Panel: Standards Aid Innovation, But Only If Open
Standards are vitally important to innovation but in order for them to serve their purpose effectively, they must be open, said a panel at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week.
Intellectual Property Watch
Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Kaitlin Mara
UN Human Rights Body Examines WIPO Development Agenda, Tech Transfer, WHO
A high-level task force on the right to development last week released two new reports at the United Nations, the results of technical missions to the World Intellectual Property Organization on its Development Agenda and to the World Health Organization on its strategy on intellectual property.
Latest WIPO Draft Shows Options For Work Programme On Patents
The latest available text on future work at the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on the Law of Patents is available from the IP Watch website. The draft emerged this evening.
Year Ahead: Key Year For Biodiversity, Environment, Food Security, Traditional Knowledge
Access and benefit sharing will top agendas at several different intergovernmental bodies this year on issues of biodiversity, environment, food security and traditional knowledge, and stakeholders will be watching the movement across fora of emerging models and potential pitfalls from parallel negotiations.
WIPO Patent Committee Prepares To Discuss Future Work Programme
Discussions at the World Intellectual Property Organization patent committee this week are focussed on a series of new studies, though one of the more difficult issues on the table - exceptions and limitations to patent law - will not be substantively dealt with until the next meeting in October. Discussions on future work for the committee, with a proposal on the table from Brazil for a new work programme on exceptions and limitations, are soon to begin and are likely to be the most difficult topic of the week.
Under Scrutiny, WHO, Pharma Seek To Explain “Dangerous Nonsense” Of Pandemic
Representatives of the World Health Organization and the European pharmaceutical industry today answered questions from the Council of Europe and the press on whether they had mishandled an outbreak of influenza this summer.
WHO Lashes Out As Council Of Europe Preps Hearing On Flu Pandemic
The World Health Organization today defended its declaration of a global influenza pandemic, and saying any allegations that it is fake are “wrong and irresponsible.” The statement comes as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) prepares for a public hearing tomorrow morning in Strasbourg to examine the allegations, involving representatives of the WHO and European vaccine manufacturers will be in attendance, as will independent medical experts.
Biodiversity ‘EcoChic’ At UN: “Organic, Fair Trade, And Damn Sexy”
Biodiversity preservation is getting a makeover, or so hope the organisers of an “EcoChic” event at the Palais de Nations yesterday. Attendees strategised about how the fickle spirit of fashion might be harnessed to support the UN Convention on Biological Diversity’s access and benefit-sharing regime and sustainability goals, as staff carefully anchored helium-filled white lanterns above a normally staid conference chamber and participants balanced on noticeably higher heels than normally seen in UN corridors.
EU Okays Proprietary Oracle’s Acquisition Of Open Source MySQL
US-based software company Oracle can have its Sun and MySQL too, the European Commission ruled today. The subject of an examination since September 2009, the Oracle-Sun merger deal came under scrutiny over anti-competition concerns.
New Intergovernmental Meeting At WHO Aims To Solve IP Rights And Influenza
A new intergovernmental negotiation, facilitated by the World Health Organization director general, will address an agreement for sharing virus-related materials and benefits and managing associated intellectual property rights in the WHO strategy for responding to pandemic influenza outbreaks.