Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Catherine Saez As the world struggles with a global food crisis, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is working to support biodiversity as a way to contribute to food security. To that end, the FAO…
By Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch As a novel prize system to encourage the development of treatments for diseases that disproportionately affect patients in developing countries launches in the United States next month, concerns are already being voiced as…
By William New
Patent filings continue to rise globally, especially in a few nations, as do problems of high-volume application processing and quality assurance. But more attention is needed to bring smaller economies into the patent system, and patenting may slow down with tough economic times, officials at the World Intellectual Property Organization said last week.
By William New The World Trade Organization Doha Round is over, and bitterly, at least for now, but negotiators left town with the general consensus that hard-earned work to date should not be lost and that there might be resumption…
By Tatum Anderson for Intellectual Property Watch Nokia and Qualcomm, the two mobile phone equipment manufacturers engaged in a costly patent war that spanned three years and three continents settled their differences last week. However, questions still remain over the…
By Kaitlin Mara Intellectual property is the last real comparative advantage that rich countries have, said a panellist at a recent International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) joint event. This…
By William New Seven-year negotiations at the World Trade Organization collapsed today after an intensive nine-day ministerial snagged on an agricultural issue. And with the end of the Doha Round of trade negotiations for the foreseeable future go the hopes…
By William New Intellectual property issues are progressing slowly and quietly on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization ministerial as prospects for an agreement on broader issues remain tense and uncertain, according to sources. Ways to proceed on IP…
By William New The prospect for an agreement to negotiate on three intellectual property issues at the World Trade Organization has dimmed considerably, with no further meetings with delegations likely on Sunday, according to officials. A possible proposal is circulating…
By William New The European Union on Saturday restated the necessity of including three intellectual property issues in any outcome of the World Trade Organization ministerial negotiations, even as the WTO director general signalled a need to prevent the IP…
[Update: Ministers reached a tentative deal Friday night on some aspects of agriculture and NAMA, and will take up services on Saturday, according to ministers.] By William New Word went out Friday evening that there may have been some progress…
By Itaru Nitta, Green Intellectual Property Project, Geneva, Switzerland In its Assembly 2008, the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted the Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property to squarely steer the global R&D [research…