A glimpse into the “nanoscopic” world
A team of U.K. researchers recently demonstrated the world’s most powerful optical microscope offering scientists a glimpse of the “nanoscopic” world using tiny glass beads to capture and channel “evanescent waves” of light to a standard microscope. This new technique reported in Nature Communications allows researchers to simply look down a microscope to see with their own eyes details which are normally only visible using indirect methods such as atomic force microscopy or scanning electron microscopy. The team believes that this breakthrough is very promising for biological research, particularly in studying the activities of cells, bacteria and viruses at the nanoscale.
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Morocco launches new fund for innovation
The Government of Morocco is to allocate some US$56 million to promote innovation and encourage partnerships between universities and research institutes and the business community. The initiative was announced by Morocco’s Minister for Industry, Commerce and New Technologies, Ahmed Reda, at the Second Conference on Innovation in Skhirat, Morocco on March 1, 2011. The funds are being launched within the context of a comprehensive national plan to promote research and innovation for economic development.
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European Union registers 1,000th quality food name
On February 15, 2011, the European Commission registered the 1000th quality food name, Piacentinu Ennes, an Italian sheep’s cheese from the Sicilian province of Enna. Since 1992, the EC has operated two registers for the names of agricultural products and foodstuffs – the register for protected designations of origin (PDO) and protected geographical indications (PGI) and the register for traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG). Registration of such quality products is designed to prevent fraud and imitation. Of the thousand products registered, 506 are PDOs, 465 are PGIs and 30 are TSGs. European PDO-PGI products represented an estimated turnover of some 14.2 billion euros in 2007 according to an EC study.
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New rights delivery platform simplifies copyright clearance
The U.S.-based Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), a not-for-profit organization and leading provider of licensing solutions, recently launched its Rights Delivery Platform. For the first time, using the copyright.com platform users can search for and obtain permission to use and share content from the world’s leading titles in a wide range of fields including science, technology, medicine, humanities, news, business, and finance. “Our goal continues to be simplifying the process of obtaining copyright permissions,” said Diane Pierson, Vice President, Marketing, Copyright Clearance Center. “Our one-stop-shop portal now has millions more rights than ever before.” The platform also offers enhanced search by publication type, country of publication or language and allows international customers to pay via credit card in their local currency.
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YouTube signs deal with Polish artists
YouTube and the Association of Polish Authors and Composers (ZAIKS) recently signed a licensing agreement which took effect on January 1, 2011 to protect the copyright of Polish artists and guarantees royalty payments for video-clips in which they feature on YouTube.
Under the agreement, Polish artists registered at ZAIKS will receive an undisclosed percentage of the revenue YouTube earns from adverts displayed alongside the video-clips.
Mr. Artur Waliszewski, the business manager for Google (Poland) which owns YouTube, said the agreement is a milestone for Polish artists offering them both promotional opportunities and financial compensation.
YouTube has signed more than 10,000 similar agreements with copyright organizations around the world.
