Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Sarah Lai Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch US information technology companies’ push to overhaul their country’s patent system made little progress in the US Congress in 2006 due to pushback from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. But the hiring…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A new international intergovernmental health initiative tied to airplane taxes highlights the use of flexibilities in intellectual property laws as an option for reducing drug prices. The plan is being welcomed by non-governmental organisations that…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch BERLIN – A debate is ongoing between “open source” (OS) software developers and devotees to Creative Commons licenses over the right way to promote free culture. Creative Commons licenses, under which some rights…
By Frederick Noronha for Intellectual Property Watch NEW DELHI – For a judge, Yatindra Singh of India’s Allahabad high court is surprisingly outspoken. For a member of the bench, he is also amazingly tech-savvy. And as he talks technology, or…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch A Swedish political movement seeking drastic changes to intellectual property law is resonating internationally, according to a spokesman for the group called the Pirate Party. The party, whose platform calls for fair and…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A second attempt in Kenya to restrict intellectual property flexibilities meant to safeguard access to medicines has most likely been defeated, largely due to opposition from an interagency task force and civil society groups, local…
After some five years of negotiations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) free-trade talks were halted today as ministers of key countries left the negotiating table. But key intellectual property issues will be kept on the table for whenever they return,…
BRUSSELS – The European Commission today fined Microsoft €280.5 million ($356.35 million) for failing to comply with a 2004 Commission request to provide documents that would make it easier for other companies to develop products that would be interoperable with…
A monopoly by a single pharmaceutical company on a new medicine for HIV/AIDS has limited access to the medicine to a select group of patients in developing countries, a non-profit group said today. The product is lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) and is…
Por Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Brasil cuenta probablemente con la fuente de biodiversidad más rica del mundo, y lucha por obtener apoyo a nivel internacional para proteger estos recursos naturales de lo que considera una explotación injusta a través del…