Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The ETC Group has issued a warning that "agribusiness giants Monsanto, DuPont and Dow are plotting the boldest coup of a global food crop in history," as they have applied to the Mexican government for the planting of transgenic maize on 2,500,000 hectares, approximately the size of El Salvador.
The government of India has released a set of draft guidelines to be followed in the patenting of traditional knowledge and biological material. Comments are due by 22 November.
Members of the World Trade Organization intellectual property rights committee today launched their first-ever debate on IP and innovation. In addition, least developed countries formally requested an extension of their transition period to enforce WTO rules on IPRs.
The World Trade Organization member committee on the WTO intellectual property agreement meets tomorrow, with a new agenda item on intellectual property and innovation at the request of the United States and Brazil.
The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) held a symposium last week on the benefits of plant variety protection as a way to help mitigate agricultural challenges and improve the livelihood of farmers. Also last week, during the UPOV Council, civil society denounced a push for a more stringent version of the UPOV Convention, and said new rules for observers were disappointing.
The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) held its 26th assembly this week and elected its new president. He presented the future orientation of the industry group, saying will work on trust-building and needs predictability in the regulatory process, policies that sustain and encourage innovation, and a strong intellectual property system, he said.
Members of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) meet this week for their annual Council and a series of preparatory meetings. Meanwhile, civil society keeps pushing for greater participation.
The protection of intellectual property for plant innovation was at the heart of a recent conference on patents and modern plant breeders rights in horticultural breeding.
At last week's high-level meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) governments agreed to double financial flows toward biodiversity by 2015, the CBD has announced. They also came up with strategy to move forward on access and benefit-sharing of biodiversity.
Sustainable agriculture needs a new paradigm in the face of the growing global population, away from the "more production" orientation, says a new study published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).
At the ongoing 11th Conference of the Parties (COP11) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Hyderabad, the hot topic is funds and how to mobilize it. The mega-conference is taking place in the shadow of a global economic slowdown, and delegates gathered at this southern Indian city are most concerned about how to drum up funds to tackle the world’s shrinking biodiversity - the variety of animal and plant life on earth.
The protection of geographical indications at the international level is a brainteaser which translates into lack of progress in several fora, to the dismay of geographical indications proponents, according to speakers at an event last week. A publication was launched by GIs advocates at the event, aimed at providing producers in emerging economies with useful tools to protect their GIs.