Original news and analysis on international IP policy
In a move welcomed by many in the international community, India has granted an application, its first, from a homegrown generic drug maker to manufacture and sell a patented cancer drug under a compulsory licence.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) this week held a public hearing on a German case involving software companies Oracle and UsedSoft, the second step to a ruling that could potentially set new rules for buying and downloading software on the internet.
A United States congressional representative has posted the text of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to the internet and is calling for public comments out of the fear that the agreement will harm the open internet.
The World Intellectual Property Organization today announced that it had set a new record for filings of patents at the international level in 2011, in what the UN agency attributed to a focus on innovation. Patents filed under the WIPO-managed Patent Cooperation Treaty shot up more than 10 per cent last year in the fastest growth since 2005, and a Chinese company took top honour for most filings.
There will be more than 50 important meetings talking internet in 2012, and activists and government alike have started calling for streamlining or better cooperation and focus. Yet what might make 2012 a very notable year with regard to the politics of the net is not these meetings, but the rising storms blowing over the net regarding day to day internet politics. The preliminary stop of the un-beloved SOPA/PIPA legislation in the United States and the unexpected hesitation of Europe to sign the controversial ACTA agreement gave a first taste of a hot year in internet governance.
The controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement consumed hours of European Parliament time this week as the European Commission sought to persuade lawmakers to approve it. But no matter how often EC officials, academics and lawyers said the treaty will not change EU law, scepticism still remains about its potential impact on digital freedoms and access to generic medicines in developing countries – including from the Parliament member who will author the legislative report.
As the Novartis Glivec patent case in India reaches the final phase of a long-running legal battle, there’s one point on which both the Swiss pharmaceutical company and its critics agree: the significance of this case goes far beyond the protection of a single medication.
While action on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is occurring at the European Parliament in Brussels – including a new letter from Members of Parliament and 2.5 million petitioners in opposition - ACTA also was the subject of discussion at the World Trade Organization this week.
The World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property issues today is meeting to address its usual list of topics with two recent additions of international interest. Countries negotiating the embattled Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and a country opposed to Australia’s public health law on tobacco packaging have added these to the agenda. Sources at the meeting say opponents of the tobacco law may be near to filing a dispute settlement case at the WTO.
A training programme on intellectual property organised by the United States with several partners to be held in Africa in April has been postponed under pressure to make the programme more transparent and representative of all stakeholders.
High-level policymakers, industry leaders, law professors and other stakeholders came together in Geneva recently to discuss the how the role of intellectual property is evolving when it comes to developing, protecting, and providing medicines.
The European Union's progress of adopting the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiated last year has been suspended pending a ruling by Europe's highest court, the European Trade Commissioner announced yesterday.