Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The negotiated deal over the language of the United Nations political declaration on tuberculosis, a landmark in the fight against TB, has been maintained by member states and was finalised on 14 September, marking the end of intense negotiations over language on intellectual property flexibilities in the document.
CAPE TOWN – The South Africa Parliament’s Portfolio Committee of Trade and Industry is expected to finalise the long-awaited Copyright Amendment Bill next month. But one more round of public comments is being sought in the meantime, with a deadline of this week.
International organisations are the repository of many works of art, but little is known by the public of their vast collections. The UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva hosts over 500 works of art, some of them displayed in public spaces, most of them in storage, their value unclear. They have been gathered since the inception of the organisation, before it became WIPO in 1970, most of them given or loaned. What is considered works of art include a diversity of items. The most unusual and rare, a piece of the moon, sits in full view in a glass display in a lobby.
[Updated] The European Patent Office (EPO) on 13 September ruled in favour of pharmaceutical company Gilead and maintained the company's patent on hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir. The patent, however, is maintained in an amended form. Civil society involved in the case expressed dismay over the outcome and its potential effect on European drug prices.
Marcela Fogaça Vieira and Pedro Villardi write: The Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) has mysteriously cancelled the judgment of the most important case regarding intellectual property and health ever to be decided by the court. On 28 June, the date of the judgment was set for 6 September. The cancellation occurred on the eve of the judgment, something very rare in the practice of the Court. The lack of decision on the case only benefits the transnational companies awarded with hundreds of undue monopolies. Just a few days before, the President of the STF - Judge Carmem Lucia - had a meeting with Interfarma, the association of multinational pharmaceutical companies in Brazil.
European Union lawmakers today approved by a 438-226 margin a measure updating EU copyright law and voted to begin negotiations with the European Commission (EC) and Council. The vote followed parliamentary rejection in June of plans to launch an immediate “trilogue” with the EC and Council based on text as approved by the lead Legal Affairs Committee (JURI), instead sending the measure for full debate at the September plenary held today.
The European Patent Office is expected to hold oral proceedings later this week on a challenge filed against a Gilead patent on hepatitis C treatment. Invalidation of the patent would open the way to competition and lower prices, according to civil society groups which initiated the challenge. But according to an EPO source, the company is seeking at most an amendment to the patent.
Over two years after a group of World Intellectual Property Organization members adopted a treaty on the protection of geographical indications, the European Commission has recommended that the European Union join the treaty. The EU was one of the major proponents of the treaty. Separately, a geographical indications industry group is urging EU attention to be placed on the need for legal certainty after the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU.
Negotiators' agreed draft text for a United Nations political declaration on ending tuberculosis worldwide has been posted for all member states to see, and negotiators hope, not comment on. Under a UN procedure, the text has been placed "under silence" until 10:00am New York time on 14 September. If no one breaks the silence, the text is considered agreed and will advance to the High-Level Meeting on tuberculosis on 26 September as part of the annual UN General Assembly.
There are often big issues at stake at the global center for international intellectual property policy in Geneva, but sometimes, the nearly 200 governments that direct the UN World Intellectual Property Organization have to ask themselves questions like, should the director general of WIPO get to fly around the world first-class? Turns out, the answers can vary, but for now, he can carry on.