Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The heads of the patent offices of China, Europe, Korea, Japan and the United States met today and declared artificial intelligence one of the top strategic priorities for them as a group. Other efforts included work on harmonising patent practices, the Global Dossier program, classification of new technologies, and patents and standards, according to a release.
The European Commission appointed 52 experts today to a new High-Level Expert Group on Artificial Intelligence, and also launched the AI Alliance, an online forum to facilitate broad participation in dialogue on the burgeoning technology.
The new Intellectual Property Policy of South Africa has now been posted to a government website.
Alongside next week’s World Trade Organization intellectual property committee meeting, Brazil, India, and South Africa are convening a workshop on the neighbouring World Health Organization's approach to substandard and falsified medicines.
For the second year in a row, Taiwan has not been invited to participate as an observer at the World Health Assembly taking place this week. Political dissent with China borne out of a change of government in Taiwan now refusing to recognise the “One China” principle resulted in Taiwan being left out of the World Health Organization. At the opening of the Assembly, several countries supported Taiwan, including the United States.
Using flexibilities in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has long been an issue of the developing world. But policymakers gathered at a meeting on access to health in Brussels today said there was an urgent need for European Union countries, too, to make more use of flexibilities.
The World Health Organization today published its first Essential Diagnostics List, which identifies the most-needed tests for conditions and diseases.
The disruptive blockchain technology has been making waves, especially with Bitcoin and smart contracts taking centre stage. For some, it calls for a wide range of regulatory issues to be addressed, including patentability and more recently, competition-related concerns. Accordingly, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) hopes to assimilate contributions from stakeholders through its Blockchain Technology and Competition Policy Issue Paper.
Ministers, leading scientists and innovators will gather next week at the United Nations in Geneva to discuss rapid technological change and developing countries.
In the current atmosphere in the United States of funding cuts for global health threats like malaria and HIV/AIDS by the Trump Administration, a new state-by-state analysis claims to show its profound implications for research and jobs across the country.
Facebook, Google and other social media companies today were urged by groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation to "publicly report how many user posts they take down, provide users with detailed explanations about takedowns, and implement appeals policies to boost accountability." The groups released a set of guidelines to address censorship.
Unitaid has issued a call for proposals to fund innovative projects that would combat the drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, and has announced progress in development of a new anti-malaria insecticide against mosquitoes.