Original news and analysis on international IP policy
This week, members of a consortium sponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organization to facilitate research in neglected diseases celebrated the first anniversary of the initiative and claimed an expanding membership and several research collaborations or agreements.
Members of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) meet this week for their annual Council and a series of preparatory meetings. Meanwhile, civil society keeps pushing for greater participation.
The protection of intellectual property for plant innovation was at the heart of a recent conference on patents and modern plant breeders rights in horticultural breeding.
After three days of mostly informal discussions and a set of succeeding draft texts of what could become a treaty for visually impaired persons, World Intellectual Property Organization members tonight closed discussions with yet another version of the text showing agreement in some areas and work still to be done.
A new working document on an international instrument on copyright limitations and exceptions for visually impaired persons being negotiated at the World Intellectual Property Organization has been issued this morning. The document is below.
As a new revised working document on a potential treaty for visually impaired persons was issued this morning at the World Intellectual Property Organization, delegates retreated again into informal consultations for the day to try to advance the text further.
Sustainable agriculture needs a new paradigm in the face of the growing global population, away from the "more production" orientation, says a new study published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
Following the recent approval by the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly of a work plan toward a diplomatic conference in 2013, WIPO members are gathering this week to advance work on a draft treaty on exceptions to copyright for visually impaired readers.
Global health needs innovation but also to ensure equitable access for the world population, panellists at a roundtable said last week. At issue is the capacity of the pharmaceutical industry to innovate, and the potential barriers to access in a context of widespread diseases that blur the boundaries between developed and developing countries. Most panellists concluded that governments should hold primary responsibility for the health of their populations.
The protection of geographical indications at the international level is a brainteaser which translates into lack of progress in several fora, to the dismay of geographical indications proponents, according to speakers at an event last week. A publication was launched by GIs advocates at the event, aimed at providing producers in emerging economies with useful tools to protect their GIs.