Original news and analysis on international IP policy
In a recent decision, Ediciones de la Flor SA c. Fontanarrosa Franco s. Acción Mere Declarativa (File No. 1420/08), the Court of First Instance in Civil and Commercial Matters No. 12 of Rosario, the second largest city in Argentina, ruled that the rights of the community to access unpublished works of a deceased author are superior to the moral rights of one of his heirs to oppose such publication.
A full room of country delegates and ambassadors gathered yesterday to celebrate the accession of India to the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks at the World Intellectual Property Organization. However, beyond the joy of accession, the recent decision of the Indian Supreme Court on a Novartis drug patent loomed in the room.
A draft protocol for the protection of new varieties of plants proposed by an inter-governmental African regional economic community is provoking the ire of civil society concerned about the potential impact of the protocol on small farmers, and the lack of consultation of farmers.
Following the Indian Supreme Court decision in Novartis AG v. Union of India, Prof. Frederick Abbott says, "the judgment is well-crafted, with close attention to the facts presented, and appears to take a balanced view of the matters brought before the Court."
New Delhi - On 1 April, in a packed room in India’s Supreme Court, two judges - Justice Aftab Alam and Justice Ranjana Desai - delivered a verdict that has the potential to dramatically change the national and global conversation about patents and patients.
Arusha, Tanzania – Pharmaceutical manufacturers in East Africa have joined forces to strengthen their production capacity to meet at least half of the region’s demand for affordable, quality medicines. The East African Community is supporting this ambitious goal through various initiatives, including a regional intellectual property policy to guide partner states on developing national legislation that fosters local pharmaceutical production.
Threats of injunction in cases of infringement of essential standard patents, which have raised concerns in Europe and the United States as being leverage for patent holders to get higher royalties, might in fact be a way to maintain an equilibrium in royalty-setting, according to speakers at a World Intellectual Property Organization event.
Attorney Charles Macedo addresses the question: Why did so many patent applicants rush to file patent applications before the America Invents Act (AIA) law changes went into effect - and what might happen if they didn't?
On 5 March, the Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Wilmot James, submitted a Private Members’ Bill to the Office of the Speaker entitled the Protection of Traditional Knowledge Bill - a new traditional knowledge bill that would supplant the one recently sent back by the president of South Africa, Cobus Jooste writes.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania – Nigeria’s booming film industry, born in an intellectual property-free environment, was presented as a case study of how IP needs may vary depending on context during a recent workshop organised by the US Commerce Department. In parallel, representatives of multinational brands and law enforcement delivered a strong message on the gravity of counterfeit trade, highlighting its link to organised crime.
The United States Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Monday in a case in which the US Federal Trade Commission is questioning payments made by brand name pharmaceutical companies to generic producers for delayed entry into the market of lower priced generics.
New York - A conference here this week aimed at corporate counsel for intellectual property addressed a range of issues of interest to that audience.