Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week are slogging through a series of documents related to intellectual property and development. But one document, an external report on WIPO’s provision of technical cooperation assistance, has given way to a substantive discussion about how to fully address the report’s findings of the need for improvement at the UN agency.
An advisory group on the new World Health Organization framework agreement on pandemic influenza preparedness is preparing to meet for the first time from 21-23 November.
The smallest countries in the World Trade Organization may get more time to comply with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) after an agreement today.
The heads of three international organizations in Geneva will address a meeting next week on the subject of 10 years after the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health. The 23 November symposium at the Graduate Institute in Geneva involves a range of top officials and experts on the issue.
The European Court of Auditors yesterday issued a performance audit on European Commission management of the European geographical indications (GI) scheme, which covers products with an estimated value of €15 billion annually. The auditors found room for improvement in clarifying the rules and a need for greater awareness of GIs.
An international outcry from open internet proponents has emerged over draft US legislation, HR 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), on the eve of a hearing on the bill. International critics say the bill would put the United States on the same ground as China with regards to internet filtering, undermining the US argument for internet freedom.
Public health advocates in a dozen countries worldwide have launched a coordinated campaign to bring about generic competition on a key medicine for HIV/AIDS, currently under patent by a pharmaceutical producer.
Least-developed countries at the World Trade Organization have proposed an extension of the deadline they are facing to comply with a WTO agreement on intellectual property rights. But they left open how much more time they would like after the 2013 deadline.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has released its first report in what is expected to be a series of publications seeking to explain, clarify and contribute to policy relating to intellectual property. Its debut report, WIPO presented figures that show a growing global demand for patents, a soaring increase in licensing and royalty fees revenues, and an increase in low and middle-income economies’ share of global spending on research and development.
The eighth session of the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) opened this week with the close of its seventh session. Committee coordinators were still gathered in negotiations as the eighth session was due to begin on 14 November, hammering out a compromise on proposed meetings on South-South cooperation among developing countries.
On September 16, 2012, the post-grant review process in the United States will change to closely resemble the opposition procedures in Europe even down to the same nine-month window after grant to oppose. With these new changes going into effect in less than a year, it is important for practitioners to use this time to become familiar with the new procedures and processes, writes Michael Siekman.
Thirty-three research institutions, associations and foundations in North America last week signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, committing to support open access research in the future. The signing brings the total signers to nearly 300, including many of the top research institutions in the world.