Original news and analysis on international IP policy
BRUSELAS- Los esfuerzos de la Unión Europea para introducir disposiciones firmes en materia de patentes farmacéuticas en una serie de acuerdos de libre comercio que está negociando podrían poner en peligro el acceso a los medicamentos en los países en desarrollo, según han afirmado activistas de la salud pública a nivel mundial.
As the United States battles an economic meltdown, items like economic stimulus and home foreclosure relief are taking centre stage. Congress also is still working to confirm President Obama's nominees. But once those items are dealt with, issues such as patent reform and intellectual property enforcement are expected to be hot-button items once again.
As the world becomes increasingly digitised, the question of who owns the uploaded pieces of people’s lives — their photographs, their missives to friends, their posted musings and blog entries — is clearly an issue capable of generating a lot…
French legislators are putting the final touches on controversial legislation that will likely lead to the most governmentally-proactive law intended to curb illegal file sharing among any other European Union member state.
Leading international public health advocates have sent letters to the heads of the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization calling on them to act to prevent possible circumvention of international trade rules for intellectual property rights relating to shipments of legal generic drugs bound for developing countries.
The Sri Lanka Tea Board, will seek intellectual property protection for Ceylon tea (which takes its title from a former name of the island nation), according to a business news source from the country. Protection is sought under the World…
A small group of United States congressional staff and officials from the Obama administration working on intellectual property issues were in Geneva this week to discuss IP policy with representatives of intergovernmental organisations and industry, according to sources.
Brendan McGivern, a partner at White & Case law firm in Geneva, issued an analysis of the recent decision by a World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel on a case filed by the United States against China over copyright, customs…
The UN International Telecommunication Union issued a report at this week’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that found innovation, convergence and a little opportunism will lead the information and communications technology industry out of the current crisis. Read the report…
The effort to tackle digital piracy is likely to remain the most contentious intellectual property issue in Europe this year. It will be joined by debates on copyright term extension, IP provisions in trade agreements, and an ongoing discussion of patent policy in Europe.
It is often unfortunate to see what the public servants of the World Intellectual Property Organization domain name arbitration centre must sift through to make decisions on internet name disputes, which generally reflect consumer tastes. In this case, media industry…
BRUSSELS - Efforts by the European Union to insert strong provisions on pharmaceutical patents in a series of free trade agreements it is negotiating could imperil access to medicines in developing countries, global public health activists have alleged.
As part of trade talks being conducted with India, Colombia, Peru and a regional grouping in south-east Asia, EU officials have proposed that drug-makers should benefit from a robust intellectual property regime. National regulatory authorities in the countries concerned would be prevented for lengthy periods from using data provided by a company that holds a drug patent in order to authorise a generic version of that medicine.