Original news and analysis on international IP policy
BRUSSELS - Trade agreements must not contain clauses on intellectual property rights that could imperil the poor’s access to affordable medicines, a veteran member of the European Parliament (MEP) has said.
Discussions at the World Intellectual Property Organization patent committee this week are focussed on a series of new studies, though one of the more difficult issues on the table - exceptions and limitations to patent law - will not be substantively dealt with until the next meeting in October. Discussions on future work for the committee, with a proposal on the table from Brazil for a new work programme on exceptions and limitations, are soon to begin and are likely to be the most difficult topic of the week.
Representatives of the World Health Organization and the European pharmaceutical industry today answered questions from the Council of Europe and the press on whether they had mishandled an outbreak of influenza this summer.
Along with a domestic agenda that includes patent reform and improving the efficiency of the US Patent and Trademark Office, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) this year also is eyeing issues at the international level, such as genetic resources, environmental technologies and international patent harmonisation.
中国国家标准化管理委员会曾在2004年公布了一份有关专利政策的法规草案，遭到世界各国众多组织提出的批评，最终未能实施。去年11月2日，国家标准化管理委员会公布了《涉及专利的国家标准制修订管理规定（暂行）（征求意见稿）》”（以下简称“专利政策草案”） ，并征求公众意见 。对此全球各政府机构、公司及民间利益团体提交了大量的意见书。其中大多数意见表达了一个共同的观点：该专利政策草案低估了专利权人在标准制定活动中作出的贡献和可能发挥的作用，甚至会抑制他们为国家标准贡献创新性解决方案和技术。
US-based software company Oracle can have its Sun and MySQL too, the European Commission ruled today. The subject of an examination since September 2009, the Oracle-Sun merger deal came under scrutiny over anti-competition concerns.
With the United States Congress attempting to wrap up healthcare – a move made more difficult after a Republican won a traditionally Democratic US Senate seat in January - issues such as tax increases for the nation’s largest financial institutions, energy reform and others may take centre stage. But that’s not to say there is not some room for intellectual property issues to be considered. Upcoming issues may include patent reform, biologic drugs, internet neutrality, enforcement, and performance rights.
A new intergovernmental negotiation, facilitated by the World Health Organization director general, will address an agreement for sharing virus-related materials and benefits and managing associated intellectual property rights in the WHO strategy for responding to pandemic influenza outbreaks.
The first public discussion of an expert report on how to finance the often costly process of research and development to create new medicines, vaccines and diagnostics needed by the poor to address diseases that disproportionately effect them began this week at the World Health Organization. There were immediate concerns about the last-minute release of the report’s full text and concerns from several governments that it came up short on critical areas, and it was decided that an informal consultation process will take place over the next few months. Meanwhile, World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan said she has already begun an investigation to find out who leaked drafts of the expert group’s work to an international industry group in December.
The intellectual property system seems to be tight at the seams with a global overload of work for national IP offices and a backlog in patent requests. Further international cooperation and some adjustments are necessary to keep an efficient high quality IP system, according to speakers at a private-sector meeting in Geneva on 14-15 January.
The World Health Organization today declared it will launch a review of the global – including its own - response to the H1N1 swine influenza epidemic, as questions swirl around whether the UN agency trumped up the importance of H1N1. The WHO also faces charges this week that it has acted without transparency and inclusiveness in leading a process to find alternative financing for research and development into medicines for diseases occurring predominately in developing countries.
Finding financing to develop medicines for under-researched diseases, regulatory harmonisation, and pandemic influenza preparedness will top the agenda at next week’s World Health Organization Executive Board meeting.