Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The new National Academies report on patents and standards is a landmark effort to shed light on the tensions between patents and standards in information and communications technology. Brian Kahin critiques the report and examines underlying problems that the report sidesteps.
WASHINGTON, DC - The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) programme of strategically placed intellectual property lawyers in key locations abroad continues to grow. And the annual report of a lineup of these IP attachés this week at the US Chamber of Commerce showed they are having some success.
The European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs today received an oral summary of the draft recommendations on mass surveillance, after hearing the testimony of former Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald.
Mike Rogers, chairman of the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, today defended the work of the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies in the US at a meeting with members of the European Parliament, and called for a united front against the theft of intellectual property by China.
The Berne Declaration, a Swiss non-profit, has released results of investigations that found industry-sponsored offshore clinical drug trials in developing countries involve "multiple ethical violations," a problem increased by the patent-based industry business model.
In time for the start of the third round of trade negotiations between the United States and European Union, EU transparency organisation Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) published the first interesting leak on the substance of the talks.
The intellectual property offices of Korea and China today announced they have signed a cooperation agreement on work-sharing, communication, and new areas of IP, including the commercial use of IP rights such as transactions involving patents.
As of today, the Brazilian Patent Office has a new president: Otávio Brandelli, according to an official announcement. Also today, the nation's new amendment on collective management went into effect.
It took World Intellectual Property Organization members long hours in informal consultations over the past two days and far into last night to try solving two outstanding issues in the extraordinary session of the organisation’s General Assembly. Yet another extraordinary session is on the way in May to try to agree on the convening of a diplomatic conference – a high level treaty negotiation - on industrial designs later in 2014.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – A conference here on intellectual property, innovation and the public interest included a look at different possible futures for Africa, global IP tax evasion schemes, a discussion of the strong informal sector, and some views on the relative weakness of patent quality on the continent.
Following the public outcry over the EU’s demands for stringent intellectual property rules that would dramatically raise medicines prices in India, you would expect the EU to think twice about making similar demands in future trade agreements, particularly with low- and middle-income countries. Yet, this is precisely what is going on now in the negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EU and Thailand, writes Tessel Mellema.
The Medicines Patent Pool today announced a new agreement with biopharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb for an HIV medicine, which is expected to increase access in 110 developing countries.