Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organisation last week spent significant time discussing a proposal to include the delivery of broadcasts over the Internet in a treaty updating the rights of broadcasters. But the proposal appears to have almost…
Bern, Switzerland – A day-long conference of experts on health issues demonstrated the range of views in the debate on how developing countries should best address their public health needs through international policies. Dominique Sprumont of the University of Neuchâtel…
The World Trade Organization next week will reconvene a suspended meeting on unresolved intellectual property issues that sources say have moved little in the final weeks before the 13-18 December ministerial in Hong Kong. The 29 November meeting will consider…
The chairman of the World Trade Organization group that has discussed the proposal for a geographical indications register for wines and spirits said in a draft report that there has been no progress in the talks, and asked ministers for…
Brazil on 17 November proposed that the World Intellectual Property Organisation tie its draft treaty on broadcasters’ rights to a recently agreed treaty on cultural diversity that was seen as strengthening nations’ ability to control information flows across their borders.…
The last time the UN World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) copyright committee met it ended in acrimony, with still-bitter memories for some member governments who argued their objections to the outcome were wrongly ignored. But after a year and numerous…
Citing a need to change the debate on intellectual property issues, another US trade association has added Geneva to its list of lobbying stops. The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) has expanded its presence in Europe in recent years mainly…
While Swiss-based Roche, the rights holder to the most-favoured medicine for avian influenza, is pursuing sub-licenses, India is moving ahead with exploring the option of compulsory licensing. If this goes through, India would be able to export Tamiflu to developing…
Roche, the Swiss-based company with rights to a medicine believed to be the most effective in the event of an avian influenza pandemic, has expressed openness to discussing arrangements with companies or governments to produce more of its flu treatment…
A high-level group of legal scholars, artists, scientists and experts has launched an initiative urging governments to change the global intellectual property scheme which they argue has shifted too much toward private interests at the expense of the public. John…
Paris—The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) today approved a treaty for the protection of cultural diversity despite an all-out drive by the United States to get governments to change their minds. “We really pulled out all the stops”…
PARIS — Attempts by the United States and Japan to reopen negotiations on a UN draft treaty on cultural diversity today are meeting with firm resistance from developed and developing countries alike. While most nations’ ministers present at the UN…