Original news and analysis on international IP policy
In an unprecedented move, the European Parliament Committee on International Trade (INTA) today in Brussels passed a report recommending the rejection of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Never before has INTA voted to reject a trade agreement negotiated by the Union.
A new pharmaceutical industry initiative aimed at improving access to HIV treatments in least-developed countries is raising questions as to how it will fit with the Medicines Patent Pool, an existing group with a similar mandate. As an informal meeting on the new initiative kicks off this week in New Delhi, scrutiny will be paid to whether the initiative’s drivers are several companies that have declined to negotiate with the patent pool and whether it is a good-faith effort to help the greatest number of patients.
A draft of the outcome document for this week’s Rio+20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said to be close to the final version, shows where governments have placed their focus. It appears that technology transfer is well-recognised, intellectual property rights to a lesser extent, but firm actions in these areas may still be to come.
The World Health Organization has published a paper that explains to policymakers and others how to take measures to protect public health against tobacco while staying within the bounds of international trade and investment law, under intense industry pressure. Key aspects of the report deal with intellectual property rights policy, as it relates to international trade.
As world leaders along with thousands of government, private sector and nonprofit participants, get ready to meet in Rio de Janeiro this week, 20 years after this Brazilian city hosted the historic first Earth Summit, there are fears that there may be no meaningful consensus on how the world can become more liveable and sustainable at the same time. And technology transfer, research and development, intellectual property rights are part of the debate.
The United Nations agency on trade and development this week published its Economic Development in Africa 2012 report, which argued, among other things, that the region’s sustainable future depends on using flexibilities in intellectual property rights as appropriate.
The Broadband Commission for Digital Development, a mixed public-private sector leaders group aimed at boosting high-speed internet availability in the developing world, today issued an open letter to the leaders of the Group of 20 urging action which the commission says will lead to greater socio-economic growth.
International trade rules related to intellectual property rights enshrine the notion that there may be cases where exceptions to IP rights are needed by governments, such as sovereign decisions on a nation’s public health. Using those flexibilities could save millions of lives but may mean taking a tough stance in free trade negotiations with bigger trading partners, concluded a meeting of Asian stakeholders this week.
Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors without Borders) announced today that it has named a new executive director of its Access to Medicines Campaign, a high-impact advocacy initiative on international public health issues in Geneva and elsewhere. Today was the last day for current Executive Director Tido von Schoen-Angerer, who completed two three-year terms in the role.
The shadow of the tobacco industry was present at last week’s annual World Health Assembly, featuring the villain in what World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan called a theatre of the absurd. The tactics of the "evil industry," as she called it, aimed at undermining countries' efforts to implement tobacco control legislations were illustrated with concrete country examples at a side event during the week.
One year since the adoption of the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework, member states emphasised the importance of bio-sharing initiative and in some in cases raised concerns about the pace of implementation.
A proposal at this week’s World Health Assembly to negotiate a binding convention on research and development for neglected diseases - those predominantly afflicting poor populations - ran into resistance from developed countries which hold the view that another approach might be possible. But an agreement was reached on a way forward for the expert report that recommended the binding convention.