Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Mandated efforts to create an international register of geographical indications have risen in importance at the World Trade Organization in recent weeks. And as the pressure to produce negotiating texts for the Doha Round discussions climaxed this week, some dissonant notes were heard in the main negotiating group of countries on GIs.
Niels Louwaars of the Centre for Genetic Resources, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, discusses the importance of plant breeder’s rights. He makes the case for a carefully balanced protection for plant breeders and changes to patents in agriculture, in order to ensure a competitive, diversified supply of plant varieties and seeds.
A new book published by GTZ, the German federal agency for international development, looks at the synergies between intellectual property rights and biodiversity, gathering analysis from Latin America, southern Africa and Asia experts.
After a week of discussions, a good part of which centred around intellectual property issues, World Health Organization members agreed to a framework aimed at better addressing future influenza pandemics and facilitating vaccines access for developing country populations, with industry contributions.
Biodiversity and climate change issues are coming together under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), according to a new working paper from the University of Edinburgh.
World Health Organization members trying this week to agree on elements of a framework for helping the world address the next influenza pandemic headed into the final night of the meeting in intensive negotiations. At press time, negotiations were focused on specifics of standard agreements for the transfer of genetic materials related to flu virus strains.
Legislative proposals for a single European patent emerged from the European Commission this week. If approved by the European Parliament and Council, the measures will make patents granted in one country valid in all participating EU member states and drastically cut the cost of patent protection, the Commission said. Patent lawyers praised the proposals but said the issue of an EU-wide patent litigation court must be resolved first.
As a backdrop to World Health Organization members meeting this week in search of a global strategy for future influenza pandemics, the pharmaceutical industry and other actors have been developing a keen interest in patents on influenza genetic resources. A sharp and sustained increase in patent activity on those materials was pointed out by a civil society group in a new report, which it says challenges a recent report by the World Intellectual Property Organization.
An influenza pandemic is like the sword of Damocles over the world, and the recent H1N1 pandemic showed that the global response was inadequate, said the co-chairs of a World Health Organization group working on influenza pandemic preparedness meeting this week.
The search for innovative solutions to engage research and development of health products for diseases that particularly affect developing countries is the core mission of a World Health Organization working group that met this week in a special mostly open session. The group of experts will assess proposals and deliver its recommendations next year.