Intellectual Property Watch

Intellectual Property Watch

  • Joined: 11/11/2009
  • Articles: 422

Collaborative Capacity Building In Intellectual Property — Leveraging On African Diaspora Exchange

Depending on where one locates its advent, contemporary globalization is now more than half a century old. It might be asked whether globalization has been beneficial to Africa. One quick and easy way of addressing this often asked question is to cursorily look at the regional dynamics of over half century of globalization. And this leads to an urgent call for "homeland-Diaspora" intellectual property training, says Prof. Chidi Oguamanam.

From South Africa — Keeping Traditional Knowledge Traditional

There has been a tidal wave of severe criticism of the South African government’s proposed legislation to provide for protection for traditional knowledge in domestic South African law, writes Prof. Owen Dean. Now, the criticism seems to align with accepted international views.

Event This Week: The Creation Of Unitary Patent Protection In The European Union

The Creation of Unitary Patent Protection in the European Union
Paris, 29-30 November 2012
Maison de la Recherche
54, rue de Varenne
75007 Paris
Find here (http://bit.ly/Vbb2CB) more information about the conference.

After more than 30 years of negotiations, 25 of 27 Member States reached a conclusion on the future Unitary Patent System. The central aim of the two draft Regulations on the creation of unitary patent protection and on the applicable translation arrangements is to reduce the costs of patent protection and translation fees in the EU. The European Council on 28-29 June 2012 agreed to split the seat of the EU Patent Court between Paris, London and Munich. The Council’s suggestion to delete Articles 6-8 of the draft Regulation on the creation of the unitary patent provoked strong criticism in the European Parliament which postponed the vote on the proposal scheduled for 4 July 2012. A conference organised by the Academy of European Law (ERA) in cooperation with Queen Mary University of London in Paris on 29-30 November 2012 will offer a platform for discussion on the latest proposals which are now being discussed within the European Parliament.

Fixing Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime — Bill C-398

Richard Elliott writes: Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) was a unanimous pledge by Parliament to help people dying in developing countries because they lack access to affordable medicines. So far, it has delivered only one medicine to one country since Parliament created it more than 8 years ago (in May 2004). CAMR is clearly not working; it needs to be reformed to address the unnecessary deficiencies and limitations that have rendered it cumbersome and user-unfriendly for both developing countries and the manufacturers of lower-cost, generic medicines - the two parties that need to make use of CAMR if patients are to get the medicines they need.

EU Health Cooperation — Room For Improvement

The European Union’s global plan for health, development cooperation includes the commitment that high-quality medicines and care in the developing world be available without restrictions. As such, despite its growing impact and strong investment in product R&D, the plan seemingly lacks adequate coherence, innovative financing, and coordination, collaboration with concerned parties. Filling these gaps would be a matter of priority and a way for the EU to achieve indisputable field leadership.

Sizing Up The “Ill-Conceived” PAIPO Draft Statute

The text of the Draft Statute of the proposed Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization does not support a clear basis for criticism, but the lack of a clear need to put resources toward a centralised African registration system, and the lack of transparency about the process signal that the idea is "ill-conceived," writes South African lawyer Sadulla Karjiker.

In Search of Relevance, Not Solutions: The Truth About ITU’s ‘Patent Roundtable’

Meetings at UN agencies in Geneva are not often mainstream news - but given the high profile nature of legal disputes about smartphone and tablet technology taking place around the world, a meeting to discuss an arcane area of patent policy - the ITU Patent Roundtable - was widely covered, as it brought together some of the titans of the mobile and internet industry plus government regulators and standards bodies.

Medals, Models And Moguls

Cobus Jooste writes: In this special report, the VineOracle (IPStell’s personal pundit on all things IP) brings news (and her own brand of predictions) for the aesthetically minded visitor. And it’s a star-studded cast of high-flyers (and fast swimmers) from Paris and New York representing some of the most exclusive brands. But do not be fooled by the A-list members on call, from what the VineOracle hears, these celebrities are prone to IP rights violations aplenty.

How To Reboot WIPO

By this point, I’m sure the entire intellectual property community knows that WIPO has problems, from an investigation of sanctions-busting in its technical assistance programmes going back years to allegations of vote-buying through abuse of the hiring process. It harkens back to the dying days of the term of the last Director-General, Kamil Idris, who left office early under a cloud, writes Nick Ashton-Hart.

The Contributions Of Julian Assange To The Debate On Intellectual Property

Cables on intellectual property (IP) issues from United States embassies in various parts of the world, leaked by Wikileaks, reveal how the country works to achieve its objectives, Cuban Lillian Álvarez writes.