Original news and analysis on international IP policy
World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy on Tuesday named his four existing deputies to new terms. Alejandro Jara of Chile, Valentine Rugwabiza of Rwanda, Harsha Singh of India and Rufus Yerxa of the United States will be retained in…
An informal special session at the World Trade Organization on a register for geographical indications - product names associated with a particular place and characteristics - was nudged toward “substantive” talks last week, according to some participants.
Results of recent research on the impact of digital rights management (DRM) on the ability of users to take advantage of certain exceptions to copyright have introduced new systemic empirical data into the debate.
International copyright laws do not take into account the reality of the conditions of accessing knowledge in Africa and clearer limitations and exceptions are needed to achieve a balanced copyright regime at the national level, panellists said at a seminar on development research on 20 May.
A group of Latin American and Caribbean countries have declared their intention to support discussion of a proposal to negotiate a World Intellectual Property Organization treaty ensuring an exception to copyright for visually impaired readers who lack access to protected reading materials. The proposal is expected to be brought to the floor of a key copyright committee meeting this week.
Counterfeit medicines were left off this year’s truncated World Health Assembly agenda but still managed to have an impact. The contentious, intellectual property-related issue arose during a discussion on the World Health Organization’s future plans, as several nations objected to a budget line referencing a programme to combat counterfeit drugs.
Responsibility to take forward a still in-progress framework to cope with global influenza pandemics is now in the hands of the World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan, member states agreed in a meeting Thursday. This was approved by the full World Health Assembly on Friday.
Applause broke out at the annual World Health Assembly Friday as agreement was reached at the end of a five-year process to devise a plan for boosting research and development on and access to drugs needed by developing countries. Now with the full assembly's approval, the focus will turn to implementation and as-yet unclear ways to pay for it.
Some five years after setting a mandate to address barriers faced by poor countries in accessing needed medicines, World Health Organization members are near agreement on a strategy and plan of action. But a key question remains on WHO involvement in a possible treaty on biomedical research and development for diseases disproportionately affecting developing nations, and the WHO secretariat is facing accusations that the process has not been amply inclusive.
Access to knowledge is a future challenge and a key factor for social and economic development but a balance needs to be found between the interests of rights holders and those of the public, said speakers at a high panel on access to knowledge during the World Summit on the Information Society Forum on Monday.
As the world looks to the World Health Assembly for a plan of action in case of pandemic, delegates are negotiating remaining parts of a framework for pandemic influenza preparedness, and an associated model agreement for the movement of virus and vaccine-related materials.
A procedural agreement might come as early as Tuesday afternoon, but it remains to be seen whether agreement can be reached on how to handle uncompleted work.
The United States Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business group, on Monday issued a release applauding a new bill introduced into the US House of Representatives by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (Democrat, California) that would “enhance…