Original news and analysis on international IP policy
World Health Organization members this week will decide on approval of a work plan on poor quality medicines, and the WHO secretariat is hoping members will follow with financial support to carry out the plan.
A proposal to increase the engagement of “non-state actors” - industry, nongovernmental organisations, foundations and academics - in the activities of the World Health Organization is under intense debate at the annual World Health Assembly this week.
The United Nations Development Programme has launched a new publication on the use of competition law to promote access to health technologies. The guidebook describes competition law as an underused tool to be harnessed by developing countries and is designed to help them proficiently using it.
The annual World Health Assembly kicks off next week with a full agenda of new and old public health issues, including several related to intellectual property, pricing, and research and development. Below is a guide to the key issues for Intellectual Property Watch readers.
“Governments have few sources of leverage over increasingly globalised food systems - but public procurement is one of them,” the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to adequate food states in a new report. The right to food should be included in public food purchasing according to five principles in order to make food systems fairer and more sustainable, he said.
The Geneva IP delegates list is updated! As a special feature for our subscribers, Intellectual Property Watch has assembled a new list of many of the leading government delegates working on intellectual property issues in Geneva.
As the future United Nations development goals are being debated and decided, two important reports make the case for inclusion of a discussion on global governance and its impact on health.
On the day of his re-election, 8 May, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry spoke briefly to Catherine Saez of Intellectual Property Watch on the process for selection of his senior management team and his vision for the future of the organisation.
The World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly today approved the report of a working group tasked with drafting the conditions of re-appointment of the WIPO director general, who was re-elected today.
Digitisation of copyrighted works is in growing demand, and books are increasingly being made widely available in digital form. Two forms of works however - orphan and out-of-commerce works - are in danger of missing out, said speakers at a recent World Intellectual Property Organization event, and there is a risk of forever losing an important part of our cultural heritage embedded in these works. Another panel, meanwhile, illustrated that laws on copyright and licensing also present obstacles to cross-border use of digitised works by universities, libraries and archives.