Original news and analysis on international IP policy
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.
NAIROBI - Drug companies routinely violate World Health Organization ethical guidelines when advertising and promoting their products in East Africa, according to a new study released Thursday.
Perhaps the single most critical issue to resolve in addressing neglected diseases is how to ensure there is money to pay for research and clinical trials, even when the consumer demand is small and its constituents poor. A group of experts under the auspices of the World Health Organization this week is attempting to address the problem.
Stringent intellectual property rules could hamper the spread of technology needed to fight climate change, an advisor to European Union policy-makers has warned.
本周，世界海关组织将努力达成协议，就反假冒伪劣和剽窃问题成立一个软化的工作组，代替以前的工作组，以便可以化解人们有关海关官员手伸得太长的关切。它还将考虑通过一项建议，在执法活动中把重点明确放到公共卫生和安全方面。
Esta semana la Organización Mundial de Aduanas (OMA) tratará de llegar a un acuerdo sobre un grupo de sustitución más flexible para la lucha contra la falsificación y la piratería que podría calmar las preocupaciones sobre la extralimitación de los funcionarios de aduanas. Asimismo, estudiará una propuesta para agregar un énfasis explícito en materia de salud pública y seguridad a sus actividades de ejecución.
Cette semaine, l’Organisation mondiale des douanes (OMD) va essayer de parvenir à un accord sur la constitution d’un nouveau groupe de lutte contre la contrefaçon et le piratage plus flexible. Un consensus pourrait mettre fin aux inquiétudes qui entourent le champ trop étendu des responsabilités attribuées aux préposés des douanes.
ستحاول منظمة الجمارك العالمية هذا الأسبوع التوصل إلى اتفاق بشأن فريق بديل مخفف ضد التقليد والقرصنة من شأنه أن يبدد القلق إزاء التجاوز من قبل موظفي الجمارك. وستنظر المنظمة أيضا في اقتراح يتعلق بإضافة تركيز صريح على الصحة العامة والسلامة إلى أنشطتها المتعلقة بالإنفاذ.
The World Customs Organization this week will try to reach agreement on a softened replacement group against counterfeiting and piracy that may defuse concerns of overreaching by customs officials. It also will consider a proposal to add an explicit focus on public health and safety to its enforcement activities.
With less than a year to complete a new global plan to combat climate change, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is under pressure to be able to move to a decision at the end of the year. But it is in the longer-term action plans that intellectual property issues are featuring most prominently, as parties to the UNFCCC aim to satisfy the need for growth in poor countries, and to mitigate effects of growth on the environment - a move that will require effective technology transfer.
Major public health funders have alighted upon an industry-favoured approach of guaranteeing certain prices to industry to make vaccines available to least-developed country markets.
The coming months could spell changes in the long-running World Trade Organization talks on creating a register for wines and spirits geographical indications and amending WTO rules to better protect biodiversity rights. Developed countries that have been blocking progress on the issues for years may be pushed at a political level, according to some sources.