Semicolon Leads To Breakthrough In Long-Stalled Negotiations
Applause burst from the plenary chamber this week as delegates at last found, in a semicolon, the solution to a long-running and at times sharply divided multilateral negotiation.
Intellectual Property Watch
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Year 2010
Pointed Exchange Of Views At WHO Briefing On Counterfeit Drugs
Work to address counterfeit medicines continues at the World Health Organization, but a meeting late last week revealed ongoing concerns about the way it is being conducted.
March/April Edition Of IP-Watch Monthly Reporter Now Available
The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Edition features top news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the international IP community, news briefs and more. The March/April edition is now available for subscribers at: http://www.ip-watch.org/user/newsletter.
Proponents Seek To Develop Policy Potential Of US Geographical Indications
Advocates of stronger protection of geographical indications are working to develop greater awareness in Geneva policy circles, trying to win over countries reluctant to adopt a specific GI protection system.
WHO Undertakes Independent Review Of Its Pandemic Flu Efforts
The World Health Organization’s handling of the recent pandemic influenza outbreak will be examined by an independent panel of experts beginning in April. Meanwhile, new reports from the WHO are available on influenza and on intellectual property and innovation.
US Court Ruling Casts Gene Patenting Into Doubt
A New York federal court ruled yesterday that patents on genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer are invalid, in the first time a court decided that patents on genes are unlawful, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
USTR Names New Ambassador To WTO; Ag Negotiator
Two officials have been appointed to the Office of the United States Trade Representative: Michael Punke as deputy USTR and permanent representative to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, and Isi Siddiqui as the new chief agricultural negotiator.
Leaked ACTA Text Shows Possible Contradictions With National Laws
“No changes in domestic” law promised the partners currently negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. A leaked 56-page recent consolidated version of the much-discussed agreement shows that this might not be completely true. The draft version with a lot of bracketed text in it shows that some countries are more open about the potential need to change their domestic laws than others.
British Official To Lead UPOV As Civil Society Interest Rises
The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), an intergovernmental agency that provides technical advice and guidelines for the identification and protection of new plants, will have a new leader for the first time in a decade, it was decided Friday.
Lamy: “Not Where We Wanted To Be” In WTO Round
World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy on Friday said that there are “technically no insurmountable obstacles” in resolving the long-struggling Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks this year, but that this timeline was always a political rather than technical…
Right To Food Mandate Renewed By UN Agency
The UN Human Rights Council yesterday extended the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the right to food for three years. The resolution, A, adopted without a vote, requests that the special rapporteur “continue to monitor the evolution of the…
Google Claims Ads Found Not Infringing Trademarks
The European Court of Justice has ruled that Google did not infringe trademark law “by allowing advertisers to bid for keywords corresponding to their competitors’ trademarks,” according to the Google blog. The internet search engine said it is satisfied with…