Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Health Organization has announced it will hold a closed-door, three-day consultation with key stakeholders next week in Geneva to discuss the current status of clinical research into the Zika virus.
The government of Honduras has committed to a work plan for protecting intellectual property rights that includes recognition of food names considered generic by the United States such as "parmesano" (parmesan), provolone and bologna, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced today. Other commitments include signal piracy related to cable and satellite, and a customs trademark registry.
Passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement is the Obama administration's top trade priority this year, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said in its annual trade agenda released today. The agenda highlights intellectual property protection but also says all the right things on copyright limitations and exceptions, safe harbor for internet service providers, and the ability of countries to use flexibilities under international trade law.
Delinkage of research and development costs from medicines prices could "vastly expand" access to medicines by drastically dropping costs of the knowledge component of health products, innovative medicines R&D facility UNITAID says in a new report.
Today a new text was issued for the consideration of the WIPO committee on genetic resources and traditional knowledge. The text is a work in progress, according to the group of delegates tasked with proposing consensual language on a draft…
In the fight against antimicrobial resistance, members of the European Parliament’s Environment and Public Health Committee have advocated banning collective and preventive antibiotic treatment of animals, and supported measures to stimulate research into new antibiotics, including longer data protection.
An international symposium on how agricultural biotechnologies can benefit small farmers organised by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation is taking place this week. Small farmers and civil society raised concerns about the influence of agribusiness on FAO policies, as the ghost of a 2010 conference and farmers’ ire lingers.
The United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines has announced that the deadline for the submission of stakeholders’ contributions has been extended to 28 February 2016. The panel also lifted restrictions on the number of contributions authors can submit.
The European Patent Office (EPO) and Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) will cooperate more closely in the area of plant-related patents and plant variety rights, they said on 11 February.
The United States Chamber of Commerce has released an index rating countries on their use and treatment of intellectual property and innovation, finding the United States to be top in the world. The report scores the largest emerging economies relatively…