Category Features

China, US Hold High-Level Discussions On IP Issues

By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch China and the United States last week held high-level discussions on a host of topics including intellectual property rights, reaching agreements to cooperate on IP rights protection, stopping counterfeit medicines and devices,…

WHO To Continue High-Priority Revision Of Pandemic Flu System

By William New
Members of the World Health Organization worked for days recently under the steady gaze of the WHO director general in an attempt to develop a new framework for the global influenza-sharing system designed as a safeguard against a pandemic.

Disparities Seen In Developing Countries’ TRIPS Implementation

By Catherine Saez There are considerable differences in developing countries’ implementation of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and their use of flexibilities in it, according to speakers at a recent South Centre…

EU Online Copyright Bill Coming; Publishers Debate DRMs

By William New BRUSSELS – European publishers and copyright holders have a friend in European Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding, which she reinforced last week in describing efforts to push through a new bill on digital publishing copyrights. At the…

The Proposed Reform Of Venezuelan Constitution: Cultural And Intellectual Property Issues

[Re: 2 December referendum on constitutional changes in Venezuela] By Rafael Carreño, SAPI External Advisor During the last few months across Venezuela at dozens of open forums -both on the streets and within institutions and in the media, there have…

UN Committee Questions CAFTA’s IP Provisions On Human Rights Grounds

By Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) in a recent meeting echoed concerns raised by Costa Rican opponents of the Central American free trade agreement with the United States,…

Indonesia Urges Change To Global Virus-Sharing System

In the ongoing WHO debate over the sharing of virus strains and benefits accruing from that sharing (including potential patenting), Indonesia has been facing off against much of the developed world and its industry in seeking new strong measures to…

WHO Kicks Off Talks On Flu Pandemic, Benefits, Access To Vaccines

By William New The politically explosive issue of ensuring everyone benefits from vaccines in the event of an influenza pandemic is the subject of a negotiation underway at the World Health Organization this week. The work of the member governments…

Open Standards, Access To Knowledge Discussed At IGF

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch RIO DE JANEIRO – Intellectual property-related issues were a topic avoided by governments during the 2003-2005 World Summit on the Information Society, which gave way to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). But at…