Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A new report from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) proposes solutions to advancing the global debate on the protection of traditional knowledge shared among different indigenous communities.
Despite last month’s United States Supreme Court decision on a case involving Myriad Genetics, which struck down some of Myriad’s patents related to human genes, Myriad has filed infringement suits against two companies that had announced they would begin offering lower-cost tests for the breast cancer genes in question.
The Internal Audit and Oversight Division (IAOD) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is conducting an evaluation of the service provided by the WIPO secretariat in support of the committee on traditional knowledge and related issues.
Small-scale farmers and their role in food security are a “missing element” in the draft articles being reviewed at this week’s negotiations at WIPO, according to a briefing paper issued by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO).
A subcommittee of the United States House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee today heard arguments for and against greater chemical regulation and trade secret protection in its review of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The hearing also examined the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s role in regulation.
Decline in pharmaceutical research and development productivity is one of the main challenges addressed in the 2013 edition of the World Health Organization report, Priority Medicines for Europe and the World. Whether the decline in pharmaceutical R&D is due to R&D depletion, overly strict regulatory hurdles, or the current pharmaceutical business model remains unanswered.
Setting general private copying levies on the first sale of blank media such as CDs and DVDs does not necessarily breach EU law, Europe's highest court said on 11 July. The law does not allow the levy to be collected where the intended use of the recording media clearly isn't for making private copies. But it doesn't bar a general levy system that includes the option of reimbursement where the intended use is not private copying, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said.
The themes of innovation, collaboration, and policy coherence shared the spotlight during panel discussions at the 5 July technical symposium on Medical Innovation: Changing Business Models. The event was jointly hosted by the World Health Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, and World Trade Organization.
The contribution the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) can make to the formation of a post-2015 UN development agenda was at the centre of a thematic debate in Geneva last week. The agenda, to be developed by the General Assembly, is expected to include issues such as innovation, public health and the transfer of technology.
The leaders of three top international organisations in Geneva last week discussed synergies in public health and called for increased collaboration and creativity to move medical innovation out of its quagmire of inefficiency. The opening session was marked by the head of the World Health Organization urging stakeholders to develop mechanisms to separate drug prices from costs of research and development. And the head of the GAVI Alliance, in the keynote address, discussed how patent thickets could impede access to vaccines.
Several years ago, the World Intellectual Property Organization set up an "Innovation Division", headed by US patent lawyers, including a top Silicon Valley attorney and a top lawyer for a giant non-practising entity ("patent troll"). WIPO has been rather secretive about it, offering no interviews to Intellectual Property Watch with the officials heading the division despite repeated requests. Now a letter from US industry groups raises concern that the division may be headed for a budget cut that would effectively eliminate it.
The Modern Poland Foundation, a non-profit and access to knowledge advocate, is asking people around the globe to participate in a crowdfunded contest that poses the question: What should a good copyright system look like?