Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Open AIR project has gone global. The research project’s findings were presented in a recent side event at the World Intellectual Property Organization. The findings, published in two books, assess how people from different African countries and sectors consider and use intellectual property and present three possible scenarios about how people will innovate in the next two decades.
Findings of a World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) project show that innovation occurs in the informal sector, and generates employment and development. Panellists at a recent side event to the CDIP called on policymakers to be mindful of this sector and implement policy frameworks, in particular in developing countries.
Intellectual property pundits have welcomed South African President Jacob Zuma’s decision to retain Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies in the position following South Africa’s May general elections. And Davies in an interview this week signalled that completing the national intellectual property policy may be a top priority.
Reflecting its growing place on the international policy agenda, nutrition was a major focus of last week’s World Health Assembly.
The intellectual property offices of the European Union, in their commitment to harmonise practices, recently published a Common Communication establishing a common practice on the scope of protection given to black and white trademarks in the EU.
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee on development closed last week with little to show after a week of unyielding opposing positions on every sensitive issue by several countries. Frustration was palpable as those issues were sent to the next session for further discussions, with the risk of renewed disagreement.
The World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property finished a weeklong meeting yesterday having not achieved the week’s goals and with harsh words from delegates calling into question the very functioning of the organisation. At the heart…
World Health Organization members this week will decide on approval of a work plan on poor quality medicines, and the WHO secretariat is hoping members will follow with financial support to carry out the plan.
The World Intellectual Property Organization technical committee working on standards to facilitate work of intellectual property offices and their communication had to adjourn its fourth session last week for lack of agreement on the committee’s relationship to the 2007 Development Agenda of the organisation.
The World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property opened this week with a loaded agenda and some politically-charged issues. One of them is an independent assessment of the mandated mainstreaming of a development dimension into the activities of the UN organisation.
According to sources, members of the Independent Advisory Oversight Committee, an external member state body at the World Intellectual Property Organization, are meeting this week to discuss a possible investigation into allegations made involving the WIPO director general.
The annual World Health Assembly kicks off next week with a full agenda of new and old public health issues, including several related to intellectual property, pricing, and research and development. Below is a guide to the key issues for Intellectual Property Watch readers.