A concise guide to this week’s Bell of the Week on the 30th anniversary of the WIPO Internet Treaties, two international IP events in September–October, and three time-sensitive academic and fellowship openings.
Bell of the Week revisits the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, adopted 20 December 1996, framing them as early attempts to update copyright for a digital age.
Three application deadlines this month: Guest Faculty empanelment at University of Delhi (2 Sept), Durham University Career Development Fellowship in Law (16 Sept), and Tech Policy Press Fellowship (24 Sept).
This week's Bell takes us back to 20 December 1996, when the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) were adopted in Geneva. This year marks 30 years of the WIPO Internet Treaties, two treaties that sought to bring international copyright law into the digital age. In 1996, there was no YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, streaming economy or generative AI.
The WCT extended copyright protection into the digital environment, while the WPPT strengthened the rights of performers and producers of phonograms in this new technological landscape. The changes were already made in 2012 congruent to the expansion of rights of authors in the digital world, be it the TPM provision under Section 65A or Rights Management Information under Section 65B. In many ways, these treaties were copyright law trying to answer a question that sounds very familiar today: what happens when technology changes faster than the law?
Bell of the Week: 30 Years of the WIPO Internet Treaties. What did copyright law look like when the Internet arrived? Looking back at them today is surprisingly interesting.
Welcome back to another week of Bells & Whistles. As always, we’ve rounded up a mix of developments, opportunities, and thoughtful reads from across the IP world along with a Bell of the Week that’s well worth revisiting. Bell of the Week: The Man Who Helped Build India’s Trademark Law Before every brand had a registra
Welcome back to another week of Bells & Whistles. As always, we’ve rounded up a mix of developments, opportunities, and thoughtful reads from across the IP world along with a Bell of the Week that’s well worth revisiting. Bell of the Week: Who Speaks for the Public Domain? Every now and then, I come across an organisat
Welcome back to another week of Bells & Whistles. As always, we’ve rounded up a mix of developments, opportunities, and thoughtful reads from across the IP world along with a Bell of the Week that’s well worth revisiting. Bell of the Week: When You Don’t Know the Name of the Trademark Every now and then, I come across
Kicking off September with an exciting week featuring posts on the latest guidelines by the Patent Office on the use of AI in patent examination, copyright strikes, the Calcutta High Court order in IPRS v. Hotel Appolo, the Copyright Office’s decision in the Thaler-Dabus case, and the Delhi High Court order in Hindusta
The $20 sessions at MECCAVERSITY run over three Thursday nights, and the ticket price is fully redeemable on MECCA products on the night.
Temple Rome's Fall 2026 Program Offers 20 Free Courses at Piazza di Spagna Temple University Rome is opening its doors to Rome's high school students this fall with a lineup of free pre-college workshops, giving teenagers a genuine sample of university-level instruction on the university's campus at Piazza di Spagna. T
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