Landmark India IP Board Decision Against Hepatitis C Drug Patent
India last week saw a landmark public health decision on the evolving role of intellectual property rights in the context of the public interest.
Intellectual Property Watch
Original news and analysis on international IP policy
William New
WTO IT Agreement Committee Reports Progress, Reservations
A group of countries working to expand the World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement (ITA) showed progress this week, but some continued to have reservations, the WTO reported.
Petition Urges Delay, Discussion Of Pan-African IP Organization
A new petition circulating worldwide urges the delay of a suddenly fast-moving proposal to create a Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization (PAIPO). The delay effort – which seeks an open discussion of the proposal to make it more tailored to local African needs - comes just weeks before African Union representatives meet to consider its adoption.
Peace, Love, and Private Practice: Film Industry Lawyer Ted Shapiro To Depart MPA
Ted Shapiro, a long-time copyright industry advocate in the European legal trenches for the Motion Picture Association, will leave at year's end for a private law firm in Brussels.
UN: Governments To Double Biodiversity Funding, Push Access/Benefit-Sharing
At last week's high-level meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) governments agreed to double financial flows toward biodiversity by 2015, the CBD has announced. They also came up with strategy to move forward on access and benefit-sharing of biodiversity.
Honduras Requests WTO Panel On Australia Tobacco Law
Honduras has submitted a request for the formation of a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization regarding a tobacco plain-packaging law Australia has passed for public health reasons.
Open-Access Journal eLife Publishes First Articles
A new open-access journal for science, eLife, has released its first collection of research articles.
Civil Society Network Issues Proposals On Climate Change And IPRs
An international network of civil society groups has issued a set of proposals for governments to encourage innovation and access to key technologies against climate change while taking intellectual property rights into account.
ITU Undertakes Work On Standards Essential Patents
The United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has tasked an expert group on intellectual property rights with coming up with ways to update ITU patent policy with an eye toward clarifying litigation involving “standards-essential patents.”
No Deal For Now On WIPO Design Treaty, Patent Law Work Plan
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week could not agree on a work plan for the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP), leading to a likely postponement of the next committee meeting. In addition, the annual WIPO General Assemblies failed to agree to hold a diplomatic conference on a Design Law Treaty, but did agree on an expedited way forward. And the Assemblies took note of the work of the committees on standards and enforcement.
Experts Gather In Toronto To Assess ICANN And Internet Governance
Public interest groups will join government officials, academics, attorneys, industry representatives and others in Toronto, Canada, on Friday, 12 October alongside the meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to discuss ICANN's involvement in internet governance issues such as security and freedom online.
WIPO Members (Again) Intensify Talks On Genetic Material, TK, Folklore
World Intellectual Property Organization members this week agreed to a year-long plan to intensively negotiate for a legal instrument(s) on the protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore. Next year’s annual WIPO assembly in October will decide on whether to schedule a diplomatic conference to finalise the instrument.