Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch With Egypt’s recent approval of the cultivation and commercialisation of a pest-resistant corn variety that marked the first legal introduction of genetically modified crops into the Arab world, the Egyptian scientific community is…
By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch Iran has adopted a new law on the “registration of inventions, industrial designs and trademarks” in a bid to come to grips with the fast-paced changes in the world of trade and industry…
General Electric’s Ecomagination is an initiative launched in 2005 as a gathering/focal point for extant green technology as well as new research and development into clean technology. Ecomagination’s products include technologies for cleaner energy, notably wind turbines for collecting wind…
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 William New The annual World Health Assembly on Saturday adopted a global strategy aimed at filling the research gap for diseases afflicting developing countries that places the UN agency squarely in global intellectual property policymaking and despite compromises is…
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 Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch Despite an apparent stalemate on patent reform in the United States Congress, the Bush administration is still pushing for a bill to be completed this congressional session. Speaking in California’s Silicon Valley…
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…
Note: The latest version of the draft strategy (dated Saturday, 3 May, 14.00h) is now available on the WHO website [click here]. By Kaitlin Mara and William New The World Health Organization (WHO) negotiations on public health, intellectual property and…