Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The United States Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in the case opposing a US farmer to agro-industry giant Monsanto on the issue of patent exhaustion in patented seeds. Lead lawyers in the case and others offered comments on the heels of the hearing, while the Supreme Court Justices are considering the arguments and are expected to reach a decision sometime this spring.
In an open letter to the US Congress House of Representatives Judiciary Committee today (27 February), a coalition of agencies, entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators, urged Congress to take action against "patent trolls, non-practicing patent-holding entities.
European talks aimed at dragging copyright law into the digital age are not likely to produce results any time soon because of resistance from rights holders and political manoeuvring in the European Commission, players from the internet service provider and consumer sectors say. But the Commission said while it's true that changes could take several years, there will be regulation if needed.
The major recording industry association has released its annual report for 2012, announcing a 9 per cent increase in revenues from digital sales of music, with licensed music services on the rise. It also said it benefits most in countries where internet service providers have worked to drive down use of unauthorised music download sites.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has issued a new policy memorandum increasing public access to federally funded scientific research, including peer-reviewed publications and digital data.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today in a report accused Google of not doing enough to stop Internet users from accessing websites repeatedly accused of copyright infringement.
While country delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization are working to find consensus on a text to become a treaty for the benefit of blind and visually impaired people, industry and non-governmental organisations are pushing their agendas.
South-East Asia is host to one-third of the world’s 39 million blind people. Over 20 million live in India alone. This week’s special session of the World Intellectual Property Organization aims to clean up the text of an international treaty to facilitate access to books for the blind and visually impaired community. It is thus of prime importance for India, and some there worry that issues such as commercial availability could undermine the treaty’s effectiveness.
Alongside the World Intellectual Property Organization meeting on protection of genetic resources last week, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) organised a side event on natural product research.
A 2011 letter from the top Republican on the United States Senate Finance Committee condemned efforts by the Global Fund to train public health officials on the use of flexibilities to the patent system contained in international trade rules. The letter, which also attacked the purchase of generic medicines over brand-name drugs, came just months before the US helped remove the head of the Global Fund, ultimately replacing him with an American official.