Original news and analysis on international IP policy
On the eve of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, German politicians described positions on free trade and climate as the most difficult issues. Expectations from civil society groups in the G20 results are modest at best and the 6 July protest march “Welcome to Hell” was cancelled after clashes between the police and parts of the protestors.
Can the farmer seed system most widely used in the world, and the system of seeds produced by plant breeders certified and protected by intellectual property rights, be complementary? The question was addressed during a recent webinar organised by the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, with no easy answers. In particular, speakers mentioned several challenges, including the lack of a common agreement on what are farmers' rights, and the inability for small farmers to register their seeds so they are protected, in particular against biopiracy.
Open access is “part of the DNA” of international intergovernmental organisations, Charlotte Beauchamp, head of editorial and design at the World Intellectual Property Organization, said during a workshop last week. Representatives of different international organisations described during the workshop the increasing use of an open access policy by their organisations.
Civil society organisations and the Business 20 Dialogue all put their positions on the table before the opening of the first-ever meeting of G20 Health Ministers tomorrow in Berlin, Germany taking place tomorrow.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) has launched a collaborative project with five universities in India, United Kingdom, and the United States to help with the research on a debilitating neglected disease.
Civil society and farmers allege communication blackout from by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) about a protocol protecting new plant varieties. The 2015 protocol was highly criticised by those organisations as endangering traditional practices of African farmers. Draft regulations could not be adopted in December, but the regional organisation, according to the civil society and farmer groups, is keeping the outcome of the December meeting secret.
Global health matters are entering into the Group of Twenty (G20) agenda under the German presidency of the group, which started in December 2016. The first-ever G20 Health Ministers' meeting is scheduled to take place in May, before the regular G20 meeting in July. This week, a professor from the Graduate Institute of Geneva explained how health has become part of the G20 agenda.
With the looming threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), there is growing pressure to use vaccines because they obviate the need to prescribe antibiotics in the first place.
CHICAGO, Illinois - US President Trump Monday signed the repeal of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) broadband privacy rules passed by both houses of Congress in March. The decision by Congress and the new administration to smash the FCC broadband privacy rules, data security and security breach notification obligations do not bode well for internet users who want to have a say with regard to their confidentiality, according to a range of tech experts.
Nearly 20 percent of mobile phones and 25 percent of video game consoles sold internationally are counterfeit, and the numbers are rising, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).