Year 2015

South Africa Supreme Court Of Appeal Losing Its Shape

South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal has been blessed for the past few decades by having in its ranks judges who have experience and expertise in the field of Intellectual Property Law, writes law professor Owen Dean. With the recent retirement of Louis Harms, the bench at the Supreme Court of Appeal has been denuded of judges who can be regarded as IP experts. The paucity of IP experience on the bench is regrettably beginning to show.

In recent times the Supreme Court of Appeal has given three IP judgments in trade mark cases which, it is respectfully submitted, have been wrongly decided and are not in harmony with the principles of trade mark law and practice, Dean argues.

Questions About Funding, Text Of Tufts Study On Drug Costs

The Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment has sent a letter to the author of a much-noted Tufts University (US) study that found high development costs for medicines, with copies to the university administration. The letter requests transparency on the funding of the study and the press conference announcing the results, as well as copies of the study itself, which the group says was not made public, along with details to justify the result.

WHO Still Finding Its Way On Financing R&D For Diseases Affecting Poor Countries

In search of sustainable innovation models for cures for diseases affecting primarily developing countries, with the Ebola epidemic as a new reminder of the necessity and urgency of the matter, the World Health Organization had tasked an expert working group with the search for solutions. Last week, the WHO Executive Board took note of the progress made so far.

Circuit Courts Open As Satellites Of China’s Supreme People’s Court

After long preparations, the Second Circuit Court of China’s Supreme People’s Court was officially instituted in Shenyang city, Liaoning province in northeast China on 31 January. Qiang Zhou, president and chief judge of China’s Supreme People’s Court, attended and addressed the nameplate unveiling ceremony of the Second Circuit Court.

Special Report: Will India Bend To US Pressure On IP Rights?

It is no secret that the United States has been scaling up pressure on India to adopt intellectual property measures similar to those common in the United States and the European Union. But to what extent does India’s new government led by the business-friendly Narendra Modi see eye to eye with US official position? Can India, the “pharmacy of the world”, resolve the friction between pharmaceutical patents and access to affordable medicines without putting off foreign investors? The vitriolic and polarising debate surrounding these questions has got a fresh lease of life following US President Barack Obama’s landmark three-day visit to India this week.

While Indian and American business moguls are bullish about the future, Indian generic drug-makers as well as health activists within and outside India are deeply anxious about the shape of things to come