entire exercise - while taking on 30 minutes -
| was like out of a bad episode of Yes, Minister. Organizations pointing at
| each other, despite best intentions, without anybody actually answering the
| question. In bureaucracies, the concept of democracy gets ignored once the
| elections are up and the bureaucrats take over the reins. I wrote a piece
| about bureaucracy earlier which, I think, illustrates this fairly well.
|
| The fact that delegates to conventions such as these have almost zero
| accountability to the people they claim to represent is a black mark on the
| idea of democracy. It is one of many things that I aim to fix.
`----
http://smari.yaxic.org/blag/2009/05/29/chasing-the-wipo-representative/
WIPO SCP/13 - some conclusions
,----[ Quote ]
| As also highlighted in FSFEâs interventions, these criteria allow for an
| assessment of the usefulness of the patent system for each individual area.
| It follows that areas in which these benefits do not materialise lack an
| economic rationale for patenting. An example for such an area is software,
| which had no innovative market failure prior to the introduction of patents,
| in which patents are useless for disclosure of new ideas, and in which legal
| counsels suggest that developers do not study patents in order to avoid
| claims of intentional infringement. So this study provides an analytical
| rationale behind statements such as the one by Bill Gates in 1991, which
| voices concern about the anti-innovative effect of patents in the field of
| software:
|
| Â Â âIf people had understood how patents would be granted when most of
| Â Â todayâs ideas were invented, and had taken out patents, the industry
| Â Â would be at a complete standstill today.â
|
| Application of this rationale in the policy setting process would allow to
| assess which areas can benefit from patents, and where more innovation can be
| had by excluding an area from the patent system. In parallel to the âBerne
| three-step testâ we have dubbed this the âthree step test for inclusion in
| the patent systemâ in our oral intervention.
`----
http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=302
FSFE statement at WIPO SCP/13 re/exceptions and limitations
http://blogs.fsfe.org/greve/?p=269
Videocast: Georg Greve on Software Patents
,----[ Quote ]
| The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on the
| Law of Patents discussed exceptions and limitations to patentability on 24
| March. Intellectual Property Watch spoke with Georg Greve of the Free
| Software Foundation Europe about exceptions on patents and software.
`----
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/03/30/georg-greve-on-software-patents-2/
Concerns Voiced At WIPO Over Potential Conflicts Between IP And Standards
,----[ Quote ]
| Government procurement could preference open or interoperable standards, said
| Latif. Binding obligations to disclose all relevant IP information on
| standards, as well as the involvement of competition authorities in work on
| standards to ensure anti-competitive practices are not used, could also help.
|
| Ultimately, said Greve, increasing the transparency of the system is useful.
`----
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/03/25/concerns-voiced-at-wipo-over-potential-conflicts-between-ip-and-standards/
WIPO Patent Committee To Consider Four New Reports, Global Challenges
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/03/20/wipo-patent-committee-to-consider-four-new-reports-global-challenges/
Concerns Voiced At WIPO Over Potential Conflicts Between IP And Standards
,----[ Quote ]
| âBoth patents and standards are instruments from the toolbox of innovation
| policy, but they are different instruments,â said Georg Greve of the Free
| Software Foundation Europe. âPatents,â he said, âare intended for private,
| personal use [while] standards are intended for public use.â
|
| âThey are diametrically opposed in practiceâ maximising one instrument
| invalidates the other,â he added.
`----
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/03/25/concerns-voiced-at-wipo-over-potential-conflicts-between-ip-and-standards/
Statement by the United States on patents and standards at WIPO patent
committee
,----[ Quote ]
| In the United States, antitrust enforcers seek to ensure that our markets are
| competitive by preventing agreements or mergers that create or increase
| market power, or unilateral actions that use existing market power to protect
| or expand a monopoly. Our focus is on preventing harm to the competitive
| process, not on ensuring competitors treat each other fairly. Therefore, we
| would strike the use of âfairâ wherever it appears before âfunctioning of the
| marketâ and when it modifies âcompetitionâ or âmarketâ.
`----
http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/03/25/united-states-position-patents-standards/
WIPO patent committee embarks on positive agenda
,----[ Quote ]
| The fact that the WIPO patent committee has decided to request the
| International Bureau studies on âexceptions from patentable subject matter
| and limitations to the rights, inter alia research exemption and compulsory
| licensesâ and âpatents and standardsâ is testament that the WIPO of 2008 is
| not the WIPO that invoked âIntellectual Property as a Power tool for
| Developmentâ.
|
| Here below is the Annex to the Summary by the Chair which lists the eighteen
| non-exhaustive list of issues for further elaboration and discussion in the
| future. This list includes such topics as âEconomic impact of the patent
| system, Alternative models for innovation, Patents and health (including
| exhaustion, the Doha Declaration and other WTO instruments, patent
| landscaping) and Relation of patents with other public policy issues.â
`----
http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wp&Itemid=39&p=124
WIPO will discuss a report on patents and open standards next week
,----[ Quote ]
| (iv) Open Standards
|
| 121. Among technology standards, there is particular interest for âopen
| standardsâ. While there is no universally accepted definition of that term,
| all open standards have the following common characteristics: (i) the
| specification is publicly available without cost or for a reasonable fee to
| any interested party; (ii) any IP rights necessary to implement the standard
| are available to all implementers on RAND terms, either with or without
| payment of a reasonable royalty or fee; and...
`----
http://www.digitalmajority.org/forum/t-68607/wipo-will-discuss-a-report-on-patents-and-open-standards-next-week
Related:
Copyright activists want Canada to avoid WIPO treaty
,----[ Quote ]
| The Canadian governmentâs affirmation for copyright reform in this monthâs
| throne speech could have implications on technological innovation as well as
| the open source community, according to industry activists. Â
`----
http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/Daily-News/bb377ddc-4972-4447-aa9f-3e75a8641bc1.html
Batik-Makers Say "Tidak" to Copyright
,----[ Quote ]
| Interestingly, this is very close to the situation for software. The batik
| motifs correspond to sub-routines: both are part of the commons that everyone
| draws upon; copyrighting those patterns is as counter-productive as patenting
| subroutines, since it makes further creation almost impossible
| without "infringement". This reduces the overall creativity - precisely the
| opposite effect that intellectual monopolists claim.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/07/batik-makers-say-tidak-to-copyright.html
Are Patents Intellectual Monopolies? You Decide
,----[ Quote ]
| Talking of intellectual monopolies, you may wonder why I use this term (well,
| if you've been reading this blog for long, you probably don't.) But in any
| case, here's an excellent exposition as to why, yes, patents are indeed
| monopolies...
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/07/are-patents-intellectual-monopolies-you.html
What Are Intellectual Monopolies For?
,----[ Quote ]
| We can't possibly have dveloping countries protecting their traditional
| medicine and national lore - "genetic resources, traditional knowledge and
| folklore" - from being taken and patented by the Western world. After all,
| companies in the latter have an inalienable right to turn a profit by
| licensing that same traditional knowledge it back to the countries it was
| stolen from (this has already happened). That's what intellectual monopolies
| are for.
`----
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/07/whats.html
Another Example Of Patents Putting Lives At Risk
,----[ Quote ]
| Given that Shafer refused to live up to the terms of the deal that he had
| never agreed to in the first place, ABL moved forward and sued Shafer
| directly, and that case is now ongoing -- even as Shafer hopes to invalidate
| the patent through the Patent Office itself. The whole thing is yet another
| story of how patents are being used to stifle innovation -- and sometimes put
| lives at risk. It's tragic that we've been seeing so many such stories
| lately.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090610/2202565196.shtml
Do Patents On Your Website Make You Liable For False Marking?
,----[ Quote ]
| One of the things that tends to keep patent lawsuits in check between two
| larger competing companies is the "patent nuclear war" scenario -- which is
| that if one company sues the other for patent infringement, the latter
| company often can hit back with an equal number of infringement charges.
| Thus, the incentives are for companies to stockpile lots of patents, but not
| necessarily use them... though it does happen occasionally.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090606/1139255152.shtml
The Patent Troll
,----[ Quote ]
| Spangenberg predicts a day when corporations and trolls will live in relative
| harmony. He estimates that in the near future, litigation will be taken out
| of the patent equation, and people will buy and sell intellectual property in
| a way similar to the method now used to buy and sell works of art: auctions
| with built-in criteria to determine value.
|
| He explains: âThe courts are intermediaries for patents right now, and the
| courts are extremely inefficient. Patents will trade as a commodity in the
| next five to six years, and what I do wonât even exist.
`----
http://www.good.is/post/the-patent-troll/
What Is A Patent Worth?
,----[ Quote ]
| Often, the value of a patent is not publicly known because parties often
| settle matters out of court. ÂOther times, the value of a patent becomes
| abundantly clear after a blockbuster court case. ÂFor example, a jury
| yesterday awarded nearly $1.7 billion to Johnson & Johnson, whose patent the
| jury determined was infringed by Abbott Laboratories' drug, Humira. ÂAbbott
| Labs plans to appeal the verdict.
`----
http://www.patentlawinsights.com/2009/06/articles/patent-valuation/what-is-a-patent-worth/
The Linux Defenders: Stop the Trolls, Protect Linux, Further Innovation
,----[ Quote ]
| Patent Trolls are an ever-growing threat to global innovation. These IP
| aggregators purchase low-quality patents and use them as leverage to hijack
| potential revenue and profits from hardware and software companies, our
| largest economic driver. This causes entrepreneurs to reconsider launching
| companies, while CEOs devote more of their time and resources to managing
| intellectual property. New online and offline tools and services are becoming
| available to combat Patent Trolls and enable technology companies to focus on
| their core business.
`----
http://www.linuxtag.org/2009/en/program/freies-vortragsprogramm/wednesday/details.html?talkid=582
Patent Litigation Weekly: PubPat and "Patent Troll" Make Strange Bedfellows
,----[ Quote ]
| Ravicher acknowledged that it seems strange for a lawyer affiliated with
| PubPatâeven as a volunteerâto have gone so far as to set up his own
| patent-holding company and then sued a group of major Internet players.
|
| "Dave, if you were to talk to him, heâd say software patents are good, and
| they incentivize innovation," says Ravicher. "Some people canât be friends
| with people who disagree with them. But Iâm friends with lots of people I
| have strenuous disagreements with."
|
| Asked whether he surprised by his friend's involvement in the business
| colloquially known as "patent trolling," Ravicher pauses, and then
| laughs. "Nothing surprises me these days."
`----
http://thepriorart.typepad.com/the_prior_art/2009/06/pubpat-and-patent-troll-make-strange-bedfellows.html
Former Microsoft Exec to Release Patent Troll Study
,----[ Quote ]
| The funny part is that this former executiveâs company makes its money by,
| you guessed it, collecting patents. The firm has yet to assert any of its
| rights in court, however.
`----
http://www.xchangemag.com/hotnews/former-microsoft-exec-to-release-patent-troll.html
Inventor says Google settles patent claim
,----[ Quote ]
| Google has agreed to settle an intellectual property claim brought by serial
| inventor Judah Klausner, who has won settlements in the past from Apple,
| Skype and LG Electronics, Klausner said on Monday.
|
| The dispute concerned patents that Klausner holds covering so-called visual
| voicemail, which makes voicemail work more like email by sending visual
| alerts of voice messages to computers or phones, allowing users to
| selectively retrieve the messages.
|
| Visual voicemail is a key feature of many of the latest touchscreen phones on
| the market, including Apple's iPhone. New York-based Klausner holds several
| patents relating to the technology in the United States, Europe and Asia.
|
| Klausner grabbed the attention of the mobile phone industry in late 2007 when
| his company, privately held Klausner Technologies Inc, sued Apple and six
| other companies for $360 million for violating patents on visual voicemail
| technology.
`----
http://aftereffects.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=680610
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