Original news and analysis on international IP policy
American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL) Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property has announced the hosting of Fifth Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, from 27-29 September 2018. And it is now actively seeking sponsors, partners and expressions of interest.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) this month gathered a wide range of key stakeholders to have a frank discussion about how to solve rising global resistance to existing antibiotics. While not a negotiation, stakeholders in the expert group opened up and shared perspectives, leading to some informal conclusions. Among them: more public and private investment, and a shift in the R&D system to new-style incentives, are needed.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) this week blocked the first request by Qatar for a World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel to rule on measures by UAE that Qatar alleges interfere with trade in goods and services and with protection of Qatar's intellectual property rights. Neighbouring countries say they have taken actions out of concern that Qatar is providing financial support for terrorist groups.
CARB-X, an initiative aimed at accelerating innovation in antibacterial treatment, today announced an award to a company to accelerate development of a new bioengineered antimicrobial intended to be applied directly to affected tissues. This follows an announcement earlier this month of funding another firm to develop a new antibiotic class to treat drug-resistant Gram-negative bacterial infections.
The Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced today it has narrowed the search to four high-level candidates, coming from backgrounds in banking, development agencies and United Nations programs.
Among all the high-profile issues on the stage and the countless side meetings and cultural celebrations happening at the annual World Intellectual Property Organization annual Assemblies, there were some interesting facts and figures presented about the UN agency itself.
A technology association-backed report released this week shows strong growth in revenues for the music industry over the past 5 to 10 years, driven by digital music. The data counters the current European copyright reform concern over a "value gap" for the music industry, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) said.
A newly announced partnership between the UN World Intellectual Property Organization and the international pharmaceutical industry to set up a database of medicines patents announced this month to the surprise of governments and civil society was an idea originally brought to WIPO by a group of companies in February of this year. Now they appear to be encouraging others to join in.
It’s safe to say most delegates at the annual World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies this month gave no thought to the next election for the director general of the UN agency. It’s not surprising, as it is still years away and was not on the agenda this year. But it was surprising to hear a few delegates in the hallways utter the first very early whispers about what the next election might look like. So Intellectual Property Watch talked to delegates and looked at the possible timeline for the next election for the top post at WIPO.
Today a range of civil society organisations sent an open letter to European Union policymakers calling for the removal of a provision they say would violate citizens' rights by forcing monitoring and filtering of copyrighted materials.
The World Intellectual Property Organization will increase the retirement age to 65 for all workers starting in 2020, one year earlier than it had proposed but still a delay aimed at freeing up some job posts through earlier retirements.
Despite an effort by the Asia and Pacific Group countries to increase their representation, the geographical distribution of membership of the powerful World Intellectual Property Organization Program and Budget Committee remained the same at the completion of discussions at the annual WIPO General Assembly tonight. But WIPO members did agree to begin consideration of the composition of the committee.