Original news and analysis on international IP policy
BARCELONA – At this week’s global climate talks, efforts are being made to trim references to intellectual property rights in relation to technology transfer from the body of a non-paper and relegate much of it to an appendix. But developing countries have asked that those measures be brought back into the main text. An updated non-paper should be issued on Friday.
BARCELONA - After only a short break from the Bangkok climate talks, some 30 days before the Copenhagen climate change conference in December, delegates are back at the negotiating table for the last stretch of intense discussions. Among the issues discussed by delegates from 181 countries, technology appears preponderant, including the way to encourage environmentally sound technology (EST) innovation, and to transfer that technology to developing countries. Meanwhile, civil society is warning of possible new technology-related risks, and the issue of emission reductions is also being hotly discussed.
A struggle over the power and reach of the World Intellectual Property Organization Development Agenda may be looming as members of the UN agency begin to take control of implementation with differing views. Key developing countries say members must not only focus on specific projects but also on the broader agenda for change at WIPO. Developed countries want simple coordination with other committees without the heavy hand of fundamental change.
The United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Working Group VI [security interests] is meeting in Vienna this week to work on the draft annex to the Legislative Guide on Secured Transactions, which focuses on intellectual property rights.
Access to medicine and preservation of biodiversity topped the agenda at the World Trade Organization Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Council meeting this week, as a new alleged drug seizure in France, a concern over a largely-unused amendment to TRIPS intended to help developing countries gain access to medicine, and a renewed mandate on biodiversity at the World Intellectual Property Organization influenced the issues on the table.
The intellectual property community is anxiously awaiting the United States Supreme Court’s reaction next month in the closely watched Bilski v. Kappos case, a legal feud over the validity of a patent covering a method of commodities trading.
The outcome of the case could have broad implications for the patentability of business methods and software, which could potentially wallop the technology industry. It likely will have less impact in the biotechnology arena, experts said at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s Intellectual Property Counsels Committee conference in Washington on Tuesday.
A United States health department advisory group this month produced a new draft report on gene patenting and licensing with recommendations suggesting that excessive patenting can limit patients’ access to gene testing and might not foster genetic research. The recommendations were supported by a variety of health professionals but put the biotechnology industry on edge.
WASHINGTON, DC - The United States Federal Circuit Court of Appeals should act more like a teacher to the Supreme Court and do a better job explaining its policy reasoning when it makes decisions on innovation-related cases, a top patent law academic said late Tuesday. If the Federal Circuit was clearer in how it landed at certain conclusions in patent disputes it might result in the Supreme Court opting to get involved in fewer patent cases, said Rochelle Dreyfuss, a professor at New York University School of Law.
Reform of the United States patent system, better patent quality and greater international cooperation among patent offices are just a few of the jobs new United States Patent and Trademark Office chief David Kappos has on his plate.
Protection of traditional knowledge under intellectual property rights may have a time limit, though determining duration of protection measures will be more difficult than it is with Western scientific innovation, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry said yesterday.
World Health Organization members this week offered views on the global system for virus- and benefit-sharing for pandemic influenza following recently proposed solutions by Director General Margaret Chan aimed at changing the current, ad-hoc model to a more predictable, sustainably-funded system.
As the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food prepares to present his report today at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a global appeal is being filed by farmers and environmental organisations against patents on plants and animals derived from conventional breeding.