Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The much-debated Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill in South Africa, aimed at boosting protection for traditional knowledge, was signed by President Jacob Zuma without much fanfare and promotion. What happens now?
Despite spending a week in mostly closed, informal discussions, the World Intellectual Property Organization committee working on the protection of genetic resources, got little closer to breaching the opposing viewpoints. Members managed to produce a draft text - with signs of steps toward a middle ground - that they say can serve as a basis for further discussion on the development of an international instrument preventing wrongful patents.
A side event hosted by the Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) this week called on negotiators at the World Intellectual Property Organization to include innovation by small-scale farmers and asked for complementarity of several international instruments dealing with this issue.
A new website of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will allow tracking of the use of genetic resources in order to ensure access and benefit-sharing of those resources.
While World Intellectual Property Organization members seek ways to address the issue of biopiracy, speakers at a side event to this week’s negotiations said the phenomenon is widespread. According to them, very few patent applicants source the origin of the…
A study of patent activity in the United Kingdom shows widespread global distribution of genetic resources used by UK innovators. The implications of international rules on access and benefit sharing will need to be communicated to these groups, who will among other things have to start assessing their supply chains to ensure full compliance throughout, according to the study author.
A panel addressing negotiators this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization asserted the property rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities over traditional knowledge and genetic resources and called on delegates to draft an international instrument compliant with their internationally recognised rights.
World Intellectual Property Organization member countries are working to get past their differences this week toward agreement on a way to protect genetic resources from biopiracy. A new document shows focus on misappropriation as a policy objective, and that a bridge still needs to be found on the issue of mandatory disclosure of origin in patent applications.
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee working on ways to protect genetic resources and traditional knowledge opened a weeklong meeting yesterday by gathering country ambassadors to try to inject momentum into discussions. But after the session, it appeared that many delegations had restated known positions. Everybody seemed to agree on broad goals, but not on the way to reach them.
The World Health Organization Executive Board got through a high number of items yesterday, including several with ramifications for intellectual property and innovation.