Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Two new proposals concerning the rights of artists seemed to bring new energy to the World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee last week. Proposals encouraged delegates to create a legal framework to help artists benefit from use of their works and royalties by intermediaries.
The European Commission's long-awaited effort to reform Europe's copyright system includes a proposal for cross-border portability of online content services and an action plan for updating copyright rules. The proposals are the first in its Digital Single Market strategy, the EC said. The announcement prompted mixed reviews from internet service provider and consumer groups and one EU lawmaker but a warmer reception from rights holders.
On the side of this week’s World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the International Authors Forum held a side event on 7 December. Speakers underlined the importance of copyright for authors so that they can make a living from their writing, and warned about ill-defined fair use in copyright law.
A newly issued report provides the “first ever” picture of global investment in Ebola research and development. The report found that investment in Ebola might have come at the expense of other funding to develop drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for other neglected diseases. The report also found that public funding on research and development for neglected diseases was at its lowest in years.
The World Trade Organization (WTO)’s 20th anniversary celebrations are about to reach a climax with the 15–18 December Nairobi Ministerial Conference — the first to be held in Africa — following a celebratory Public Forum in Geneva in October. Just over a week before Nairobi, another anniversary is slipping by almost unnoticed. Today, December 6, is the 10th anniversary of a decision that the Director-General at the time, Pascal Lamy, hailed as confirmation “once again that members are determined to ensure the WTO’s trading system contributes to humanitarian and development goals.”
CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- A law to regulate intellectual property derived from research and development conducted using public funds has boosted the number of patent applications filed and granted by universities and research institutions in the past five years.
Colombia has a decision to make. A full year has passed from the November 24, 2014 request by iFarma, Misión Salud and CIMUN for a declaration of the public interest regarding the cancer drug imatinib (marketed by Novartis as Gleevec/Glivec), the first step on the path toward a compulsory license in Colombia. Thus far, Colombia’s Ministry of Health and Social Protection has failed to act one way or another, leaving patients in limbo and the government at the mercy of a Swiss pharmaceutical giant that reported revenue of over $57.9 Billion USD in 2013, write James Love and Andrew S. Goldman.
Two bipartisan United States senators today released the results of an 18-month investigation into the US$84,000 price of the Sovaldi hepatitis C drug, finding the pricing and marketing strategy was aimed at maximizing revenue at the expense of access and affordability. The new report also shows the high impact on US government drug procurement programs and other data.
The Medicines Patent Pool has signed a collaborative agreement with the University of Liverpool to develop HIV nanomedicines.
The US government has been less than candid about the Trans-Pacific Partnership. While the agreement was being negotiated, the US Trade Representative stated that a much-criticized arbitration process included in the TPP would not apply to intellectual property. Turns out, it does apply to IP. And it provides foreign corporations with a huge advantage in IP disputes – private arbitrations that can override courts and statutes, effectively rewriting a nation’s IP laws.
Authors will receive more for their inventions in Russia, as the local government has changed a scheme on the distribution of authors’ royalties. In addition, the government is setting up a new body to draw together the two dozen agencies that deal with aspects of the intellectual property system.
The Medicines Patent Pool announced today that it signed a first licence for a hepatitis C drug with Bristol-Myers Squibb. The agreement allows manufacturing of daclatasvir, royalty-free in 112 low-and middle-income countries.