Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Tuberculosis is now a renewed threat, with strains that prove resistant to multiple drugs and are transmissible and the potential to spread widely, according to the World Health Organization and the Global Fund, which are looking for US$1.6 billion a year to prevent the spread of the disease.
Five United Nations agencies are joining efforts to tackle the rising issue of private standards which they say are affecting developing countries' exports by creating market entry hurdles for those countries. A new forum will be launched this week, and will establish its priority issues.
Members of the pharmaceutical industry and Interpol have come to an agreement on a plan to fight “fake” medicines, echoing efforts to address the issue at the World Health Organization in recent years.
A civil society coalition fighting patents on conventional plants in Europe has published a briefing paper alleging that the European Patent Office is giving a "green light" to patents on plants and animals, disregarding the position of the European Parliament.
A report released yesterday by the non-profit ETC Group claims that six companies are seeking to control current priorities and the future direction of agricultural research. According to the report, giant seed companies are launching initiatives to preserve their IP rights and deflate antitrust concerns.
For the third year in a row, the United States mission to the United Nations in Geneva brought together human rights activists from different parts of the world in an effort to promote internet freedom. At a press briefing, a senior US State Department official described efforts to address challenges to freedom on the internet, and said that intellectual property in the context of internet is a complicated issue.
In its meeting this week, the World Trade Organisation intellectual property committee heard again about the issue of plain packaging of tobacco products, as New Zealand is proposing to introduce such a regime in the country. Economic and health interests were used by those opposed and proponents to the measure.
The World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property rights met this week and addressed a request by least developed countries for an extension of the period to enforce WTO intellectual property rules. LDCs want that the extension be extinguishable only after a country ceases to be considered as 'least developed', which developing countries largely supported. Developed countries, however, were hesitant about the terms of the proposed extension.
The United States Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case opposing a US farmer to agro-industry giant Monsanto on the issue of patent exhaustion in patented seeds. Lead lawyers in the case and others offered comments on the heels of the hearing, while the Supreme Court Justices are considering the arguments and are expected to reach a decision sometime this spring.
Least developed countries next week will ask that World Trade Organization members grant them another extension of the transition period to enforce intellectual property protection measures beyond the current date of 1 July 2013. In addition, the issues of plain packaging for tobacco products and innovation will be back on the agenda of the WTO intellectual property committee.
A week of arduous negotiations and doubts at the World Intellectual Property Organization about progress on a text to become a treaty for the benefit of visually impaired people was concluded positively yesterday with a sigh of relief by most delegations, and observers. A new text was issued and even though most deemed that crucial issues were addressed, some are outstanding and delegates will meet again in April to continue their drafting efforts.
While country delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization are working to find consensus on a text to become a treaty for the benefit of blind and visually impaired people, industry and non-governmental organisations are pushing their agendas.