Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A technical advisory group is working to drill down on key issues surrounding the US Federal Communications Commission’s proposed internet neutrality principles, but the agency is prepared to make a final decision in the end about how those principles are implemented, a senior FCC official said Thursday.
The widening gap in scientific and technological capabilities between some developing countries suffering persistent poverty and rich industrialised countries brings to question why some countries are catching up with richer countries, while others are not. Two key factors for success and innovation are knowledge building and the role of the state as a facilitator, according to UN officials.
World Health Organization members today took an important step closer to finding new ways to finance research and development into diseases afflicting developing countries.
The past year’s expert working group process at the World Health Organization on solutions for financing of research and development into diseases afflicting poor nations was flawed and led to an unsatisfactory result, representatives of non-governmental organisations said this week. But innovation and access can both be provided, and the issue of IP protection can be de-linked from the way innovation is done, speakers at a side event to this week’s World Health Assembly said. Meanwhile, NGOs and industry also offered their views on WHO counterfeiting efforts this week.
MUNICH - Whether strengthening patent protection and extending data exclusivity is the way to more innovation in the pharmaceutical and diagnostic sector was the subject of a recent conference here.
The latest draft is now available from the Swiss chair overseeing a small side group at the World Health Assembly trying to work out how to take forward a landmark initiative within the UN agency on innovation and intellectual property rights. It shows that countries negotiating the WHO’s next step on the sensitive topic are leaning toward establishment of a new group with more government involvement this time.
The annual World Health Assembly is considering how to take forward a 2008 landmark decision at the World Health Organization that approved a new Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property. Precious Matsoso, the current director of the WHO programme, spoke to Intellectual Property Watch in April about the ongoing implementation of the strategy, and what is needed to keep momentum going.
A battle broke out yesterday at the World Health Organization over whether it should continue its relationship with an in-house anti-counterfeiting law enforcement and customs group, and what that decision might mean for the role of the organisation in the fight against fake medicines.
Discussion at the annual World Health Assembly on counterfeit medicines may prove lively as stakeholders continue to raise concerns that the term “counterfeit” will confuse protecting patients from unsafe drugs with protecting trademarks from infringement. And an industry-led event in the lead-up to the WHA said counterfeit medicines pose great risks and will require a coordinated international response.
Two groups this week are urging the World Health Assembly to address access to diagnosis, treatment and new drugs, for a tropical disease that is the leading parasitic killer in the Americas. At a side event on the first day of the assembly, civil society actors also expressed concern about the shrinking input of civil society in the annual WHO members’ meeting.
A critical report on financing research and development of medicines for the world's poorest was created without transparency, failed to live up to its mandate, and did not address the potential threat that intellectual property rights can pose to access to drugs, developing countries said today at the World Health Assembly. A proposal by a group of Latin American countries for a new intergovernmental working group was not accepted by developed countries and others and quick informal consultations began to work out differences before the end of the assembly this week.
Los programas informáticos libres se están utilizando como una alternativa legal para combatir la piratería de programas informáticos en un proyecto conjunto impulsado por una organización sin fines de lucro regional, en coordinación con el Instituto Ecuatoriano de la Propiedad Intelectual (IEPI). En este proyecto, se hace uso de las bibliotecas públicas para difundir los programas informáticos libres.