Original news and analysis on international IP policy
After three days of stocktaking, members of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on genetic resources and traditional knowledge were unable to agree on a recommendation on the future work of the committee to the September WIPO General Assembly. Instead, a report will be transmitted to the Assembly with the expectation that this high level committee will reach agreement.
Investor agreements, included in many bilateral investment treaties (BITs), are a source of growing concern for many national governments. These agreements essentially leave countries vulnerable to litigation by individual firms, rather than other countries, as is the case in traditional World Trade Organization disputes.
World Intellectual Property Organization committee members have laid out options for establishing an instrument or instruments to protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore. Now they are working to choose among them.
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) yesterday took action on reports pertaining to HIV/AIDS, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and science and technology for development.
World Intellectual Property Organization committee members will decide by tomorrow whether to recommend WIPO move to final high-level negotiations on the protection of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore.
A new report released in the United States assesses assumptions and seeks to spark new thinking on the economic impact of cybercrime and cyberespionage, including the valuation and losses of intellectual property.
World Health Organization members are meeting this week to advance the new international mechanism against substandard and counterfeit medicines.
World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy today said the road to the next WTO ministerial, in Bali, Indonesia in December, has become clearer. He gave a detailed update on issues under negotiation, and included a positive mention of the recent agreement to extend the period for least-developed countries to adopt WTO rules on trade and intellectual property.
The landscape and nature of world trade are changing, and quickly, according to the latest World Trade Report published by the World Trade Organization. Technological innovation, shifts in production and consumption patterns, and demographic change are said to be the primary factors that will shape the future of world trade and the global trading system, the report found.
A new report from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) proposes solutions to advancing the global debate on the protection of traditional knowledge shared among different indigenous communities.
Despite last month’s United States Supreme Court decision on a case involving Myriad Genetics, which struck down some of Myriad’s patents related to human genes, Myriad has filed infringement suits against two companies that had announced they would begin offering lower-cost tests for the breast cancer genes in question.
Just as the world of international intellectual property law and policy is ever-changing, so are the faces within it. Below you will find an updated list of the latest people news and IP moves across international organisations, national and regional governments, nonprofit organisations, and the private sector, from the first half of this year.