Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Medicines Patent Pool has announced a ground-breaking collaboration with a private sector joint venture that it said will facilitate greater availability of critical medicines for children with HIV worldwide. The announcement caused a wave of positive reactions across the public health community, with many hoping for more in the future.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, based in Geneva, has announced a new funding model that aims to allow for more strategic investment.
The major recording industry association has released its annual report for 2012, announcing a 9 per cent increase in revenues from digital sales of music, with licensed music services on the rise. It also said it benefits most in countries where internet service providers have worked to drive down use of unauthorised music download sites.
The European Commission announced today that it is inviting comments on a proposal for new competition rules for the assessment of technology transfer agreements. Under the rules, a licensor permits a licensee to exploit patents, know-how or software for the production of goods and services, it said.
In the annual state of the union speech, newly re-elected US President Obama outlined numerous initiatives aimed at strengthening the United States inwardly, but he also kept his eye on international competitiveness. For instance, he called for a massive increase in research and development, as well as a focus on education and skills, manufacturing, science and innovation, and international trade agreements with Asia and Europe.
A new quarterly report on patent sales by technology shows that in 2012 the median price paid for issued US patents was US$ 221,000, while the average price paid was US$ 374,000.
A 2011 letter from the top Republican on the United States Senate Finance Committee condemned efforts by the Global Fund to train public health officials on the use of flexibilities to the patent system contained in international trade rules. The letter, which also attacked the purchase of generic medicines over brand-name drugs, came just months before the US helped remove the head of the Global Fund, ultimately replacing him with an American official.
The European Commission has launched an initiative called “Licences for Europe” aimed at promoting copyright licences, as a next step in maintaining traditional copyright in light of new digital technologies.
Contributions of participants at a recent e-conference organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on new genetically modified organisms show that a considerable number of new GMOs are likely to be released in developing countries in the next five years.
Copies made by end-users for private purposes in the context of a service previously licensed by copyright holders don't cause harm that should be subject to private copying levies on reproduction devices such as MP3 players, blank DVDs and photocopiers, a European Commission-appointed mediator said in recommendations published on 31 January. António Vitorino suggested major changes to Europe's copy levy system to align it with the digital world, but said at a press briefing that “there is still some way to go” to bring stakeholder positions together.
The World Health Assembly’s rotating Executive Board meets twice a year, and on 29 January concluded its 132nd meeting with what the WHO director general termed an “unprecedented” amount of agenda items and documents.
Prof. Ryan Abbott analyzes the key components of the WHO proposal for a Global R&D Treaty and their potential impact on public health. The article proposes strategies to convert parties currently opposing the treaty, and argues that a stratified limited market-exclusivity regime has the capacity for a meaningful impact.