Category Features

Public Health And Patents Heat Up WIPO Debate On Harmonisation

Discussions at an open forum last week on a possible harmonisation of international patent laws showed that countries do not only disagree on whether it would be useful or not but also have different expectations on what such a harmonisation…

Groups Decry Impact Of IP And Health Terms In US Trade Agreements

By Martin Vaughan for Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON, DC – Public health activists are condemning recent terms agreed to by Colombia, Peru and Central American countries in bilateral trade negotiations with the United States, that bind those countries to offer…

Biotech Industry Fights Disclosure In Patents On Three IP Policy Fronts

For the coming months, key biotechnology industry organisations are focusing their efforts on blocking the addition of disclosure of origin requirements in international patent applications on three fronts. The issue is being debated in three international fora: the World Trade…

Industry’s Take On WIPO Development Talks: An Interview With The Director General Of CropLife

On 22 February the biotechnology and crop industry association CropLife International hosted a side event as well as an evening reception to the ongoing discussions of a development agenda at World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Intellectual Property Watch talked with…

Experts Discuss Balance Between Digital Content Access, Protection

The impact of copyrights on access to everything from digital books in libraries to online music was discussed at a 21 February side event of a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) meeting on a development agenda. One of the main…