Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The chair of the World Intellectual Property Organization traditional knowledge and genetic resources committee has circulated a draft paper on common issues in the negotiations, in hopes of bringing parties closer together ahead of the next committee meeting in July.
A new report commissioned by the World Intellectual Property Organization shows a huge increase in patent filings related to renewable energy technologies relative averages. The patent landscape in this area indicates that innovation is taking place across a greater geographical scope, and is shifting towards the global East. The report, presented this week, opens up questions for policymakers, and for further research regarding drivers for these trends and other measures of innovation.
While in 2015 nearly 3 billion internet users will be connected across the world, their experiences once they are online will vary considerably according to their country. To find ways to bring everyone up to the same speed and have the same user experience, worldwide remedies were discussed at the occasion of the launch of the Global Internet Report 2014 – “Open and Sustainable Access for All.”
This week, governments and stakeholders have been taking stock nearly 10 years after 2005 UN-led World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), and working to set new goals for the future. One thing seems clear: a full information society has not been achieved yet, and these issues may form part of the post-2015 development agenda at the UN.
A new initiative by the World Summit Award (WSA) initiative seeks to use its global multistakeholder network to push forward personal data ownership and big data issues at UN discussions. At an open discussion, the WSA invited participants to share views on issues with the current system of data use, the need for permission-based access, and steps for further action.
Whether countries can bring intellectual property complaints against each other under the World Trade Organization even if they don’t violate WTO rules was a topic of debate this week, but could not be resolved.
In a country with over 35 million people, Uganda’s economy is based on agriculture. Over 80 percent of the country’s workforce is employed in the sector, contributing up to 23 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
LAUSANNE - Community-driven innovation and technologies could be a solution for developing essential technologies to achieve sustainable development, according to a range of expert panels at a recent event. And in some cases, they already are.
The Geneva-based Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) announced yesterday that the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) became its seventy-second member.
The Patent Cooperation Treaty is a cornerstone of the World Intellectual Property Organization and provides its main source of revenue. This week, a working group is gathered to explore proposed amendments to the treaty regulations, including fee reductions for developing countries, small businesses and non-profits.
LAUSANNE - Using their own experiences, a panel of technology industry representatives last week identified factors that could accelerate technology flows to developing countries.
LYON, France - At the Biovision life science forum looking into translating innovation into health-related solutions last week, a panel of speakers shared their experience about the global access to vaccines. Although vaccination coverage is on the rise and intellectual property has not been a major concern in the past decade for vaccines, patents may well become a barrier in the future, panellists said.