Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) last week hosted a meeting of experts in Harare, Zimbabwe, to review the Draft Regulations for the Implementation of the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
World Intellectual Property Organization members negotiating for an instrument to protect against theft of genetic resources last week agreed on a new text with more options on legal terms, effectively moving the talks forward. In this round of talks, the African Group showed signs of moving off its position of revoking patents for violators, while the United States came out strongly against disclosure of origin at the expense of amiable relations with key allies.
The agenda of next week’s meeting of the World Trade Organization council on intellectual property will include an item on sustainable resources and environmental technology, and a proposed discussion on electronic commerce. These are in addition to the usual list of agenda items.
A research group announced in March that it has designed the first minimal synthetic bacterial cell. Rapid advances in science seem to be leaving the international normative process lagging behind. Current international instruments are seeking to understand how this new technology will impact their regulatory efforts, while civil society raises high concerns.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change seeks to improve its communication to promote its reports, its chair said at a briefing yesterday. Working on its next assessment report expected to be released in five or six years, the IPCC seeks to increase participation of the private sector as a major stakeholders upon which depends the investment to find solutions to climate change he said.
The Geneva-based International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) provides intellectual property rights protection for plant breeders. In 2016, the organisation is planning to work on systems to facilitate breeders’ applications for new varieties. Meanwhile, civil society is calling for ways to protect plant varieties other than through UPOV, which they see as hindering farmers’ rights.
The year 2016 promises to be rich in debates on plant patenting, protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and biopharmaceuticals. Here are some key issues and dates to watch for.
FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva writes: Our livestock is increasingly being raised indoors and fed on concentrate feed that is often imported. Intensive production of chickens, pigs and dairy cows is based on a few breeds worldwide. These developments are risky, as we and future generations are losing the potential to adapt livestock production systems to increasingly harsh conditions such as those associated with higher temperatures and shortages of nutritious feeds.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization yesterday launched a report aiming at helping the current divide on the issue of trade and food security.
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.
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.
Discussions on the future of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on traditional knowledge and genetic resources are heating up as some developed countries seek to delay normative work for the next biennium and favour information sessions, and developing countries are eager to go back to discussion on actual treaty texts.