Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The new Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) will establish its office in Riga, Latvia, it has been announced. The regulatory body, berec.europa.eu, is made up of the heads of the 27 national telecommunications regulators and is assisted…
Following weeks of consultations, World Trade Organization members are set next week to discuss a proposal to review a little-used amendment of WTO intellectual property rules aimed at boosting availability of affordable medicines in developing countries.
A technical advisory group is working to drill down on key issues surrounding the US Federal Communications Commission’s proposed internet neutrality principles, but the agency is prepared to make a final decision in the end about how those principles are implemented, a senior FCC official said Thursday.
Negotiators trying to find a solution for the world’s print disabled, who have said copyright law is limiting their access to an already meagre supply of reading material in usable formats, began discussing a possible UN recommendation this week. But the print disabled and their strongest supporters have said such a recommendation - which would not be legally binding - would fall short of meeting their needs.
The stalled Doha Round trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization will become important again once the current economic stimuli wear off, Supachai Panitchpakdi, secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), told members of the Association of…
The widening gap in scientific and technological capabilities between some developing countries suffering persistent poverty and rich industrialised countries brings to question why some countries are catching up with richer countries, while others are not. Two key factors for success and innovation are knowledge building and the role of the state as a facilitator, according to UN officials.
World Health Organization members today took an important step closer to finding new ways to finance research and development into diseases afflicting developing countries.
After an at times bitter week-long debate on the issue of fake and poor quality drugs, member states have decided they will lead the World Health Organization forward towards a resolution on the issue.
The past year’s expert working group process at the World Health Organization on solutions for financing of research and development into diseases afflicting poor nations was flawed and led to an unsatisfactory result, representatives of non-governmental organisations said this week. But innovation and access can both be provided, and the issue of IP protection can be de-linked from the way innovation is done, speakers at a side event to this week’s World Health Assembly said. Meanwhile, NGOs and industry also offered their views on WHO counterfeiting efforts this week.
MUNICH - Whether strengthening patent protection and extending data exclusivity is the way to more innovation in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic sector was the subject of a recent conference here.
The latest draft is now available from the Swiss chair overseeing a small side group at the World Health Assembly trying to work out how to take forward a landmark initiative within the UN agency on innovation and intellectual property rights. It shows that countries negotiating the WHO’s next step on the sensitive topic are leaning toward establishment of a new group with more government involvement this time.
A new conference paper has been submitted to the World Health Assembly committee addressing the World Health Organization work on counterfeit and substandard medicines. It offers a way forward on this week's most controversial issue by involving governments directly in the activities through an intergovernmental working group.