Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Country experts this week took up the challenge of doing the groundwork for negotiations towards a treaty on the protection of genetic resources at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Breaking uncharacteristically early on the final day today, the experts’ work delivered a set of options reflecting all points of views for negotiators to work from.
A new draft document was issued yesterday by a drafting group of experts at the World Intellectual Property Organization. The drafting group was in charge of cleaning up a text with aspirations to become a draft international instrument on the protection of genetic resources, and added a number of options for a possible treaty.
Myriad Genetics, a United States-based biotechnology company with exclusive patent rights over a key breast cancer diagnostic test in the US, may shift its patent strategy from its inventions to protecting its data in the face of drawn out litigation and upcoming competition, an industry journal has reported.
Patentable subject matter was discussed this week at the World Trade Organization with entrenched positions, according to sources, and the momentum started in October on ways to improve a public health exception within the WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, appeared to have lost some steam.
The role of the World Health Organization in the safety, quality and efficacy of medical products is under scrutiny this week by member states and stakeholders. In particular, the focus is on the WHO’s role in the prevention and control of medical products of compromised quality, the organisation’s relationship with the international taskforce against counterfeit products, and the taskforce’s alleged focus on the protection of intellectual property rights rather than on public health issues. In several documents, the WHO tries to explain this fragile role.
Experts discussing the protection of genetic resources at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week are struggling to stay within their technical mandate as the issues carry significant political impact. Discussions today resulted in a marked-up text on objectives and principles of a possible international instrument that reveals key differences among members on the role of IP, and of WIPO, in genetic resources.
In a week in which the United States Congress is fighting to avoid a government shutdown over budget disagreements and political posturing is high, technocrats and friends of innovative businesses are working to get passage of a bill to reform US patent law.
A designated working group will meet for the first time this week to discuss the World Health Organization’s role in the safety, quality and efficacy of medical products, but some countries are concerned about what they consider to be the unwelcome intrusion of intellectual property rights issues into the debate.
After a week of technical discussions to elaborate a draft text designed to help the World Intellectual Property Organization member states reach a treaty text on the protection of traditional knowledge, experts provided a set of draft articles, comments and proposed amendments.
On the eve of a meeting of the WHO working group on substandard/spurious/falsely-labelled/falsified/counterfeit medical products, research-based pharmaceutical industry group IFPMA sets out thoughts on building global consensus to address fake medicines.
After two days of broad analysis of a draft document on traditional knowledge, country experts were to convene today in small drafting groups to trim down the language and arrive at a treaty negotiating text for the delegates meeting at the World Intellectual Property Organization in May.
A European Parliament majority this week approved a free trade agreement with Korea with strong provisions on intellectual property rights protection, according to Robert Stury, rapporteur of the lead EP Committee on the dossier.