E-commerce services and digital economy - WIPO

One of the activities of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center is to promote a balanced legal framework for the protection of IP in the Internet Domain Name System (DNS).  The WIPO Center provides leadership in the development of dispute prevention and settlement, and options to address tensions arising from the unauthorized use of IP in the DNS.  Building on its more than 16 years of experience with over 36,500 domain name-related disputes, the WIPO Center continues to liaise with DNS stakeholders, including trademark owners and representatives, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and registration authorities.  This concerns in particular mechanisms for the protection of trademarks at the top and second levels in ICANN’s introduction and operation of new generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs).  In 2016, the WIPO Center continued to work with administrators of country-code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) around the globe, applying electronic, paperless dispute resolution policies for such domains including for Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs).

Fundamental changes have occurred in the global environment for creative works, which produce challenges and opportunities in the area of copyright where digital technology, the Internet and mobile applications are profoundly changing the culture and creative industries.  WIPO’s normative and policy related work is adapting to those changes guided by its Member States.  Emerging topics covered by WIPO activities include:  Apps, Internet Intermediaries, Software licensing including Open Source software, Video Games, and User Generated Content among others.  Furthermore, a specific “Proposal for Analysis of Copyright Related to the Digital Environment” is currently under consideration in the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCCR), and as a part of this process a “Scoping study on the impact of digital developments on the evolution of national legal frameworks over the last ten years” will be prepared by the end of 2017.