Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The member governments of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization, after considering a confidential UN investigation report on whistleblower charges against WIPO Director General Francis Gurry, have decided to end the case without discipline, WIPO has said. Instead, members are working to bolster whistleblower protections, internal oversight and procurement procedures at the agency for the future.
Member governments of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are working intensively in a closed-door session today to make changes to the way allegations of wrongdoing against high-ranking WIPO officials are handled. What is not clear from the secretive discussions is whether any action will be taken against the director general as a result of a UN investigation of his activities, for which the UN report is on the meeting agenda.
A new database was launched this week to facilitate navigation through the patent field and increase transparency surrounding the patent status of medicines and licences.
As autumn rolled in, two United Nations agencies chose global figures to help them with their missions, another has a new website, and changed heads, while non-governmental organisations, law offices, and industry also saw numerous changes at management level.
Following a public hearing at its headquarters in Munich, the European Patent Office (EPO) decided to reject in part the arguments made by Gilead Sciences to uphold their patent on sofosbuvir, according to a non-profit group.
This morning at the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry commented on the success of the WIPO Conference on the Global Digital Content Market, which took place in April. But the full video of the keynote speaker, who had sharp words for corporate internet giants and other new technologies, is missing from the archive.
Has the adoption of the World Intellectual Property Organization Development Agenda in 2007 changed the culture of the organisation, and what did it achieve? According to panellists at a side event to this week’s WIPO General Assembly, the Development Agenda has not yet changed the culture of the organisation and its primary focus to support and protect intellectual property. However, WIPO should follow the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and collaborate with other UN agencies to include development consideration in its work, they say.
Initiating a new partnership today, global health initiative UNITAID and the non-profit FIND began a project that will work towards the improvement, affordability and availability of diagnostics and treatments for the hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Under the banner of “inclusive trade,” last week’s World Trade Organization Public Forum hosted an array of sessions to discuss how a wider range of individuals and businesses can participate in the trading system. One prominent subject of discussion therein is how women can overcome the constraints and obstacles preventing them from accessing and obtaining the benefits of trade, and participate more fully in the field of intellectual property.
The emphasis placed on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property for medicines in trade negotiations is ignoring the distorting effects of this emphasis, such as the lack of competition incentives which are key to reduce medicines prices, speakers on a panel of generic drug industries said at the World Trade Organization Public Forum last week.
The decision-making bodies of the World Intellectual Property Organization are meeting this week with the hope of advancing discussions of pending potential treaties to protect broadcasting organisations, and simplifying the international applications for industrial designs. Meanwhile, Director General Francis Gurry opened the annual WIPO General Assemblies with a look at the past year and challenges for the future.
Competition policy has evolved along with globalization and trade in past years. Now there are challenges such as the growth in international trade transactions and rapidly increasing cross-border mergers and antitrust cases. In parallel, the proliferation of competition policies and system has created potential of conflict of jurisdiction. Experts on competition and trade policies came together during the World Trade Organization Public Forum last week to discuss what the WTO can do and how better coordination between the competition policy and trade policy can be achieved to support growth and inclusiveness.