Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Tanzania is on the road to becoming a member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), but Tanzanian civil society and farmers' organisations have warned about possible detrimental effects on small-holder farmers and have asked government to halt the ratification process until all stakeholders have been consulted.
On 5 March, the Shadow Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Wilmot James, submitted a Private Members’ Bill to the Office of the Speaker entitled the Protection of Traditional Knowledge Bill - a new traditional knowledge bill that would supplant the one recently sent back by the president of South Africa, Cobus Jooste writes.
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - In a re-cast, smaller version of the event that was planned and postponed last year, the US State Department’s workshop on IP utilisation and protection in Africa opened yesterday. It is co-organised by the African Intellectual Property Group (AIPG), a new pro-IP association of stakeholders across the continent, which says it’s time for Africa find its own voice on intellectual property issues.
A civil society coalition fighting patents on conventional plants in Europe has published a briefing paper alleging that the European Patent Office is giving a "green light" to patents on plants and animals, disregarding the position of the European Parliament.
Indian negotiators are reportedly under tremendous pressure to give in to the European demands for a more rigid intellectual property rights regime in the ongoing discussions on EU-India free trade agreement, suggests a leaked draft text of the chapter on IP which is being negotiated.
Johannesburg, South Africa - Africa is still held captive by colonial borders and has failed to collectively leverage benefit-sharing agreements that result from multinationals’commercial pursuit of indigenous knowledge, said speakers at the Africa IP conference this week.
Johannesburg, South Africa -- The start of the Africa IP conference was the scene of a surprise protest action by Treatment Action Campaign health activists who ambushed the stage as South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies was about to welcome delegates to the three-day conference.
The biotechnology industry has growing concerns over decisions to be taken this year by the United States Supreme Court in two cases involving the patenting of human genes and the exhaustion of patent rights in the context of easily reproducible products. Several areas of biotechnology could be affected by unfavourable decisions, provoking legal uncertainty and discouraging innovation, industry representatives said in a recent telephone conference. In the meantime, civil society stands fast in opposition.
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture published a report providing financial and technical information on the first project portfolio of its Benefit-sharing Fund.
Prof. Owen Dean writes: It is a fact of life that attempts have been made in certain other countries to usurp control of the term or mark ROOIBOS, despite the fact that it is a well-known South African description for a particular plant which gives rise to ROOIBOS tea. The term ROOIBOS is as typically South African as “braaivleis” and “biltong”. It is really part of our South African heritage. The South African authorities have nonetheless taken no concrete or effective steps to protect and control the use of this term in South Africa or elsewhere.
The following is a reprint from the EU research and development network, Cordis, summarising recent activity on the EU Digital Agenda.
The Digital Agenda for Europe and its 101 actions form a vital part of the overall Europe 2020 strategy for securing smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The actions are organised in seven pillars, or 'containers': digital single market, interoperability and standards, trust and security, fast and ultra-fast internet access, research and innovation, digital literacy, skills and inclusion, and ICT-enabled benefits for EU society. In the previous part of this story we covered the digital single market, interoperability, security, and fast internet access. Next we look at ICT support for research…
Alongside the World Intellectual Property Organization meeting on protection of genetic resources last week, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) organised a side event on natural product research.