The U.S. Copyright Office implemented its final GRNW rule on August 13, 2026, revising the definition of a qualifying “news website” for group registration of updates. The prior rule described eligible sites in terms broad enough to favor general-interest news outlets, including language suggesting coverage of all subjects rather than a limited field. The revised definition focuses instead on whether a website primarily provides written information about current events. In its final rule, the Office made clear that specialized publishers may qualify when they regularly report a range of...

The latest signals from WIPO’s 18th session of the Advisory Committee on Enforcement are more consequential than they first appear. WIPO’s official meeting pages confirm that ACE 18 in Geneva devoted substantial attention to digital piracy, intermediary responsibility, online blocking tools and AI-enabled enforcement, while the South Centre’s June 2026 statement argued that IP enforcement must remain development-oriented, proportionate and consistent with TRIPS flexibilities. Read together, those messages point to a sharper political divide over how far copyright enforcement in the digital...

According to a 14 July 2026 report by Spoor & Fisher, the Kenya IP Authority Bill, 2026 has been introduced in the National Assembly. It proposes merging the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI), the Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) and the Anti-Counterfeit Authority (ACA) into a single Kenya Intellectual Property Authority (KIPA), bringing patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright and anti-counterfeiting functions under one institutional framework. The bill also addresses mandatory IP recordation for imports, definitions for AI-assisted and AI-generated inventions, and a...

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) continues to advance the modernisation of the UK designs framework, with virtual and animated designs already identified as an area requiring closer treatment. For 3D digital assets such as virtual clothing, in-game vehicles and other digital objects, that policy direction makes the overlap between copyright and design protection more important in practice: the same asset may engage different rights where the relevant legal conditions are met, but those rights do not share the same thresholds, duration or scope.The practical risk is treating one...

South Africa’s draft national AI policy did not unravel because of a minor editorial slip. It was pulled because a policy meant to promote trustworthy AI was found to contain fictitious academic references, apparently generated without proper verification. The draft had been published for public comment on 10 April, was withdrawn by Minister Solly Malatsi on 26 April, and by 26 May the government was already promising a rewritten text through an independent expert panel, with fresh public consultation now targeted for January 2027.That timeline matters well beyond South Africa. For legal...

EUIPO has recently pushed the question of cumulated IP protection back to the centre of practice. Through its latest public-facing guidance and training, the Office has started to frame more clearly a question that businesses often blur together: when can the same product shape, GUI or other digital content sit at the same time within copyright, registered design and three-dimensional trade mark protection? The answer is not a simple yes or no. Each right has to clear its own gate.The real importance of this latest guidance is not that it encourages companies to chase triple protection. It...

In its GEORGE ORWELL decision of 19 December 2025, the EUIPO Grand Board upheld the refusal of the word mark for a broad range of goods and services in Classes 9, 16 and 41. The core point is straightforward. For the relevant English-speaking public, George Orwell is first and foremost the name of a famous author. When that name appears on recordings, publications, educational services or entertainment services, consumers are likely to read it as a reference to subject matter, themes or authorship, not as an indication of commercial origin.The importance of the ruling goes beyond one...

Japan is starting to give the market a more workable answer on a question that has been hanging over virtual worlds for years: not every 3D digital asset in immersive spaces can safely rely on copyright alone. Virtual garments, architectural structures and other usable-looking assets may still qualify for copyright in some cases, but once the object looks less like pure artistic expression and more like a commercially exploitable design, rights holders may need to lean on the revised Design Act and adjacent enforcement tools instead.The practical significance goes beyond classification. For...

MyIPO opened a public consultation on 3 July 2026 on proposed amendments to Malaysia’s Copyright Act 1987, with comments due by 14 August. The package spans AI and text-and-data mining, digital enforcement and copyright commercialisation. Among the proposals are rules for the use of protected works in AI training; stronger safeguards for technological protection measures (TPMs) and rights management information (RMI); a tighter online service-provider safe harbour with a notice-and-takedown window that may be as short as 12 hours; dynamic injunctions capable of reaching mirror, clone and...

The EUIPO Observatory has published its 2025 annual monitoring report on online advertising on IPR-infringing websites and apps, and the numbers are difficult to dismiss. Across 5,671 monitored websites, 37% were classified as illegal and 63% as high-risk; estimated worldwide ad revenue for those websites reached EUR 382 million in 2025. The report also identified 61,628 unique advertisers on monitored websites, including 4,778 Major Brands.What makes this development more than another anti-piracy headline is that the ad money is still coming from the mainstream market. Legitimate...

By mid-July 2026, two significant intellectual property reforms in East Africa had moved into sharper focus. Tanzania’s Written Laws (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill, 2026 remains under legislative consideration and proposes coordinated changes to the Trade and Service Marks Act and the Patents (Registration) Act. The draft would recognise ARIPO trade marks designating Tanzania, strengthen protection for well-known, collective and certification marks, extend the patent term from ten years to twenty years from filing, and reinforce the utility model framework. If adopted in its current...

The 7th All Africa Intellectual Property Summit has been confirmed for 11-13 November 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya, under the theme “Mainstreaming Intellectual Property for Africa’s Trade, Industrial and Creative Economy Transformation.” The phrasing matters. It does not treat intellectual property as a narrow question of registration or enforcement. It places IP back inside trade strategy, industrial policy and the business logic of creative sectors.For companies watching Africa from the angles of brand building, licensing, content distribution, manufacturing partnerships or technology...

Qatar’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry has launched five new intellectual-property e-services covering copyright and neighbouring-rights recordals, certificate issuance, amendments, assignments and official file enquiries. The update is practical rather than cosmetic: for creators, rights holders and IP agents, copyright-related filings can now be handled with a clearer digital trail, reducing reliance on paper submissions and fragmented follow-up.The copyright upgrade sits alongside Qatar’s recent implementation of the 13th edition of the Nice Classification, after which all 45 trade...

Following World IP Day on 26 April, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has formally released guidance on enforcement for sports event broadcasts and related merchandise. The practical point is clear: illegal live streaming is now being treated as a time-sensitive copyright enforcement problem, with right holders expected to use pre-filed information to seek temporary blocking of specific infringing domains.For sports brands and content distributors, the value lies less in a new slogan and more in timing. A pirated match stream can capture its audience within...

On 5 May, 32 South Korean copyright and creator organisations issued a joint statement opposing the government’s “use first, settle later” approach under the Korea AI Action Plan. The proposal is framed as a way to accelerate AI development by widening room for fair use, but creator groups argue that it would weaken their ability to control how their works are used.The dispute is not merely about compensation rates. It goes to the starting point of copyright bargaining: whether AI developers should obtain permission before using protected works, or whether mass use can be normalised first...

Two copyright developments from 17 June deserve to be read together rather than separately. Uganda has formally passed its Copyright and Neighbouring Rights (Amendment) Bill, tightening penalties for digital infringement and piracy while placing stronger oversight on the collection and distribution of platform royalties. In Tunisia, the parliamentary legislative committee approved amendments to the national copyright law that would incorporate the Marrakesh Treaty’s copyright exceptions for blind and print-disabled persons into domestic law.They move in different directions, but the policy...

Federal policy on AI deepfakes took a meaningful step forward in late June 2026. The NO FAKES Act has now moved through the Senate Judiciary Committee process, and the latest text makes clear that Congress is no longer treating unauthorized synthetic voice and likeness only as a niche celebrity problem. The bill is built around a new federal right to control digital replicas of one’s voice and visual likeness, reflecting the U.S. Copyright Office’s repeated conclusion that existing law does not adequately address realistic, unauthorized AI-generated impersonation.For platforms, the more...

Malaysia’s Intellectual Property Corporation (MyIPO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization have introduced the Creative Economy Data Model at a national CEDM forum. MyIPO Director General Yusnieza Syarmila Yusoff said the model is designed to measure the creative economy across its full value chain rather than relying only on output indicators such as revenue, jobs or exports. Its scope includes digital transformation, platform-based activity, emerging business models and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on copyright industries.The policy value of the model will...

During the 68th WIPO Assemblies, Vietnam’s Minister of Science and Technology, Vu Hai Quan, described intellectual property as a cornerstone of the knowledge economy. Nguyen Hoang Giang, Deputy Director General of the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam, added that the country is accelerating IP commercialisation and preparing a legislative plan for a new Copyright Law. Vietnam’s latest IP action plan also points to stronger enforcement, new rules for AI and data, shorter examination timelines and the use of IP assets as collateral for lending.The policy mix is broader than a...

On March 20, 2026, the White House released its National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence legislative recommendations, and the section on intellectual property immediately stood out. The document states that the Administration believes training AI models on copyrighted material does not violate U.S. copyright law, while also acknowledging contrary arguments and urging Congress not to interfere with the courts’ resolution of whether such training qualifies as fair use. The framework is notable not only for its pro-innovation tone, but also for the second track it opens. Rather...