Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A call for proposals was launched today by the World Health Organization expert group in charge of making recommendations on ways to encourage and finance research and development for diseases that mostly affect developing countries.
Intellectual Property Watch readers have been offered a $200 savings on attendance at next week's spring meeting of the Licensing Executives Society in New York, focused on life sciences. This year's LES Spring Meeting will feature key topics facing IP, licensing and business development professionals in the life sciences industry including: Structuring Term Sheets, Option Agreements, Co-Development and Co-Promotion Deals, Profit Sharing vs. Revenue Sharing, Commercialization, Clean-Tech, Deal Negotiations, Bio-Fuels, Patent Litigation, Biosimilars, Cloud Computing, Antitrust Dos and Don'ts in Licensing and more. US Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos will keynote on improving the quality of healthcare, pharmaceutical and life science patents.
The meeting will take place from 4-6 May, at the Westin New York at Times Square. Read the full story for the program and promotional code.
Intellectual property has often been considered by developing countries as a hindrance to development rather than a driving force. Next week, delegates to the World Intellectual Property Organization will discuss the implementation of the organisation’s commitment to take development considerations more substantially into its work. In particular, delegates are expected to try to agree on the coordination mechanism of the committee responsible for the effort.
Non-communicable diseases such as cancer and diabetes now have a global reach, and are the leading cause of death, according to the World Health Organization, which describes them as an “epidemic.” Once considered problems of rich countries, they now hit low- and middle-income populations the worst, says WHO, but preventive actions could be taken. Meanwhile, civil society is warning about the lack of availability of non-communicable diseases medications in developing countries.
More than two years after construction was begun and 13 years since its approval, a large new World Intellectual Property Organization office building quietly opened doors in March and the exodus from across the street and several other locations in Geneva began for some 500 employees of the United Nations organisation.
A new ruling from Texas against Google found patent infringement in some of its use of open-source Linux code, a decision that could affect the use of Linux and other open source systems that build upon it, according to a news source.
Mandated efforts to create an international register of geographical indications have risen in importance at the World Trade Organization in recent weeks. And as the pressure to produce negotiating texts for the Doha Round discussions climaxed this week, some dissonant notes were heard in the main negotiating group of countries on GIs.
Niels Louwaars of the Centre for Genetic Resources, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, discusses the importance of plant breeder’s rights. He makes the case for a carefully balanced protection for plant breeders and changes to patents in agriculture, in order to ensure a competitive, diversified supply of plant varieties and seeds.
A new book published by GTZ, the German federal agency for international development, looks at the synergies between intellectual property rights and biodiversity, gathering analysis from Latin America, southern Africa and Asia experts.
After a week of discussions, a good part of which centred around intellectual property issues, World Health Organization members agreed to a framework aimed at better addressing future influenza pandemics and facilitating vaccines access for developing country populations, with industry contributions.
World Health Organization members trying this week to agree on elements of a framework for helping the world address the next influenza pandemic headed into the final night of the meeting in intensive negotiations. At press time, negotiations were focused on specifics of standard agreements for the transfer of genetic materials related to flu virus strains.
The first financial marketplace for the trading of patent rights is scheduled to go online this year, and other countries are eyeing the United States’ progress with interest.