Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Trade, health, and intellectual property came together today as the heads of three specialised international organisations held an annual symposium to stimulate discussions on how the three can best help public health, and notably access to medicines in developing countries.
A revealing independent review to be published this week on WIPO Re:Search, the World Intellectual Property Organization initiative for development of medical products for neglected tropical diseases, malaria and tuberculosis, gives a set of recommendations to ensure the sustainability and success of the initiative.
World Health Organization members and stakeholders were invited to provide comments this month on the organisation’s framework to spur preparedness for future influenza pandemics and ensure treatments will reach developing countries. The framework is expected to undergo a review in 2016. The advisory group to the initiative also went through issues such as contributions by manufacturers, and how to deal with genetic sequence data.
Alongside the recent World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly, the WIPO Global Challenges Division presented WIPO Re:Search, a public-private consortium to facilitate research on neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis and malaria.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement contains an important provision concerning achieving balance in the copyright systems of the twelve countries party to that free trade agreement. This provision was not present in the early draft of the agreement. Then, in…
The Federal Circuit is no stranger to controversy. And recently, the court stepped in it again. In an important ruling, the court made it far easier for some patent owners to obtain injunctions against infringers. The ruling could promote patent litigation in many industries, boost litigation costs, and effectively undermine a key Supreme Court decision limiting the availability of patent injunctions.
From infojustice.org: Judge Pierre Leval’s opinion [on 16 October] in the Google Books case offers another fascinating glimpse into the richness of his thinking about the concept of fair use. Although the outcome in Google Books (Google wins, duh) was obvious to anyone whose paycheck didn’t depend on their believing otherwise, the discussion that gets us there sheds light on a host of hot fair use topics in ways that courts and copyright wonks will be citing and unpacking for years to come.
Valuation of intellectual property is of growing importance to small and medium-sized enterprises in getting loans from financial institutions, IP office representatives said at a side event to the World Intellectual Property Organisation General Assembly this month.
Panellists at a recent discussion on women and intellectual property proposed steps institutions and women themselves could take to increase the number of female entrepreneurs, in order for the IP system to benefit men and women equally.
At the recent TEDx CERN event, Intellectual Property Watch caught up with bioethicist and legal philosopher Matthew Liao, to reflect on challenging moral questions raised by new advances in computing and neuroscience allowing for the manipulation of human thoughts and memories. Liao reflected on whether we should use drugs and technology to erase traumatic memories, and if individuals have a moral obligation to themselves to remember certain events.
Speakers from the fields of academia, arts and science brought their visions of a new world and the role the next generation must play in shaping it to the audience of TEDx CERN on 9 October. The visionary speakers break the boundaries of academic research to propose innovative solutions for the future that take into account today’s limitations.
At the annual World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly over the past week, exhibitions have highlighted colourful and innovative ideas from around the world. It also includes an exhibition of historical documents from the WIPO archives.