Law Firms Making Changes To IP Staff
A number of law firms and a key trademark industry group have made changes in recent weeks aimed at boosting their intellectual property practices.
Intellectual Property Watch
Original news and analysis on international IP policy
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Canada Considers Amendment To Compulsory Licensing Regime For Medicines Access
The Canadian Parliament is on the verge of amending the nation’s patent regime to make it easier for generic drug companies to provide low-cost HIV medications for developing countries.
New Director For Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has announced the appointment of a new executive director.
Panel: Help Needed With IP Implications Of Nagoya Protocol On Genetic Resources
The new international agreement on access and benefit-sharing of genetic resources has many IP implications, according to panellists at an event last week. And at least one United Nations agency is launching an effort to help countries with those IP implications.
Governments, ICANN Still Deep In Negotiations Over New Internet Domains
BRUSSELS - In an arm-wrestling exercise, governments and the Board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) last week tried to reach common ground on intellectual property rights protection and governments' ability to intervene with applications for new top-level domains that they see as “sensitive” or “vulnerable” like .nazi, .gay or .bank.
US Panel Puts Google, Facebook, Communications Platforms On Human Rights Frontline
Recent events in the Arab region have brought the issue of access to the internet and social platforms sharply into the spotlight as governments have tried to block or limit internet access and cut millions of people from communication. A United States-hosted panel discussion in Geneva yesterday brought together representatives of Google, Facebook, and Access, a civil society group defending digital freedom.
In Brazil And The IP World, It’s Tropicalization Time!
Benny Spiewak writes: There used to be a time when Brazil meant almost exclusively Carnival, Samba and Soccer. Well, those days are over and there is an undeniable message that will echo through the knowledge-based, creative, innovative world: Wake-Up, World, It’s Tropicalization Time!
WIPO Draft Treaty Text On Genetic Resources Joins Folklore, Traditional Knowledge
Country experts this week took up the challenge of doing the groundwork for negotiations towards a treaty on the protection of genetic resources at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Breaking uncharacteristically early on the final day today, the experts’ work delivered a set of options reflecting all points of views for negotiators to work from.
Draft WIPO Instrument On Genetic Resources Shows Lists Of Options
A new draft document was issued yesterday by a drafting group of experts at the World Intellectual Property Organization. The drafting group was in charge of cleaning up a text with aspirations to become a draft international instrument on the protection of genetic resources, and added a number of options for a possible treaty.
WTO Talks On Geographical Indications Unable To Achieve Lift-Off
World Trade Organization members on Thursday combed through a composite text displaying the different views on a mandated multilateral system of notification and registration of geographical indications on wines and spirits. The composite text was developed last week as the result of several informal meetings. Countries now have clarified their inputs to the document and tried to define what next steps should be taken to refine it, but discussions were difficult, according to participants.
WHO Working Group Gives Guidelines To Fight Bad Medicines; IMPACT In Exile
After three days of intense negotiations on the role of the World Health Organization in the fight against low standard or falsified medicines, delegates provided recommendations for the UN agency. A subject of dissent was the relationship between the WHO and its taskforce against counterfeit medicines, with some countries calling for a suspension of the taskforce’s work, though in the end no consensus was found.
Genetics Company Myriad May Shift From Patents To Proprietary Data
Myriad Genetics, a United States-based biotechnology company with exclusive patent rights over a key breast cancer diagnostic test in the US, may shift its patent strategy from its inventions to protecting its data in the face of drawn out litigation and upcoming competition, an industry journal has reported.