Original news and analysis on international IP policy
In a move public health advocates say is likely to bring negative consequences for low-income patients with HIV and AIDS, as well as negative publicity for the company, Johnson & Johnson recently announced that it would not enter into negotiations with the Medicines Patent Pool for voluntary licences that would allow several of key treatments to be made in more affordable generic form in developing countries.
Current global institutional reforms of agricultural innovation systems and the commodification of crop diversity are not answering concerns regarding international equity in access to plant genetic resources, the handling of agricultural research, and the sharing of benefits arising from this research, according to a new book by Claudio Chiarolla, research fellow at the Paris-based Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales (IDDRI).
A new report from the United States Department of Commerce on competitiveness and innovation details the US need to boost innovation in order to compete globally and grow the economy. But while it stresses the need for strong intellectual property rights enforcement to create high-priced monopolies as an incentive for innovation, it also acknowledges that access to inexpensive technology and ideas is key to innovation and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it shows that the rise in IP rights in recent years has been accompanied by a drop in innovation.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has published four notices of proposed rulemaking implementing provisions of the patent reform law signed last year. The issuance of the rules, which came ahead of schedule, opens a 60-day comment period on the draft rules.
The most-read Intellectual Property Watch stories of 2011 demonstrated the versatility and range of our readers from around the globe, from an intense focus on international and national copyright issues to bilateral and plurilateral free trade agreements, to issues in India and Brazil, patent laws, patents in agriculture, scientific knowledge, and of course, policies emerging in Geneva at the World Intellectual Property Organization, World Trade Organization, World Health Organization and elsewhere at the multilateral level. Most of all, they tell the story of the year gone by, with clear signals of what's to come in 2012.
The European Parliament Legal Affairs Committee approval this week of a single patent for participating European Union members sets the stage for a February plenary vote in Parliament. But members’ inability to agree on where to locate the new unified patent litigation court means the Polish presidency won’t get to see finalisation of the process that will now head into 2012 under the guidance of Denmark.
Although intellectual property issues did not play a big role in the Eighth World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference, some international stakeholders took advantage of the global gathering to meet, discuss and debate the 3-step test in copyright, a key topic in IP today. The discussion included a call for a WTO declaration on the 3-step test.
A World Health Organization expert group has narrowed proposals under consideration for ways to finance research and development for diseases predominately affecting poor populations. Among the remaining recommendations is that WHO members launch negotiations for a binding treaty.
The World Intellectual Property Organization patent law committee ended its meeting this week with status quo on all issues, after lively deliberations and new proposals but with all discussions left for further debate in 2012.
WASHINGTON, DC - Officials and workers at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are working day and night, as well as weekends, to meet forthcoming deadlines outlined in the America Invents Act (AIA). And some legal experts warn that they are now experiencing the calm before the storm as those deadlines approach.
The right of people to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, the subject of an article in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, has received little attention and needs new attention in UN agencies, according to panellists yesterday at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Human rights need to enter the arena in fora where scientific progress and its application are being discussed, they said in a public consultation on the ideas.
The World Intellectual Property Organization patent law committee this week is discussing a range of issues with a UN-style sensitivity to all levels of development and patent ownership. Issues on the agenda range from patent quality, public health, exceptions and limitations, client-attorney confidentiality, and technology transfer.