Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A letter from the United States government answering a variety of sticky questions about the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement has been released online. The 28 January letter is addressed to Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat, Oregon) from US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
The World Trade Organization group on intellectual property rights met today and ended early, discussing a potential workshop on an amendment intended to ease access to cheaper generic medicines in countries without a pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, a new proposal from Bolivia and three separate longstanding IP issues with no major changes.
World Trade Organization members this week will hear a report on an informal meeting on an amendment to intellectual property trade rules intended to allow easier access to medicines, which some argue has had a flawed design from its inception.
Far-reaching provisions on the patenting of medicine have been inserted into a controversial free trade agreement between the European Union and Colombia and Peru.
A treaty on copyright exceptions for visually impaired readers, open educational materials, use of the internet without surveillance, and early human rights movements around access to electricity were among issues debated at a recent academic conference on access to knowledge.
Brazilian President Lula has adopted a measure to enable the suspension of Brazil’s obligations to protect intellectual property rights from the United States, the next step after a World Trade Organization ruling of US non-compliance with WTO rules, according to an unofficial translation of the provisional Brazilian measure.
The United States’ largest industry association today laid out an aggressive legislative agenda on intellectual property, calling for a dramatic increase in enforcement activities including pumped up customs and border authority.
The chapter on copyright protection in the digital environment under negotiation in the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is still in an embryonic state, said negotiators coming back from the recent ACTA negotiations in Guadalajara, Mexico.
In a mad-dash 34-hour marathon, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry professionals met on 1-2 February in Geneva in what was intended to be a hearth of partnering opportunities. About 600 participants debated future trends and current challenges along with open innovation, global health and vaccines.
Ensuring public access to knowledge while supporting intellectual property rights cuts across broad areas such as internet availability, public health, education and culture, climate change, and basic technical standards. And while the non-profit movement that has worked to encourage access is facing serious challenges this year, they are set to fight it out in the various fora related to essential drugs, books and academic journals, and software again in 2010.
CAIRO - The launch this week on the new campus of American University in Cairo of a new centre and a new book on access to knowledge in Egypt offered a view on the complexities of the issues and the challenges developing countries face to ensure global intellectual property rights are incorporated into their legal systems in the most locally productive ways possible.
A waiver to World Trade Organization rules intended to aid people in poor countries in gaining access to medicines has remained essentially unused in the over six-and-a-half years since it was put in place. On Friday, member states of the WTO will in an informal meeting discuss this situation and see what, if anything, needs be done.