Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Hong Kong–The 17 December draft of the ministerial text at the ongoing World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting extends a freeze preventing WTO members from complaining about other members’ intellectual property rights practices even when they are not violating WTO rules.…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen and William New Hong Kong – Peru appears to be taking a strong position in World Trade Organization negotiations in favour of the disclosure of origin of genetic material and traditional knowledge in patent applications…
Hong Kong–Countries pushing for the launch of negotiations on the protection of biodiversity and traditional knowledge have been engaged in tough talks at the World Trade Organization ministerial in Hong Kong today. The countries, led by India and Brazil, are…
Hong Kong – At the World Trade Organization ministerial here, India has proposed the launch of negotiations on the disclosure of origin of material in patent applications, and says that if this issue is not addressed, there will be no…
By Martin Vaughan for Intellectual Property Watch Washington, DC-In a bilateral free-trade agreement struck this week with Peru, the United States for the first time agreed to language relating to traditional knowledge, according to a Peruvian government source. The language,…
By Martin Vaughan for Intellectual Property Watch Andean countries in late November narrowed differences with the United States over intellectual property protections in negotiations over a US-Andean bilateral free trade agreement, but divisions over market access for agriculture have likely…
Least-developed members of the World Trade Organization on 29 November agreed to extend the transition period for implementing the WTO agreement on intellectual property rights by seven and a half years, a reduction by half of their original request. In…
The World Trade Organization next week will reconvene a suspended meeting on unresolved intellectual property issues that sources say have moved little in the final weeks before the 13-18 December ministerial in Hong Kong. The 29 November meeting will consider…
Paris—The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) today approved a treaty for the protection of cultural diversity despite an all-out drive by the United States to get governments to change their minds. “We really pulled out all the stops”…
The World Intellectual Property Organisation committee tackling the relationship between intellectual property and genetic resources and traditional knowledge wrapped up a weeklong meeting today with little agreement other than to recommend the General Assembly continue the group’s mandate unchanged for…
Officials negotiating to implement and update a 10-year-old agreement on intellectual property rights at the World Trade Organisation made a little progress toward that goal last week, according to official sources in Geneva. While small gains on the WTO Agreement…