Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Most nations in the world agree that all aspects of society now depend on the internet. But this year’s process of reviewing the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is showing how many challenges to the internet have arisen and how far apart nations are on the ways to address them.
The Russian government is considering a package of measures aimed at better protecting intellectual property of Russian innovative companies abroad, according to an official spokesman of the Russian Ministry of Communications.
According to a prominent researcher in the field of neglected tropical diseases, the World Intellectual Property Organization has a prominent role to play in addressing the lack of research and development for neglected diseases.
A lively keynote address urging international organisations to adopt a fact-based view of the world and new ways of segmenting countries in an increasingly convergent world, set the scene for the annual trilateral symposium on public health, intellectual property and trade taking place at the World Trade Organization today.
NAIROBI, Kenya – A Kenyan government plan to lift the ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is stirring a heated debate here, with experts warning on safety and the East African nation’s preparedness for the technology.
A revealing independent review to be published this week on WIPO Re:Search, the World Intellectual Property Organization initiative for development of medical products for neglected tropical diseases, malaria and tuberculosis, gives a set of recommendations to ensure the sustainability and success of the initiative.
The treaty on plant genetic resources held its governing body meeting earlier this month with new initiatives to bring financial sustainability to the treaty, in particular to study the possibility of a subscription system to access the treaty’s plant genetic materials. Also, the Governing Body approved the first work programme of a global information system, which includes an initiative to enhance the use of gene bank materials, to the dismay of farmers’ organisations.
On 15-16 December 2015, government officials from more than 190 countries will meet in New York to discuss the future of the internet. They will review progress made in achieving the goals set forth 10 years ago at the Tunis World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) meeting. The aptly named WSIS+10 Review is a pivotal point in determining the fate of the open internet – discussions at the review can influence how the internet is governed for the next decade, as well as whether the internet will continue as a means of economic development and opportunity for the global economy.
Alongside this week’s WSIS+10 stakeholder meetings at the UN, Intellectual Property Watch’s William New sat down with the Senior Director of Global Internet Policy at the Internet Society, Constance Bommelaer, to discuss what to expect in New York and the impact this meeting will have on the future of the internet.
International trade agreements are sometimes demonised as the Grand Plan imposed by major powers in cahoots with multinational corporations. Intellectual property rights is a particular target, as is the case currently with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and previously with the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). "The Making of the TRIPS Agreement", the insightful, unofficial collected memoirs of 17 of the agreement’s key authors, plus one editor, challenges that view in two ways, writes Peter Ungphakorn.
Alongside the recent World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly, the WIPO Global Challenges Division presented WIPO Re:Search, a public-private consortium to facilitate research on neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis and malaria.
The World Trade Organization intellectual property committee today addressed exports of cheaper medicines, and disputes that could arise even when there is no WTO violation. Tomorrow it will decide the hot-button issue of how long least-developed countries have before they must comply with international IP trade rules – on which LDCs said today they are ready to talk about a deal.
Near dawn today, World Intellectual Property Organization members agreed to continue working in committee toward an international agreement or agreements on the protection of traditional knowledge, genetic resources and folklore, rescuing the committee for another two years. Members also agreed to hold a final treaty negotiation on a design law treaty in early 2017, but left differences on inclusion of disclosure of origin to later.