Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Intellectual Property Organization today announced that it had set a new record for filings of patents at the international level in 2011, in what the UN agency attributed to a focus on innovation. Patents filed under the WIPO-managed Patent Cooperation Treaty shot up more than 10 per cent last year in the fastest growth since 2005, and a Chinese company took top honour for most filings.
As the Novartis Glivec patent case in India reaches the final phase of a long-running legal battle, there’s one point on which both the Swiss pharmaceutical company and its critics agree: the significance of this case goes far beyond the protection of a single medication.
High-level policymakers, industry leaders, law professors and other stakeholders came together in Geneva recently to discuss the how the role of intellectual property is evolving when it comes to developing, protecting, and providing medicines.
After eight days of intensive drafting work, delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization now have a text that will be submitted to the WIPO General Assemblies in September so that a diplomatic conference can be decided upon to finish negotiations on an international instrument protecting genetic resources from misappropriation.
The International Indigenous Forum, in an unprecedented collective move, decided yesterday to withdraw from the discussions of the WIPO Committee on Genetic Resources taking place from 14-22 February. The move calls into question the legitimacy of the negotiations.
The development of an international instrument on the protection of genetic resources continues to engage government delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Sources have called the process constructive and meeting Chair Wayne McCook, the permanent representative of Jamaica, said delegations were very engaged in the exercise. But a sharp divide remains on several subjects.
A group of public health experts gathered by the World Health Organization agreed today to continue a moratorium on research done on the H5N1 bird flu virus modified in a laboratory to be more transmissible between mammals. But they said research should continue on the naturally occurring version of the virus.
From advancing public-private partnerships and increasing international collaboration to promoting innovation in neglected therapy areas and developing new research and development models, policymakers have set a steady pace as they advance the 2012 global health agenda.
US President Obama's proposal for the fiscal year 2013 budget, released today, raises or maintains spending in a number of key areas for technology and innovation, according to an industry analysis.
Changes continue at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the director of communications announced today that he is stepping down immediately after nearly a decade.
Microsoft Corporation has issued a statement that it will not seek injunctions on its standard essential patents in keeping with its promises to international standards organisations. It further said it will make those essential patents available for licence without condition.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office today announced a project it said will award prizes to patent owners for using their patented technology for humanitarian purposes worldwide.