Original news and analysis on international IP policy
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At mid-point of the annual World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly, numerous items are unresolved, and several facilitators are in charge of finding consensus on draft decisions, in particular on norm-setting issues and the budget of the UN organisation.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership should expressly include an international treaty on cultural diversity, public broadcasters and a coalition have said.
The World Intellectual Property Organization governing body started examining the work of its committees yesterday, with the hope of solving some issues that those committees were unable to solve during the year. This included the work programmes of the committees on copyright and on trademarks and geographical indications.
Two panel discussions held at the recent World Trade Organisation (WTO) Public Forum addressed the challenge of modernising global trade rules for the digital age and the role the WTO could play in this process.
The 1994 World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has been a landmark pact in the IP world and beyond. Now on the 20th anniversary of its entry into force, former TRIPS negotiators and other experts have come out with a book recounting the remarkable set of circumstances and compromises that took place to bring this agreement into being.
World Intellectual Property Organization members called for swift adoption of new treaties at the outset of the organisation's annual General Assemblies this week.
Reactions to yesterday's announcement that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is in the books quickly turned to “what's next?” with European Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem sending congratulations and expressing expectations that “with TPP done, we will be able to approach our TTIP negotiations with an even greater focus from both sides.” But considerable work remains for TPP to come into effect.
The fate of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee dedicated to finding solutions to protect traditional knowledge, generic resources, and folklore is being actively discussed informally at the organisation's general assembly.
The odds for a final signature under the Trans-Pacific Partnership went up and down since negotiations of the regional trade agreement re-started in Atlanta last Wednesday. In the final hours, the delegations of the 12 Pacific-Rim countries fought hard over data exclusivity terms for biologic drugs and access to dairy. Now the deal, the first of a new generation of regional mega-agreements, is done and while opponents are concerned about the selling out of patients, workers and consumers rights, Perrin Beatty from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce recommends to the naysayers to “pull up your socks” and face competition.
Negotiations for new global policies on intellectual property has become more challenging due to a greater competition in innovation, knowledge asymmetries, and the push for bilateral and regional treaties, the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization said today.
This week, the World Intellectual Property Organization annual General Assemblies will set the priorities and direction for the organisation for the year to come. The Assemblies also have before it approval of WIPO's budget for the next biennium 2016/2017.
The ratification of an international convention to fight counterfeit of medical products by Guinea has unlocked the entry into force of the instrument, now set to happen on 1 January 2016.