Once again, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has published its ‘Intellectual Property Roadmap’ which lists the global intellectual property issues of interest for its constituency, i. e. the business world. The 2014 version is available here.
We have already referred to previous issues of this ICC Roadmap on IPditIT (see here and here).
This Roadmap intends to raise the visibility of several IP-related issues for the attention of policymakers. It is on those issues that the ICC members are likely to lobby governments as well as international or European bodies dealing with IP (such as the WIPO, WTO, OHIM, EPO, etc.).
To have a good understanding about the debates around IP in the international context and in particular on the two sides of the Atlantic, it is worth to compare the business view with the position of the “civil society”, in particular the consumers (see for instance the IP Policy Committee blog of the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue or TACD).
It would be interesting to have your view on what appears to be the most important global IP-related issue according to you. By ‘important’, I mean an issue with societal impact. You might in particular consult the last section of the ICC Roadmap entitled “Interaction between intellectual property and other policy areas” (p. 69-79). Of course, you should as well have a look at what other interested parties say (on top of the TACD, you could have a look at the concerns expressed by Médecins sans frontières, Tranparency International, Oxfam and other NGOs). You could distinguish this issue of high public interest with a more technical issue flagged by the ICC (and which is important for the well-functioning of the IP system).
Of course, it is an open question. It is important that you give some arguments as to why the issue you select is important.
Let’s see what you come with!
