Category Traditional and Indigenous Knowledge

Indigenous Peoples Present Their Perspectives On Traditional Knowledge At WIPO

Representatives of indigenous peoples opened a key meeting at the World Intellectual Property Organization with a discussion of the definition of traditional knowledge (TK), the presence of TK in the public domain, and respect for indigenous peoples’ rights under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

WIPO TK Committee Chair Adjourns Session Abruptly, Demands Clear Positions

The World Intellectual Property Organization meeting on traditional knowledge and folklore meeting this week was abruptly adjourned by the chair this afternoon, to reconvene tomorrow morning, with a head-on challenge to governments.

WIPO In Marathon Two Weeks To Advance On Protection Of TK And Folklore

World Intellectual Property Organization members today launched a marathon meeting to advance work on a potential legal instrument to protect traditional knowledge and folklore from misappropriation and exploitation. The committee, which has been convening for well over 10 years, is hoping to finalise texts over the next two weeks.

First Geneva Dialogue On Traditional Knowledge This Week

A multi-stakeholder group open to participants will meet this week for the first Geneva Dialogue on Traditional Knowledge, to informally discuss negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organization scheduled to resume next week.

TTIP Still In ‘Exploratory’ Phase On GIs; Data Flows Tied To Privacy Regimes

Press conferences, stakeholder meetings and presentations as well as picture-tweets about consultations have become a habit of the negotiators of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Still, after this week's round of negotiations, answers to tougher questions like what are the chances of reconciling regimes on the protection of geographic indications or data flows and data privacy seem far from clear.

MakaPads Helping Disadvantaged Girls And Women In Uganda

KAMPALA - In the western terrains of Uganda, in a refugee camp, Dr. Moses Kizza Musaazi invented and is running a simple but ingenious scheme. Making environmentally friendly sanitary pads out of papyrus reeds. The pads, MakaPads sanitary pads, are the only trademarked biodegradable sanitary pads made in Africa. Dr. Musaazi developed the idea and technique while looking for a way to help school-going girls.

Final UN Report On Right To Food Calls For Redesign Of World Food System

In a final report before the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) today, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food called for a redesigned world food system to ensure the human right to adequate food and freedom from hunger. This includes some changes to the way intellectual property rights apply to food and agriculture.

Patents Not Best To Protect Traditional Medical Knowledge, Author Says

Traditional medical knowledge would be best protected through liability rules instead of patents, according to a book exploring the applicability of intellectual property rights to traditional medical knowledge protection, and in particular if IP rights are suitable to promote the goals of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.

Year Ahead: Biotech, IP Promise to Create Controversy From Farms To Big Pharma In 2014

The intersection of biotechnology and intellectual property continues to be a hot topic across the globe. From the patenting of certain plant varieties to human genes, to biodiversity and food security, to genetic resources, countries from developing to developed are attempting to navigate often blurred lines in terms of what can and cannot be patented, what should - and shouldn’t - be patented, and protecting innovators from farmers to plant breeders to drug manufacturers.