Original news and analysis on international IP policy
In the temple of international trade and globalisation, a group of speakers called for developing countries to protect themselves against dumping of food products from developed countries.
A lot of skepticism about global trade has arisen just at a time when there is the potential to involve large swaths of the population who were previously not able to access the international exchange of commerce.
A new set of draft articles of a potential treaty protecting traditional knowledge from misuse and misappropriation was issued this morning. Facilitators of the discussions worked late last night to produce a document with a number of alternative texts, reflecting points of views of member states.
In a bid to push forward their ongoing membership negotiations with the European Union, two Balkan States have moved to further harmonise their intellectual property regulations in line with EU legislation. Albania's new copyright law will enter into force this October, and Montenegro's amended legislation on trademarks, industrial design and topographies of semiconductor products entered into force last July.
Enforcement of intellectual property rights can be unbalanced in developing countries because local laws are crafted in a way that makes it difficult for judges to bring balance in their rulings, a former justice from South Africa told the World Intellectual Property Organization last week.
NAIROBI, Kenya -- At a market stall in Kariokor some 300 metres from Kenya’s capital Nairobi city centre, Stephen Musyoka is busy at work making covers for handwoven baskets, a traditional sisal fibre shopping basket known as Kiondo made by older women from different communities in Kenya.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- For 30 years, Nandos, a South African, Portuguese-themed eatery, has made its brand, poking fun at politicians, laughing at the madcaps of society, throwing innuendos with joyful abandon and filling tummies with peri-peri chicken.
Adopted in May, the first Indian intellectual property policy brought some concerns that the focus on IP rights might dampen India’s willingness to use the IP flexibilities to safeguard national policy space. It was also perceived by some as giving in to pressure from the foreign pharmaceutical industry for India to strengthen patent protection. However, a high level Indian official in an interview this week said the policy caters to Indian development needs and India is aware of its pioneering role in certain sectors like access to medicines.
Rajiv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary at the Indian Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion Ministry of Commerce & Industry sat down with Intellectual Property Watch’s Catherine Saez to describe how India's IP policy came into being, to what aim, what it is expected to change in the Indian IP landscape, and how Indian is standing fast to its principle of balance.
UNITAID, the drug financing mechanism, has put out an appeal calling for ideas on solutions to overcome intellectual property barriers that may be preventing progress in public health. The deadline for submissions is coming near.
A recent patent granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to a Colombian company stated where the genetic resource of the invention was taken from and described the access and benefit-sharing agreement made with indigenous communities. This might be the first time that such a statement appears in a US patent, according to a source.