Original news and analysis on international IP policy
There has been a tidal wave of severe criticism of the South African government’s proposed legislation to provide for protection for traditional knowledge in domestic South African law, writes Prof. Owen Dean. Now, the criticism seems to align with accepted international views.
Richard Elliott writes: Canada’s Access to Medicines Regime (CAMR) was a unanimous pledge by Parliament to help people dying in developing countries because they lack access to affordable medicines. So far, it has delivered only one medicine to one country since Parliament created it more than 8 years ago (in May 2004). CAMR is clearly not working; it needs to be reformed to address the unnecessary deficiencies and limitations that have rendered it cumbersome and user-unfriendly for both developing countries and the manufacturers of lower-cost, generic medicines - the two parties that need to make use of CAMR if patients are to get the medicines they need.
The European Union’s global plan for health, development cooperation includes the commitment that high-quality medicines and care in the developing world be available without restrictions. As such, despite its growing impact and strong investment in product R&D, the plan seemingly lacks adequate coherence, innovative financing, and coordination, collaboration with concerned parties. Filling these gaps would be a matter of priority and a way for the EU to achieve indisputable field leadership.
The text of the Draft Statute of the proposed Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization does not support a clear basis for criticism, but the lack of a clear need to put resources toward a centralised African registration system, and the lack of transparency about the process signal that the idea is "ill-conceived," writes South African lawyer Sadulla Karjiker.
Meetings at UN agencies in Geneva are not often mainstream news - but given the high profile nature of legal disputes about smartphone and tablet technology taking place around the world, a meeting to discuss an arcane area of patent policy - the ITU Patent Roundtable - was widely covered, as it brought together some of the titans of the mobile and internet industry plus government regulators and standards bodies.
Cobus Jooste writes: In this special report, the VineOracle (IPStell’s personal pundit on all things IP) brings news (and her own brand of predictions) for the aesthetically minded visitor. And it’s a star-studded cast of high-flyers (and fast swimmers) from Paris and New York representing some of the most exclusive brands. But do not be fooled by the A-list members on call, from what the VineOracle hears, these celebrities are prone to IP rights violations aplenty.
All is fair in love and (patent) war, but apparently not when it comes to awarding damages in patent litigation, writes South Africa's Cobus Jooste.
By this point, I’m sure the entire intellectual property community knows that WIPO has problems, from an investigation of sanctions-busting in its technical assistance programmes going back years to allegations of vote-buying through abuse of the hiring process. It harkens back to the dying days of the term of the last Director-General, Kamil Idris, who left office early under a cloud, writes Nick Ashton-Hart.
Cables on intellectual property (IP) issues from United States embassies in various parts of the world, leaked by Wikileaks, reveal how the country works to achieve its objectives, Cuban Lillian Álvarez writes.
Seldom does a fact bear repeating as frequently as the maxim, “There is no copyright in ideas”. And despite the regularity with which this fundamental principle of copyright law is cited, its application remains a bone of contention, Cobus Jooste writes.