Author: DW

A few years ago, the German professor of intellectual property law Tim Dornis was on sabbatical in California when the General-Secretary of the German Association for Intellectual Property Law (GRUR) contacted him. “He said, ‘We’re about to see a very important development in Geneva that we need to have a look at. Because it could be something groundbreaking’.” Geneva is home to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a United Nations agency that promotes and protects intellectual property (IP) across the world. IP Law deals with the legal protection and ownership rights for things people create with their minds, like inventions, art and…

Malaysia has said it plans to present orangutans to major palm-oil-importing countries with the aim of boosting its credentials as a conserver of biodiversity. The Asian nation is the world’s second-largest producer of the widely used commodity, whose production is blamed by environmentalists for fuelling the destruction of the great ape’s habitats in both Malaysia and Indonesia. The move comes after the EU last year decided on phasing-out commodities, like palm oil, that are linked to deforestation by 2030. Malaysia argues that the ban has been introduced to protect the bloc’s own oilseeds market. What has Malaysia said? Malaysia’s commodities minister, Johari…

French air traffic controllers have been granted the right to turn up to work three hours late and leave three hours early. Under a new agreement between the National Union of Air Traffic Controllers, reported by French media, the country’s government made a practice called “clearances” a legal right for controllers. Clearances, where air traffic staff leave work during quiet periods, are believed to be a common practice in France. Image: An air traffic controller in the main control tower at Charles de Gaulle International Airport. Pic: Reuters The deal came after workers threatened to go on strike before the Paris…

Hong Kong’s appeal court on Wednesday banned the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” — an anthem popularized during the territory’s widespread democracy demonstrations in 2019. The decision makes the song the first to be prohibited since Britain handed the former colony back to China in 1997. Why has the song upset authorities? Demonstrators often sang the anonymously written piece during their pro-democracy protests.  Its lyrics include the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong; Revolution of our times,” and it had already become dangerous to play or sing after authorities crushed the demonstrations. Officials have lobbied Google to remove the song from search results…

Berlin’s state minister for economy, energy and enterprise, Franziska Giffey of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), has been injured in an attack in a library in the Rudow district of the German capital. Giffey, a former mayor of Berlin, had to be treated in hospital as a result. A man suddenly attacked her “from behind with a bag filled with hard contents and hit her on the head and neck” in a library on Tuesday afternoon, police said on Wednesday. Giffey “briefly went to hospital for outpatient treatment for head and neck pain,” police and the Berlin prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Pattern of…

A trophy won by Diego Maradona for his performances at the 1986 World Cup has resurfaced after it was missing for decades – and is now going up for auction.Maradona received the Golden Ball trophy after leading Argentina to victory at the tournament in Mexico, where he scored his controversial “hand of God” goal against England in the quarter-finals. In the same game, he also scored what FIFA later declared the greatest goal in World Cup history.Maradona – who died in 2020 at the age of 60 – was awarded the Golden Ball trophy for being the best player at…

On Monday, one day ahead of the latest inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Defense Ministry announced plans for tactical nuclear weapons maneuvers close to the Ukrainian border in “the near future.” It would be the first time such exercises were held since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The drills are to be carried out by missile units from the aerial defense’s Southern Military District, with the participation of air and naval forces and the aim of “increasing the readiness of nonstrategic nuclear forces,” the ministry said. That area spans not just accepted Russian territory, but also Crimea, which was annexed in…

Berlin’s Senator for Economy, Energy and Enterprise, Franziska Giffey (SPD), has been injured after an attack in a library in the Rudow district of the German capital. Giffey had to be treated in hospital as a result. What authorities have said A man suddenly “attacked the former mayor from behind with a bag filled with hard contents and hit her on the head and neck” in a library on Tuesday afternoon, police and the Berlin public prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday night. The state police have since taken over the investigation. Giffey, from the center-left Social Democratic Party and a former Berlin mayor,…

There are moments, more than others, that scream the humiliation of it all.Take this, before Tuesday’s proceedings got underway. “No descriptions of genitalia or anything but it’s important to elicit that she had sex with him.” It was the prosecution’s assurance prior to questioning Stormy Daniels after Donald Trump’s lawyers had objected, in advance, to her testifying to the details of sexual acts.It would be that kind of day in this kind of trial.Trump trial as it happened: Stormy Daniels accused of car park ‘threat’ lie In a dingy New York courtroom, this was the president and the porn star,…

Edin Terzic said before the second leg that if the game was decided on the favorites Dortmund wouldn’t even have made the semifinals. Now, the Bundesliga’s current fifth-placed team are in their second Champions League final in London in 11 years. Indeed, it was Dortmund, not the favorites, who looked more in control. It was Dortmund, whose squad is valued at less than half of their opponents, who landed the knockout blow. And it is Dortmund, a club whose majority owners are their fans and not a country, who are in the final. “To make the final, where it all…