Global Fund Communications Director Steps Down
Changes continue at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the director of communications announced today that he is stepping down immediately after nearly a decade.
Intellectual Property Watch
Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Year 2012
Microsoft Says It Will Not Act On Patents In Standards
Microsoft Corporation has issued a statement that it will not seek injunctions on its standard essential patents in keeping with its promises to international standards organisations. It further said it will make those essential patents available for licence without condition.
WIPO Offers Dispute Services For Objections To New TLDs At ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has embarked on a programme of allowing new generic top-level domains on the internet (like .com), an initiative that has worried trademark holders and international organisations. Now the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center is offering services for trademark holders who wish to challenge proposals for new gTLDs later this year.
Ideas Offered For IP And Genetic Resources In WIPO Committee
A new paper from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) offers ideas on addressing misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
US, WIPO Training Programme On IP Rights In Africa Comes Under Fire
For years, some developing countries have insisted that developed countries – which own the vast majority of intellectual property rights – take a singular focus when it comes to offering technical assistance on IP rights: the protection of “northern” property. In recent years, negotiations in venues like the World Intellectual Property Organization have sought to ensure that such assistance also highlight the creation of local IP rights as well as the availability of flexibilities developing countries have under international rules for IP.
US Copyright Industries Call For Action On Piracy; NGOs Call For Scrutiny
The major US copyright industries today issued a list they said “documents rampant online and physical piracy of copyrighted works and severe market access barriers.” Public interest groups will be watching closely to see if the list submitted to the US government is incorporated wholesale into a package of government assertions of inadequate protection of US intellectual property rights by trading partners.
EU-India Summit Kicks Off Amidst Warnings Of Impact On Medicines Access
The European Union and India today will engage in a high-level meeting in New Delhi with an agenda that includes energy and climate, research and development, and information and communications technologies. But as they enter the meeting, an international health agency and a powerful health advocacy group have issued statements of concern that intellectual property provisions in a bilateral free trade agreement under negotiation will stifle critical generic medicines production in India, putting thousands of poor patients at risk worldwide.
Proposal For A New Model Giving Rights To Online Sharing Of Content
A new publication by a well-known open access advocate proposes a business model for sharing content online that would recognise sharing as a right.
USPTO Launches ‘Patents For Humanity’ Prize Project
The United States Patent and Trademark Office today announced a project it said will award prizes to patent owners for using their patented technology for humanitarian purposes worldwide.
In 2012: Are Biotech, Ethics And Biodiversity Friends or Foes?
With food demand and prices rising as the world crosses the threshold of 7 billion people, the need to find new medicines, concerns about the shrinking biodiversity and the effects of climate change may designate biotechnologies as the main response. Opinions differ on the way to address those issues, in particular about intellectual property rights attached to biotechnologies.
Legislative questions are being discussed on both sides of the Atlantic around the scope of patentability, and intellectual property rights on plants, seeds, molecules or methods, as well as exemptions that some think should be applied. The year ahead will see some decisions that might impact the biotechnology industry both in the United States and in Europe.
Groups Call On Congress To Step Back From SOPA-Style Legislation
Some 70 groups from across the social and political spectrum have sent a letter to the US Senate and House of Representatives calling for them to step back from any anti-piracy legislation until more consideration can be given of the effect on the internet.
WHO Group To Consult On Pandemic Flu Framework In Lead-Up To Assembly
A key World Health Organization advisory group has invited stakeholders to consultations this month on the contribution of the private sector and others to global pandemic flu preparedness.