Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Kaitlin Mara The World Trade Organization intellectual property committee will meet next week in the midst of a tense round of trade talks where efforts to move closer to consensus are continuing and the inclusion of some IP-related issues…
By Kaitlin Mara A small group of countries opposing the inclusion of intellectual property-related issues in World Trade Organization negotiations has issued their response to an earlier “non-paper” that had called for IP issues to be integrated with the upcoming…
By Kaitlin Mara The World Trade Organization on Monday released two reports on the state of play in negotiations on a register for geographical indications (GIs) – product names associated with places and characteristics – as well as the possible…
The World Health Assembly “global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property,” is now online. The document, WHA61.21, has been called “the most important document since [the] Doha” Declaration on IP and public health. Said…
Note: the final decisions of convention on biological diversity governing body are available here.
A decision on a way forward on a global access and benefit-sharing regime was reached at a meeting of the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity from 19 to 30 May in Bonn.
The main body of the document describes steps needed to reach international consensus on the content of such a regime. Annex I of the document sets out a draft text for the international regime, and annex II contains terms of reference for expert technical and legal groups whose creation is mandated by the main text.
By Kaitlin Mara Government negotiators meeting in Bonn this week reached breakthroughs on two intellectual property-related areas of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). At the highest level of the CBD membership, agreement was struck on a way…
By Kaitlin Mara The next United States president must make access to knowledge and technology policy a priority, participants at a conference on computers, freedom, and privacy protection last week told representatives of the leading presidential campaigns. Campaign representatives for…
By Kaitlin Mara NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT – The efficacy of the patent system is not equivalent across all industries, and appears to be particularly ineffective in software, said a panel at the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference held at Yale…
By Kaitlin Mara Nearly three weeks of meetings of governments, civil society organisations, trade groups, and intergovernmental bodies will report on how far nations have come towards bridging the so-called “digital divide” between those who have access to information technology…
By Kaitlin Mara This year’s European Patent Forum concluded with a clear consensus on the importance of addressing the problem of climate change but with no clear way forward on how the intellectual property system might help. But leading figures…