New QUNO Reports Encourage Plant Variety Protection Alternatives
The Quaker UN Office in Geneva has announced two new publications on intellectual property, agriculture, food and biological diversity.
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India: The Full Spectrum On FDI In Brownfield Companies
DG Shah writes: Acquisition of brownfield, or existing, pharmaceutical companies may be seen in different perspectives as greenfield, or new, projects are permitted 100% equity via the automatic route. India has sought FDI mainly to bridge the shortfall in investment or to facilitate the flow of know-how and technology. We must first assess the need of the pharma sector and then evaluate whether mere change of ownership would meet its needs.
Interview: Richard Hill On “The New International Telecommunications And The Internet”
Richard Hill, an independent consultant in Geneva who was formerly a senior staff member at the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU), recently published, “The New International Telecommunication Regulations and the Internet: A Commentary and Legislative History.” In a set of questions with Intellectual Property Watch’s William New, Hill talked about his book, which explains the significance of the 1988 and 2012 International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) and covers the preparatory process leading up to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT). The book also discusses the events leading to the non-signature by the treaty of a significant number of states, outlines possible consequences of that split between states, and offers possible ways forward.
Special Report: Traditional Knowledge And IP: View From The Ground Up
Participants at a recent conference in South Africa offered insights and some optimism about prospects for local communities to exploit their traditional knowledge to help their economies while at the same time protecting that knowledge.
Successful WHO Drug Prequalification Programme Deemed At Risk
A 12-year-old World Health Organization programme for prequalifying medical products has helped international organisations and others to safely purchase billions of US dollars' worth of quality medicines per year, but now is at risk due to funding shortages, a new study released today found.
Year Ahead: In US, 2014 Promises Bad News For Patent Trolls And Trademark Owners
2013 was an awkward year in the United States for so-called “patent trolls.” These companies, whose primary business is monetising their patents through licensing and litigation, faced growing criticism from academics, business executives, and US government officials. 2014 could prove even worse for trolls: America’s Congress, courts and executive branch are now considering various measures that would make patent trolling more difficult. And those are just some of the major changes that are likely to roil the US IP system this year.
WHO Initiative On Poor Quality Medicines Heads To Board Next Week
World Health Organization member governments have been working for several years to agree on ways to prevent the spread of dangerous and misleading substandard and fake medical products. Now, they seem to be moving in the direction of concrete action.
UN Office On Drugs And Crime Launches Anti-Counterfeit Campaign Aimed At Organised Crime
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today launched a major awareness-raising campaign against trafficking in counterfeit goods, which it said is a major revenue source for organised crime worldwide: $250 billion per year.
Event: The 6th Annual Corporate IP Counsel Forum
March 19-20, 2014 – Affinia Manhattan – New York City – www.worldcongress.com/corporateIP
Optimize your IP portfolio. In this cross-industry event, the most timely and critical issues will be discussed and analyzed by senior counsel from Bank of America, General Mills, Honeywell, IBM, MLB Advanced Media, MasterCard, S.C. Johnson, and more; providing insight and strategies to help you tackle the latest challenges in IP.
IP-Watch Reader Discount: when reserving your seat, use promo code IPW200 to take $200.00 off the current registration fee.
Departed Indian Diplomat Confronted US Business Over India’s IP Policy
Just weeks before being abruptly arrested and strip-searched in New York, a now-departed Indian diplomat took on the powerful US business lobby over India’s controversial approach to intellectual property.
Interview: Prof. Chidi Oguamanam On “Intellectual Property In Global Governance”
In this interview, Intellectual Property Watch sat down with Prof. Chidi Oguamanam, a professor in the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, to talk about his recent book, “Intellectual Property in Global Governance: A Development Question.” The book, published by Routledge, covers issues of the knowledge economy, structures and regime dynamics, human rights, agriculture, traditional/indigenous knowledge, traditional cultural expressions/folklore, and management of intellectual property in global governance.
Top IP-Watch Stories Of 2013: India, Marrakesh Treaty, Seed/Gene Patents, WIPO Election
Looking back on 2013, the list of the most-viewed stories on the Intellectual Property Watch website shows that reporting on activities in India, especially related to patents and public health, continued to draw the most attention. Other top stories were the Marrakesh Treaty on copyright exceptions for blind readers, legal cases involving patents on seeds and on plant and human genes, the election for World Intellectual Property Organization director general, free-trade agreements (including the Wikileaks leak of the IP chapter of the Trans-Atlantic Partnership agreement), Russian copyrights, and 3D printing.