Category English

Ecuador Grants First Compulsory Licence, For HIV/AIDS Drug

Ecuador this month granted its first compulsory licence for a patented pharmaceutical since declaring last year that it would utilise international rules allowing it to do so.

The move has already brought the country substantial savings due to new competition, according to the Ecuadorean intellectual property office. Other Latin American countries might be drawn to the prospect of reduced drug prices, according to advocates. The rights owner said it is disappointed with the decision.

Senators Seek US Investigation Of China’s IP Infringement

United States Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Democrat, Montana) and ranking member Chuck Grassley (Republican, Iowa) this week requested a US government investigation of the effect of China’s IP rights infringement on American jobs. They allege China’s infringement is…

Biodiversity: Bountiful Source For Cosmetics, But Needs Respect, Group Says

PARIS- The cosmetics industry is about beauty, but it is also increasingly about biodiversity as consumers show a growing awareness of environmental issues and the loss of biodiversity. As a wishful wink to the 10th meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya in October 2010, the Union for Ethical Biotrade (UEBT) held a conference at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris on 15 April.

Official ACTA Text Released

A prepared-for-the-public version of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement under negotiation by leading economies has now been released online. The release comes after increased public and civil society outcry over a non-transparent negotiating process and fears that the treaty would lead…

Open Source Company Alleges IBM Antitrust; IBM Requests Analysis

Computer giant IBM is facing an antitrust claim before the European Commission brought by an open source software company alleging that IBM is preventing customers from using that software. Meanwhile, the open source community is worried that the use of intellectual property rights by IBM - a leading open source software maker – to block a competitor will endanger free and open source software and might uncap other IP rights claims from other players. IBM, for its part, is reaffirming its support to open source community and has asked the competing company to explain how its software does not infringe on IBM IP rights.

Negotiators: ACTA Text To Be Public This Week

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch

ACTA will be public. During the eighth round of negotiations for an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) in Wellington, New Zealand that ended Friday, the negotiating countries decided to give in to persistent calls for greater transparency.