Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Protection of traditional knowledge under intellectual property rights may have a time limit, though determining duration of protection measures will be more difficult than it is with Western scientific innovation, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry said yesterday.
World Health Organization members this week offered views on the global system for virus- and benefit-sharing for pandemic influenza following recently proposed solutions by Director General Margaret Chan aimed at changing the current, ad-hoc model to a more predictable, sustainably-funded system.
Can a patent-holder ask for royalties from third-party purchasers? The United States Supreme Court said ‘no’ in the 2008 landmark case Quanta Computer Inc. v. LG Electronics Inc. (IPW, US Policy, 25 June 2008). But what does this decision mean…
Director General Pascal Lamy of the World Trade Organization reported today to member states on his most recent consultations on outstanding issues of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). He was speaking in his capacity as…
A pilot project intended to counter the challenge of counterfeit medicines entering the legitimate supply chain has been launched this week in Sweden by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. The project involves individually identifying packs of medicine…
BANGKOK - Normal negotiation strategy is unlikely to result in an impact on climate change, since the most important stakeholders in fighting it - not yet born - have no seat at the negotiating tables, said a panel last week in Bangkok. An ethical approach is a better way to achieve results, speakers said, and an ethical take on intellectual property rights and alternative forms of innovation may have a place in new climate-friendly economic models.
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In the weeks leading up to the next negotiating session (first week of November in Seoul) of the secretive Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, 42 Washington, DC-area insiders, mostly from industry, were invited by the United States Trade Representatives to see copies…
The next meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore will be from 7-11 December. The draft agenda is online and available here. The committee recently received its strongest…
World Intellectual Property Organisation members are preparing to take the reins of the Development Agenda as it becomes clear that implementation success will depend on their actions. And their actions must not only be focused on specific projects such as patent databases but also on the broader spirit of the agenda for change at WIPO, key developing countries said.