Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The African Regional Intellectual Property Office last week obtained a positive decision at the international level on its draft law to protect new varieties of plants. Amid protest from civil society, the regional office now has to adopt the draft law and has said it would convene a diplomatic conference (high-level negotiation) in 2014 in order to do so.
The Geneva Health Forum (GHF), taking place on 15-17 April in Geneva, will discuss the theme “Global Health: Interconnected Challenges, Integrated Solutions.” This year’s forum aims to encourage an “integrative approach” to global health, “which better captures the underlying causes of ill-health and recognises the commonalities that underlie people’s health around the world,” says GHF.
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.
Guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis C released by the World Health Organization today recommend revolutionary new drugs for the virus. However, the exorbitant price of these drugs means they will remain out of reach for most of the millions infected. The WHO guidelines themselves offer limited recommendation for reducing prices, but may help in creating the conditions for price reduction by accruing demand and giving countries official backing in price negotiations.
The recently published book “Chinese Intellectual Property and Technology Laws” provides the “first” overview of Chinese IP and technology law, supported by extensive legal, historical and socioeconomic background to developments in these areas.
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.
South Africa’s upcoming general elections on 7 May have thrown a spanner in the works of the much-anticipated national draft intellectual property policy from coming into effect anytime soon.
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.
The 2014 LES International Conference “Make the World Better through Licensing” will be held on 18-21 May in Moscow at The World Trade Center Moscow. It will be a unique IP event combining both a professionally interesting and productive program and the richest social entertainment, according to the organisers.
Among the participants are: Russian & foreign businessmen, financial officers, investors, scientists, patent & trademark attorneys and lawyers. The conference program will include six general sessions and 23 workshops. Both Russian and International experts will cover most current IP and related issues such as: BRICS & CIS countries as Emerging Markets; International Access to Technologies; Business & Legal Aspects of IP; IP in healthcare/biotechnology, aerospace, car industry, green technology, power engineering, sport, information technologies.
Confirmed speakers are from: Russian Innovation Center “Skolkovo”, Johnson & Johnson, Canon, L’Oreal, Tatneft, Sony Europe, Siemens AG, Porsche AG, LG Chemical, Philips, Novartis, TATA Technologies, GlaxoSmithKline, Boeing, Yandex and many others.
For more information and to register visit http://les2014.org/
After two weeks of drafting articles of potential international instruments aimed at protecting traditional knowledge and folklore from misappropriation, World Intellectual Property Organization delegates agreed to forward the revised texts for the consideration of the General Assembly in September.
The University of Geneva is launching an Internet l@w summer school which will take place from June 16 to June 27, 2014.
The Internet l@w summer school offers the opportunity to learn and discuss internet law and policies with experts from leading institutions including the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, the Internet Society, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the World Economic Forum (WEF), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), as well as from other prestigious academic or governmental institutions and global internet companies (eBay and Google).
Topics to be covered include privacy and surveillance, free speech, telecom and internet infrastructure, intellectual property, antitrust, choice of court & choice of law, on-line contracts, consumer protection, legal issues of social media and cloud computing.
The website of the Internet l@w summer school is: www.internetlaw-geneva.ch
Registration deadline: May 15, 2014 (early bird: April 15).
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) this week announced two new licencing agreements with the private sector joint venture ViiV Healthcare that will increase access to a new antiretroviral in countries hardest hit by HIV.