Original news and analysis on international IP policy
With a standing ovation in the early hours of the morning of Saturday, in Nagoya, Japan, an international instrument aimed at preventing misappropriation of genetic resources was adopted by members of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. The protocol is also intended to ensure that benefits accrued from the use of those genetic resources are shared equitably with the provider country.
A substantive review of a rarely-used amendment to the World Trade Organization intellectual property rules and enforcement trends that may threaten multilateral trade system topped the agenda this week in the Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Daniele Dionisio writes: The current break-through of multinational drug corporations in India couples with the protectionist policies pursued by the US and EU and with India’s obligations as a WTO member. Taken together, these realities mean a heavy threat to India’s freedom as independent provider of lifesaving, affordable and state-of-the-art antiretroviral medicines to the resource-limited countries.
After three weeks of negotiations, member countries and the secretariat of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union hailed the consensus and success of the 2010 Plenipotentiary Conference, which sets the ITU work programme for the next four years. But even through the final rounds of applause, the tensions about how much the internet features in the core mandate of the Union remained audible.
As ministers arrived in Nagoya, Japan, for the high-level segment of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity today, negotiators kept trying to reach consensus on remaining agenda items, such as a strategic plan, or an international legal instrument to prevent biopiracy and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits accrued from the use of genetic resources.
Indigenous peoples today walked out of the ongoing negotiations at the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, according to an indigenous representative. Indigenous Peoples are being left with a bitter taste from the draft text of a protocol intended to protect against misappropriation of genetic resources and ensure the sharing of the benefits which arise from use of those resources under discussion by negotiators who may not hold the views of those peoples. The latest version of the draft protocol was issued today
NAGOYA, JAPAN - A civil society group this week warned government officials gathered here against patents on “climate-ready” crops and what they characterised as an attempt to obtain an exclusive monopoly over plant gene sequences. The group asked states at the United Nations biodiversity conference to recognise that such patents are a threat to biodiversity and to the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources.
In a ruling expected to rock Europe’s controversial copyright levy system, the European Court of Justice held on 20 October that governments may impose fees on digital reproduction equipment to compensate rights holders only when the devices are likely to be used for private copying.
NAGOYA, JAPAN - The monumental statue in the courtyard of the Nagoya Congress Center, featuring a warrior on his horse, could be an illustration of the work of the group of officials charged with negotiating a much-anticipated international treaty to protect genetic resources from misappropriation and justly reward provider countries. Meeting over the weekend, they could not find consensus on the text and will have to request another deadline from the United Nations meeting on biodiversity on Monday.
NAGOYA, JAPAN - In weekend attire, delegates in charge of negotiating an international binding instrument protecting countries against misappropriation of their genetic resources arrived at Nagoya Congress Center on Saturday afternoon to take up a new draft text with a day and a half to solve remaining issues.
NAGOYA, JAPAN - With the clock ticking and less than a day to go before a draft of a legally binding instrument to prevent biopiracy is due to be presented to the assembly of a major United Nations meeting on biodiversity, delegations kept trying to find acceptable language, with different echoes coming from the negotiating room. Meanwhile, Canadian indigenous people convened a press briefing today (21 October) to charge that Canada was trying to block the negotiations and deny their human rights.
Europe has promised at the "highest levels" to fix laws that caused generic medicine seizures in the Netherlands, the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry said today. The minister is in Geneva for meetings on the ongoing Doha Round trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organization.