Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Applause broke out at the annual World Health Assembly Friday as agreement was reached at the end of a five-year process to devise a plan for boosting research and development on and access to drugs needed by developing countries. Now with the full assembly's approval, the focus will turn to implementation and as-yet unclear ways to pay for it.
Some five years after setting a mandate to address barriers faced by poor countries in accessing needed medicines, World Health Organization members are near agreement on a strategy and plan of action. But a key question remains on WHO involvement in a possible treaty on biomedical research and development for diseases disproportionately affecting developing nations, and the WHO secretariat is facing accusations that the process has not been amply inclusive.
Patent reform may be chugging along in the United States Congress, but so far, with the Senate soon to be consumed with what could be a contentious Supreme Court nomination fight, and with President Obama still lacking a new director of the US Patent and Trademark Office, some are questioning whether reform will actually happen this year. In addition, a key "first-to-file" provision in the US bill to harmonise with other countries may be more appearance than substance.
A series of meetings intended to set out a global framework for dealing with a potential pandemic completed its last session Saturday night with progress made but several essential issues still uncompleted.
World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy continues to be engaged on intellectual property issues as WTO members begin to revive broader trade negotiations. This week Lamy hosted the heads of the World Intellectual Property Organization and World Health Organization together, and then chaired a consultation with ambassadors on proposals to amend WTO rules on intellectual property and trade.
PRAGUE - The current revolution in science and information was the topic of this year’s European Patent Forum, which brought together examiners, lawyers, policymakers and other patent professionals to discuss how the pace of the patent system can mesh with today’s whirlwind of technological change.
Meanwhile, European Patent Office (EPO) President Alison Brimelow informed her staff that she will “not be seeking extension” when her current three-year contract is up at the end of June 2010.
Alicia Greenidge, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), has stepped down from the post.
As the need to protect the global environment grows, questions are being raised about how intellectual property might help incentivise the development of the right kinds of technology and its transfer to places that need it most.
Farmers’ associations, environmental, aid and development organisations together with anti-patent activists of the free software movement met this week for one of the largest anti-patent rallies in Munich.
An informal meeting last week brought together interested parties from different regional groups, as well as representatives from vaccine manufacturers, as a part of a process to resolve contentious issues on pandemic influenza preparedness remaining from the last formal meeting in December.