Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Obama administration’s release of its national intellectual property strategy yesterday was welcomed by many groups representing businesses and intellectual property holders who said it could serve as an example to other countries.
Limitations and exceptions are once again a major topic at the UN intellectual property organisation’s meeting on copyrights and related rights. Delegations this week are discussing several draft proposals to improve access, in particular for visually impaired people, each with their own set of recommendation. With a fourth and new proposal from the African countries on the table, delegates are meeting to try to find common ground, raising the expectations of civil society.
Quality across patent systems has been understudied but a new methodology put forward by the former chief economist of the European Patent Office suggests that the EPO provides higher quality services than its United States and Japan counterparts. Efforts at collaborative work between patent offices are being made but mutual recognition might not be possible or desirable without some harmonisation in the way the different systems operate.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) yesterday held a key signing ceremony implementing an advanced new security system for the internet domain name system (DNS). DNSSEC, DNS security extensions, is expected to secure the internet domain name…
The date 20 June will mark the authorised end of Viagra’s patent in Brazil, following a 28 April decision of the Superior Court of Justice. Since the decision, five laboratories have requested registration for drugs that are generic versions of…
While World Trade Organization members met with their usual stasis last week on a mandated register for geographical indications, industry proponents of GIs continued lobbying to raise the awareness of delegates of countries not historically concerned with this form of intellectual property protection.
Lynn C. Tyler writes: The litigation provisions of the recently-enacted legislation establishing a pathway to bring biosimilars to market contain “patent” ambiguities in key areas, particularly whether the various lists of patents to be litigated are exclusive. Courts will have to resolve these issues over the next several years, likely at great (and unnecessary) expense and uncertainty to litigants.
In the run-up to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in South Africa, sometimes described as the biggest marketing event in the world, there have been a number of instances where FIFA and local businesses have conflicted over the use of terms to advertise their products.
After two days of lively discussion, members of a World Trade Organization committee this week agreed to devote a day in October to an in-depth discussion on a waiver to WTO intellectual property rules aimed at boosting access to medicines for poor countries. In addition, some member countries presented concerns about the possible effect of a global enforcement push by developed countries and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) under negotiation outside WTO, while ACTA proponent countries sought to allay fears.
The World Health Organization today issued a briefing note attempting to offer a detailed explanation of its actions in relation to the 2009 H1N1 “swine” flu pandemic, amid charges that it overstated the problem to the benefit of the pharmaceutical…
Leading pharmaceutical industry groups announced today adoption of an agreement to submit for journal publication all results of late-stage clinical trials whether the outcomes were positive or negative. The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) today approved a…
BRUSSELS - Small fees for internet users could be used to pay musicians and other artists for the dissemination of copyright-protected work online, a Brussels conference has been told.