Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Intellectual property and competition policy are sometimes seen as counterweights, but an efficient patent system and effective competition policy are ultimately complementary in nature, speakers said at an event today at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Several major generic-medicine producing nations last week held a discussion on the dangers of compromised medical products and joined together to urge new steps such as defining terms, focussing on public health and strengthening national regulatory capabilities beyond strictly enforcement actions that they say have been manipulated and at times counterproductive.
The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) held its Council meeting on 21 October, approving the participation of two public interest groups that were rejected at a previous meeting as observers to the Council (IPW,…
Europe has promised at the "highest levels" to fix laws that caused generic medicine seizures in the Netherlands, the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry said today. The minister is in Geneva for meetings on the ongoing Doha Round trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organization.
Copyright law is not always a barrier to access to knowledge, but lack of adequate or predicable copyright enforcement in developing countries can prevent the evolution of their own local creative industries, said several representatives from such industries yesterday.
The Medicines Patent Pool, recently established with the support of drug-purchasing mechanism UNITAID, is searching for a new business director to manage relationships with current and potential new licensors and licensees of medicine-related patents. The business development director will help…
The World Health Organization has moved responsibility for intellectual property and innovation issues out of the direct control of the WHO director general and into the company of information, evidence and research, according to sources.
Member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organization today agreed on the first work programme for the committee on patent law in nearly five years. The delicate accord, reached after a long week of mostly closed negotiations, was quickly hailed by some as reflecting a new reality for the international patent system with stronger recognition of emerging economies’ interests.
The chair of World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) today circulated a text reflecting possible elements of future work for the committee. The text, which is now the subject of informal discussions, includes key parts of proposals put forward earlier in the week.
Patents aren't what they used to be at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Discussions to come up with a work plan at the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) this week and in recent meetings point to the possibility of a sea change in thinking over what matters about intellectual property policy and law.
The countries that own most of the world’s intellectual property rights have all but completed an agreement among themselves that raises the level of protection of those rights while appearing to reduce obligations placed on rights holders. Now they’ll need to find ways to apply it to the countries of the world seen as responsible for much of the infringing material.
The latest draft text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has now been made public.