Original news and analysis on international IP policy
As the World Health Organization kicks off a week devoted to the promotion of vaccines, newly published research has identified challenges, such as weak supply systems and information gaps, that need to be addressed to scale-up global vaccine coverage. But some observers say that more attention should be paid to the soaring costs of vaccines, starting with a mechanism to track prices.
At the close of this week’s negotiating session for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for blind and visually impaired persons, some governments, including upcoming host Morocco, expressed disappointment in the outcome of a three-day drafting session, as it left so much for the diplomatic conference. But most said they are optimistic that solutions can be found.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization have completed work on a draft treaty on copyright exceptions for the blind and visually impaired and agreed to move to a diplomatic conference in Morocco in June. But the text contains many areas displaying the difficulty in easing cross-border access to materials for blind people while protecting copyright holders’ interests.
The German Parliament has passed a joint motion against the growing trend of patent offices to grant patents on software programs. The resolution on “Secure Competition and Innovation in the software development,” obliges the German government to take steps to ensure that software is protected by copyright only and no additional patent protection is granted.
The treaty currently being discussed at the World Intellectual Property Organization is of prime importance for blind and visually impaired people who are expecting that negotiators will engineer a treaty that is workable in the real world, they say. But too much focus on the right holders concerns might endanger the utility of such a treaty, according to the representative of a blind persons’ organisation.
A new text has been the subject of negotiation today by a committee seeking to finalise a draft treaty providing exceptions and limitations to copyrights so that blind and visually impaired people have facilitated access to special format books. Delegates are seeking to find language through agreed statements as a way out of prickly issues.
Last week’s event on the “the role of innovation in creating a dynamic and competitive economy,” held at the 65th session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), gave an opportunity to a panel of experts to discuss the role of innovation in the current European economic circumstances as a tool to improve productivity and competitiveness by different means.
The Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) has launched a beta version of its website today, which aims to offer free public access to content of all libraries, universities, and museums in the United States.
In an effort to clean up a draft treaty text providing limitations and exceptions to copyright for blind and visually impaired persons, World Intellectual Property Organization members will meet this week for intense drafting sessions. The text, once cleaned, is expected to be sent to a top-level treaty negotiation in June.
In a recent decision, Ediciones de la Flor SA c. Fontanarrosa Franco s. Acción Mere Declarativa (File No. 1420/08), the Court of First Instance in Civil and Commercial Matters No. 12 of Rosario, the second largest city in Argentina, ruled that the rights of the community to access unpublished works of a deceased author are superior to the moral rights of one of his heirs to oppose such publication.
Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) Commissioner Young-min Kim has joined military leaders and patent attorneys in signing a “Working agreement for the building of a military intellectual property (IP) ecosystem." A key aim is to avoid high-cost private-sector patent monopolies on military R&D.
Research from the University of Melbourne has found that patents may be keeping pharmaceuticals expensive in Australia, but said that most of the patents are being taken out by companies that are not the originators of the drugs.