Original news and analysis on international IP policy
At the last session of the World Trade Organization Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council, the Dominican Republic challenged an Australian draft law requiring plain packaging for tobacco products as being incompatible with its WTO obligations, eclipsing other agenda items. The TRIPS Council also addressed other regular agenda items such as related to biodiversity and public health, according to sources.
Potential international legal instruments will be discussed this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization where delegates will try to find common language to address the protection of audiovisual performances, the protection of broadcasting organisations and agree on a set of exceptions and limitations to copyright for visually impaired people.
Governments should refrain from restricting the flow of information on the internet, and the private sector should not be in charge of policing it, a United Nations adviser on freedom of opinion and expression said last week in a report. He also criticised disconnection of users on intellectual property rights grounds.
A new fund has been established to help developing countries ratify and implement the Nagoya protocol on access and benefit sharing, the UN Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) said last week.
Negotiators at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva will have a new conference hall in which to debate in 2013, with construction starting this summer, according to a press release.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) signed an agreement with pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi on 30 May for a three-year research project on nine neglected tropical diseases that will come with intellectual property rights on research results for both sides, according to a press release from the international organisation in Switzerland.
The European Commission has issued a new draft customs regulation that it says addresses past concerns over wrongful seizures of generic drug shipments transiting through European ports. But the new regulation does not substantively change existing rules, it said, and civil society groups say it does not go far enough. The EU regulation is the subject of a World Trade Organization dispute settlement case.
The World Health Organization Executive Board last week requested more details on the organisation's planned reform and established a consultative process for the reform, according to sources.
Improving access to medicines in developing countries through local pharmaceutical production is at the centre of a project involving several institutional actors working on health and trade. Technology transfer is key to local production, but some prerequisites like a favourable policy environment and the ability of developing countries to use technology transfer are essential to encourage local production, according to panellists at a recent event.
Recent weeks have seen several personnel changes at Geneva institutions working on international intellectual property rights and innovation, including at missions, international organisations and foundations.