Category Features

Special Report: One Year On At The Medicines Patent Pool: Interview With Greg Perry

Greg Perry has been executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) for over a year now, since January 2013. Under his guidance, MPP shares that it has launched a “series of new licensing agreements and negotiations with key patent holders and generic medicines companies.” Intellectual Property Watch sat down with Perry recently to discuss why the MPP is so important as an alternative business model, the context of the MPP, changes in the global approach to the issue of access, and how the MPP fits within the Geneva context.

Consensus On Principles Difficult To Bake Into Two-Day NetMundial

Consensus on the outcome document seemed elusive on day one of the NetMundial meeting that started in Sao Paulo yesterday. But ambitions are high for many.

Geneva Health Forum Covers Wide Range Of Policy Issues

Non-communicable diseases, access and affordability, global health governance and information and communications technology innovation are some of the important issues discussed and debated at the recent Geneva Health Forum (GHF).

Ten Questions About Internet Governance

On April 23 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the “Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance,” also known as "NETmundial" in an allusion to the global football event that will occur later in that country, will be convened. Juan Alfonso Fernández González of the Cuban Communications Ministry and a veteran of the UN internet governance meetings, raises 10 questions that need to be answered at NETmundial.

Copyright Ruling In US May Impair Free Speech

The 9th Circuit’s recent decision in Garcia v. Google has sparked outrage among many internet businesses, media organisations, civil rights groups, and copyright experts. They assert the ruling significantly alters US law in a manner that will greatly restrict free speech. But a minority of experts say there is nothing to fear.

East African Community Moves To Harmonise IP Rights Regulation

KAMPALA - As the East African Community nears full revival, a bloc market covering five countries with a population of about 145 million people has emerged. But the member countries face another challenge: they have different levels of intellectual property rights protection.

EU Trademark Case Leads To Rules On Use Of Nice Classification

The perhaps underestimated list of goods or services that applicants file with their trademark applications play an essential role in defining the protection the trademark will have.

Registrars use this list to determine if an application should be refused and if it limits a trademark’s exclusive rights. The goods or services listed in an application can also motivate oppositions from competitors with prior rights or cause the future cancellation of the trademark.

A recent trademark case in the European Union calls into attention the need for authorities to establish clear, predictable rules to identify goods and services in trademark systems. Further, the case highlights why it is important for applicants to carefully consider which goods or services they wish to protect and clearly identify them in an application.

UPOV To Examine ARIPO Legislation On Plant Variety Protection

Several committees of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) will meet this week. One of them is called to assess a draft legal framework on plant variety protection from the African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO). The draft legislation has drawn ire from civil society who charge that it is detrimental to small farmers and who argue that ARIPO does not have legitimacy to become a UPOV member.

Global Fund And Tiered Medicines Pricing Under Debate

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has launched an initiative with other agencies aimed at expanding global access to health products such as medicines. But the Fund has had some explaining to do about the initiative, which some say could encompass a plan to allow different prices based on national income levels.

EU Wrestles With Procedure For Signing Marrakesh Treaty For Visually Impaired

The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the European Union recently approved a compromise proposal by the Greek presidency, setting up a decision on the EU Council’s signing later this month of the Marrakesh Treaty on access to books for blind and visually impaired persons. However, some EU members raised that the treaty lies within a shared competency between the EU and its member states.