Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The themes of innovation, collaboration, and policy coherence shared the spotlight during panel discussions at the 5 July technical symposium on Medical Innovation: Changing Business Models. The event was jointly hosted by the World Health Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, and World Trade Organization.
The Swiss Privacy Foundation (Digitale Gesellschaft) is pushing for legal charges to be pressed against foreign intelligence services violating Swiss law following the revelations of former National Security Agency (NSA) employee and whistleblower Edward Snowden. At the same time, a US judge ruled today that a case against the NSA by the Electronic Frontier Foundation can proceed. And the European Union raised the issue in Washington this week, while Brazil has opened an investigation of US spying in that country.
The UN World Intellectual Property Organization is proposing to open five new regional offices around the world next year, with more envisioned in the future. In a move it says is in response to requests from its members, WIPO aims to open offices in China, Russia, the United States and two in unnamed African countries. And doing so will help defend the global intellectual property system from cyber attacks by the likes of Anonymous, it says.
The contribution the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) can make to the formation of a post-2015 UN development agenda was at the centre of a thematic debate in Geneva last week. The agenda, to be developed by the General Assembly, is expected to include issues such as innovation, public health and the transfer of technology.
The leaders of three top international organisations in Geneva last week discussed synergies in public health and called for increased collaboration and creativity to move medical innovation out of its quagmire of inefficiency. The opening session was marked by the head of the World Health Organization urging stakeholders to develop mechanisms to separate drug prices from costs of research and development. And the head of the GAVI Alliance, in the keynote address, discussed how patent thickets could impede access to vaccines.
Several years ago, the World Intellectual Property Organization set up an "Innovation Division", headed by US patent lawyers, including a top Silicon Valley attorney and a top lawyer for a giant non-practising entity ("patent troll"). WIPO has been rather secretive about it, offering no interviews to Intellectual Property Watch with the officials heading the division despite repeated requests. Now a letter from US industry groups raises concern that the division may be headed for a budget cut that would effectively eliminate it.
Prof. Owen Dean writes: Warner/Chappel Music, a music publishing company in the United States of America, claims and exerts copyright in the ubiquitous song “Happy Birthday to You”. It requires that royalty payments should be made to it each and every time this song is sung or used in public. This is a startling proposition as most people probably assume that the song is in the public domain and is free for use by all. An American documentary film maker agrees and is objecting to having to pay royalties to include the song in a film. It has consequently commenced legal proceedings before the US court seeking a declaration that the song is out of copyright and in the public domain. These court proceeding are currently attracting attention world-wide due to their somewhat bizarre nature. Meanwhile, under a bill in South Africa, celebrants of birthdays who do not obtain the necessary licence for singing “Happy Birthday” may in future bring the full wrath of the law down upon themselves through their unlawful conduct. Moreover, this situation could prevail in perpetuity.
A United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) panel discussion on universal health coverage (UHC) on 3 July highlighted the importance of science, technology and innovation for achieving UHC, especially in the context of the post-2015 development agenda. Speakers discussed the meaning and scope of UHC as well as the financing and promotion of UHC in various country contexts.
The Modern Poland Foundation, a non-profit and access to knowledge advocate, is asking people around the globe to participate in a crowdfunded contest that poses the question: What should a good copyright system look like?
An analysis of available information indicates that research-oriented product development partnerships (PDPs) are seen as providing a better approach to neglected diseases than most other public-private partnerships. Yet, in spite of many positive results, PDPs still have a limited impact in developing countries.
The European Commission has prepared a draft regulation to implement an international protocol to prevent biopiracy, leading two non-governmental organisations to publish an opinion piece voicing concerns about it. The European Parliament is scheduled to review the draft on 4 July. A key concern is whether it would cover non-European genetic resources already in European collections.
A human embryonic stem cell patent held by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) should be invalidated, according to a legal filing made on 2 July by two public interest groups.