Original news and analysis on international IP policy
European countries led by Switzerland are experiencing an "innovation renaissance," this year's Global Innovation Index shows, while the scale of China’s rise in the index is “quite astonishing,” Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, senior economic officer at the World Intellectual Property Organization, says in a short video interview with Intellectual Property Watch.
NEW YORK -- The 11th edition of the Global Innovation Index 2018 (GII), co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, was released yesterday at a launch event in New York. This year's report showed Switzerland still at the top overall, China continuing to rise, the United States slipping, and explored how countries can vary on inputs and outputs of innovation.
A recent event jointly organised by the Graduate Institute Centre for Trade and Economic Integration and the United Kingdom Department for International Trade and its Mission to the WTO brought together several leaders on global trade to discuss the current challenges in trade and how best to address them.
The rapid rise of digital technology in the twenty-first century places new demands on intellectual property protections, while presenting new challenges. A new report suggests that a leading US agency that investigates patent infringement may need to be updated to keep up.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) filed a patent challenge at the China State Intellectual Property Office today, asking for the invalidation of a Gilead patent on a hepatitis C medicine.
As the European Patent Office (EPO) prepares to welcome a new president, staff members and patent practitioners are setting out their priorities and suggestions for the newcomer, António Campinos. Topping the list for patent examiners is ending the contentious relationship between management and employees. Patent attorneys and litigators, meanwhile, want to see more attention paid to creating a fair balance between the speed of patent grants and patent quality.
Dr Othoman Mellouk is a Moroccan treatment advocate who has been working on intellectual property and access to medicines for more than a decade. He is the Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines Lead at the international treatment preparedness coalition (ITPC), a global network of people living with HIV and their advocates working together to achieve access to HIV and Viral Hepatitis and a member of the WHO Strategic and Technical Advisory Committee on HIV and Hepatitis. Dr Mellouk started off in the Association for the Fight against AIDS which has been at the forefront of the response to HIV in Morocco and the introduction of the first anti-HIV generic medicines in the country. In a series supported by the Make Medicines Affordable organisation, Mellouk recently engaged in an interview with Patralekha Chatterjee for Intellectual Property Watch. [Note: this interview is one of two. An interview with Carlos Correa will follow.]
The United States today released a list of products imported from China to the US on which additional tariffs will be placed as a measure aimed at pressuring China to change its practices the US says force US companies to give up intellectual property and transfer technology. Some industries have been dropped from the list such as pharmaceuticals, while a second list has now been announced, officials told reporters this morning.
Legislative changes giving effect to South Africa’s recently published Intellectual Property Policy “Phase 1” will not take place during this term of government, the country’s trade minister has said. Meanwhile, a side-by-side comparison with the 2017 draft legislation shows a series of changes in the final policy, and the pharmaceutical industry is complaining but appears determined to continue investing in the country.
Leaders at the G7 Summit tried to mitigate tensions by taking on some US favourites in their final communiqué like “forced technology transfers,” a topic brought up only recently by the United States at the World Trade Organisation. Forced technology transfers, according to US diplomats, are licensing and administrative rules entertained by China to oblige foreign firms to share technology in exchange for gaining access to the Chinese market. They also had sought to agree on a vision for artificial intelligence, a range of health issues, and foreign cyber interference with elections.
The Third annual United Nations Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals opened with Marie Chatardová, president of the Economic and Social Council, stating that “STI is shaping the trajectory of our society, helping the world address global challenges and achieve Sustainable Development Goals.”
Frederick Abbott writes: On 20 May 2018, US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin announced that the US and China were “putting the trade war on hold” while the two countries seek to “execute the framework” of a broad agreement intended to reduce the US trade deficit in goods with China. According to the joint statement issued on 19 May 2018, “Both sides attach paramount importance to intellectual property protections, and agreed to strengthen cooperation. China will advance relevant amendments to its laws and regulations in this area, including the Patent Law.”