Category Biodiversity/Genetic Resources/Biotech

Assemblées de l’OMPI : le sort des savoirs traditionnels en jeu

Le problème, selon certains participants, est que ces ressources ont été allouées à des projets qui n'ont pas encore été approuvés. Le Comité du développement et de la propriété intellectuelle (CDIP) s’est réuni en novembre, puis en Avril, mais la prochaine réunion budgétaire n’aura pas lieu avant juillet, ce qui a amené de nombreux pays en développement à se demander comment des projets approuvés en novembre pouvaient être mis en œuvre rapidement alors même qu’ils ne disposent pas des ressources budgétaires nécessaires.

WIPO Approves CHF64 Million Conference Hall; Intensive Informals Held On Traditional Knowledge

How to handle the deadlocked negotiations on traditional knowledge remains a sticky decision at this year’s World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies, with four proposals on the table and informal meetings ongoing in advance of a formal discussion next week. Meanwhile, WIPO member governments this week agreed to fund a CHF64.2 million franc WIPO conference centre aimed for late 2012.

El destino de los conocimientos tradicionales: una decisión clave en las Asambleas de la OMPI

La Organización Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual (OMPI) debe tener la capacidad de fijar normas para la innovación, desde los avances de la tecnología más recientes hasta los sistemas de conocimientos tradicionales, si desea conservar su reconocimiento en la formulación de políticas, expresó hoy el Director General en la apertura de la Asamblea General anual del organismo de las Naciones Unidas.

UN Conference Pushes Plant Breeding; Others See Food Security In Jeopardy

Participants at a recent United Nations conference on the role of new plant varieties and seeds in agriculture agreed that access to genetic resources and the protection of intellectual property rights are essential to sustain plant breeding. But key opponents not invited to the meeting claim that plant breeding will endanger biodiversity, sustainability and ultimately food security.

Fate Of Traditional Knowledge A Key Decision At WIPO Assemblies

The World Intellectual Property Organization must be able to set norms for innovation, from the latest development in technology to traditional knowledge systems, if it is to retain its relevance in policymaking, said its director general at the opening of the UN agency's annual General Assemblies today.

A key decision on WIPO’s agenda this week is the future of its committee on the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources, where agreement has proved unreachable over the last year.

Brevetage des gènes: la résistance se renforce aux Etats-Unis et en Europe

L’action en justice intentée récemment contre le Bureau américain des brevets et des marques de commerce par une entreprise de biotechnologie et une fondation concernant des brevets sur les gènes associés au cancer a permis d’attirer l'attention de l’opinion internationale sur la question du brevetage des gènes humains, une pratique contre laquelle un groupe d'associations influentes a exprimé son opposition le 27 août.

UN Climate Report Envisions Modified TRIPS As Governments Seek Progress

Scientists and bureaucrats meeting this week on climate change and weather data are struggling to move global discussion past general declarations of recognition and commitment to address environmental change. One bump under the rug at the United Nations conference is rights over environmental technologies, and a new UN report released Tuesday calls for investment and a focus on flexibilities in and possible changes to intellectual property rights rules to help developing countries access information and technologies.

Members Of Human Rights Expert Committee At UN Question Patents On Food

A group of experts working as a think-tank for the United Nations Human Rights Council raised the issue of patents and food at a meeting this week. Meanwhile, a new report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food expected to be available at the end of August will focus on the intersection between intellectual property and the human right to food.