Original news and analysis on international IP policy
As the United States Congress prepares to recess in early August, there's hope - and dread, depending on which “side” of the debate you’re on - that legislation creating a regulatory pathway for follow-on biologics may be pushed through as part of the broader healthcare reform package.
Officials from least developed nations on Friday agreed to a strategy for using intellectual property to encourage local innovation, protect national cultural and genetic resources, attract foreign direct investment, and spur development at a World Intellectual Property Organization forum on the use of intellectual property for “prosperity and development.” But they did not appear to highlight other options for development such as exceptions and limitations to copyright or flexibilities they are allowed in applying IP laws.
Innovation is a main driver for economic growth and development for developing countries, said speakers at an event focusing on innovation in Brazil, India and South Africa. But although innovation is increasing and is a priority in developing economies, one expert said invention capabilities remain in the hands of historical players and governments need to seek innovative policy responses.
COPENHAGEN - While sales of insecticide-treated bed nets have skyrocketed in recent years and boosting their use is among the UN Millennium Development Goals, two producers of the nets have been caught in a rigorous legal case involving trade secrets. Now the English High Court has ruled that one of the companies, Bestnet, has misused the trade secrets of the other company, Vestergaard Frandsen (VF).
The United Nations Economic and Social Council, a key coordinating body meeting this summer in Geneva, is considering ways to move nations faster toward global public health goals, with a warning from developing countries that intellectual property rights should not interfere with access to medical products and innovation.
A conference at the World Intellectual Property Organization exploring and clarifying the connection between its work and several major public policy issues ended Tuesday with a look at public health and food security.
A conference aimed at sketching out ideas for the World Intellectual Property Organization’s involvement in issues of global public policy kicked off Monday with explorations on the link intellectual property and environmental technology and a separate event devoted to access to reading material for the visually impaired.
Interview With Ellen ‘t Hoen, Senior IP Advisor At UNITAID, author of "The Global Politics of Pharmaceutical Monopoly Power."
COPENHAGEN – Windupbird Publishing owned by Swedish author Fredrik Colting, alias John David California, promises that its books will “tickle your feet and yank your soul.” But American author J.D. Salinger is not amused and has indeed been wound up by Colting's latest book, which he says is infringing on the copyright of his best-seller, "Catcher in the Rye." A New York court recently sided with Salinger, but Intellectual Property Watch talked to Colting about why the battle is bound to go on.
Leaders of the seven biggest economies and Russia (G8) at their annual summit this week in L'Aquila, Italy have made very cautious commitments with regard to the top issue, climate change, but views on intellectual property rights enforcement began to become clear on the second day. The summit so far has addressed issues related to trade, development, terrorism, and also innovation and IP.
Statements in the leaders' Wednesday declaration with regard to intellectual property called for a firm push for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which is unchanged from the past. But the G8 IP Expert Group (IPEG) on Thursday published the results of its discussion in which they went into more detail on some issues.
Pharmaceutical companies are manipulating the intellectual property rights system and are “actively trying to delay the entry of generic medicines onto their markets,” a top EU official said of an EU inquiry into the pharmaceutical sector released Wednesday. As a result, there has been a decline in the number of innovative medicines getting to the market, it says.
Innovation and technology will be key to emergence from the global economic crisis, according to speakers at a recent United Nations conference on innovation-based competitiveness. However, innovation should be collaborative and involve resources inside and outside companies and institutions.