Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen This week’s meeting on a World Intellectual Property Organization Development Agenda started on a positive note, with member states agreeing to base negotiations on a text prepared for the meeting by the WIPO General Assembly…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen and William New
Patents are bound to be another hot issue this year. But although many parties are pushing for changes in this area - from global patent harmonisation and proposals for better patent protection of biodiversity and traditional knowledge, to ways to control soaring patent filings, to national reform of patent laws - actual implementation of these changes may be harder to obtain.
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen One of the companies whose patent may be overruled by Thailand’s issuance of a compulsory license said it was caught off-guard by the Thai move, which was aimed at reducing drug prices. The Thai government…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A United Nations meeting next week on proposals to improve developing countries’ benefit from intellectual property rights got a head start when participants from nearly two dozen countries met informally in India and agreed on…
By William New A key member of the international intellectual property community has been asked to leave his position without warning, prompting questions about the terms of his departure, according to sources. Sisule Musungu, a recognised IP expert who has…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen As a case challenging India’s patent law proceeds this week, pressure is building from politicians, religious leaders and civil society on Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis to withdraw the case in the name of public health,…
The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Reporter features the most important news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the IP community at the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Geneva missions, regional and national IP…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Multi-stakeholder “dynamic coalitions” of the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF) are pushing to have privacy, intellectual property, open standards and freedom of expression on the agenda of the second meeting in Rio de…
By Rishab Aiyer Ghosh and Karsten Gerloff, UNU-MERIT The Development Agenda put forward by many World Intellectual Property Organization member states seeks in part to fulfil WIPO’s mission to “promote the use and protection of works of the human spirit.”…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Members of a 13 February World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting on intellectual property rights, signalled that consultations on IP issues will be stepped up in the coming weeks as part of the overall revival in…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch AMSTERDAM – The current scheme for clearing broadcast retransmission rights harms cable operators and should be revamped, speakers said at this week’s Cable Europe 07 conference in Amsterdam. An alternative to collective rights…
By William New A record number of applications for international patents were filed in 2006, and Asian economies are leading the rapid growth, officials from the World Intellectual Property Organization said on 7 February. “There is still growth in the…