Category IP Policies

A New Model For IP: Interview With Ecuador IP Office Director Hernán Núñez Rocha

Ecuador is preparing a new intellectual property policy that aims to better suit the country's strategic development. On the occasion of the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly, Hernán Núñez Rocha, head of the Ecuadorian IP office sat with Intellectual Property Watch to talk about the country's work on the IP policy and its use of IP as a tool for local development. He also explained Ecuador's position on the WIPO committee on traditional knowledge.

WTO TRIPS Council To Decide On LDC Pharma Extension, Non-Violation Complaints

The intellectual property committee of the World Trade Organization is meeting this week with a full agenda. The highlight of the agenda is the extension of a waiver allowing least developed countries to choose not to enforce intellectual property rights on pharmaceutical products. Also high on the agenda is a decision on whether to extend a moratorium banning IP from complaints not linked to any breached WTO agreement, and the annual review of special compulsory licence for exporting pharmaceutical products.

WTO Paper Could Spark New Ideas On TRIPS Special Compulsory Licence For Medicines Export

A carefully agreed 2003 waiver from international intellectual property trade rules to allow export of medicines made under compulsory licence to benefit needy countries has been quietly implemented by a large number of World Trade Organization members, according to a new analytical paper from the WTO. The analysis explores the limited use of the waiver to date and how the situation has changed since then, providing grist for a potential fresh look at the provision at this week’s annual WTO review of IP and public health.

WIPO Explains Its Role In Sustainable Development Goals And The UN

The World Intellectual Property Organization is a United Nations agency based in Geneva. At the time of the recent activity at UN headquarters in New York over the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, Minelik Alemu Getahun, WIPO Assistant Director General, took time to explain in a written Q&A what WIPO's involvement is in the SDGs and IP agency's evolving relationship with the UN.

WIPO Hears From The Creators Behind Copyright Protection In Global Film

A private sector panel at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week explored the collaborative relationships that develop between screenwriters, producers, and directors around the world as they bring a project from an initial idea to a finished film. The panel also looked at the role of copyright law in the various stages of this film-making process.