Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Biotechnology lies at the intersection of a wide spectrum of fields, such as agriculture, health and environment. Because biotechnology relates to life sciences, it is often the subject of ethical, sometimes intense political debates between stakeholders, in particular involving intellectual property rights. In 2010, as the first signs of global economic recovery are emerging, the debates are expected to increase.
The United States Department of Justice yesterday told the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that progress had been made on its concerns in the settlement allowing internet search giant Google to scan millions of books into a database. But the government lawyers continue to have doubts on copyright, class certification and antitrust issues, they said.
BRUXELLES – Les accords de commerce ne doivent pas contenir de clauses relatives aux droits de propriété intellectuelle susceptibles de remettre en cause l’accès des pays pauvres aux médicaments à des prix abordables, a déclaré un député chevronné du Parlement européen.
The secretly negotiated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is now in centre stage in the global debates around copyright, as is a prospective new international treaty on access to online books for the visually impaired which comes as part of a broader push to clarify limitations and exceptions to copyright. But some are asking, why all the debate and new efforts in national and international copyright legislation when copyright is increasing being exchanged for contractual relationships?
A key committee focused on patent law at the World Intellectual Property Organization in seeking to establish its new work programme last week discussed a proposal to better protect the confidentiality of information passed between patent advisers and their clients. But the meeting ended in no decision, and the issue is expected to come up again when the patent committee next meets in October 2010.
Standards are vitally important to innovation but in order for them to serve their purpose effectively, they must be open, said a panel at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week.
A high-level task force on the right to development last week released two new reports at the United Nations, the results of technical missions to the World Intellectual Property Organization on its Development Agenda and to the World Health Organization on its strategy on intellectual property.
WASHINGTON, DC - The internet’s technical governing body plans to make a push to educate the global users of the internet on the network’s latest generation technology known as IPv6, Rod Beckstrom, president and CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), said this week.
The latest available text on future work at the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on the Law of Patents is available from the IP Watch website. The draft emerged this evening.
Access and benefit sharing will top agendas at several different intergovernmental bodies this year on issues of biodiversity, environment, food security and traditional knowledge, and stakeholders will be watching the movement across fora of emerging models and potential pitfalls from parallel negotiations.
BRUSSELS - Trade agreements must not contain clauses on intellectual property rights that could imperil the poor’s access to affordable medicines, a veteran member of the European Parliament (MEP) has said.
Along with a domestic agenda that includes patent reform and improving the efficiency of the US Patent and Trademark Office, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) this year also is eyeing issues at the international level, such as genetic resources, environmental technologies and international patent harmonisation.