Original news and analysis on international IP policy
NAIROBI, Kenya (IP-Watch) – The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 14th Session opened here yesterday, with leaders calling for deeper and broader cooperation between trade and development.
A new report launched in time for this week's AIDS conference in South Africa analyzes factors relating to access to HIV/AIDS treatments over the past 15 years. The analysis includes a look at government policies used during that time, the contribution of generic and research-based industries, and the importance of voluntary licensing.
Top negotiators of the European Union and United States today underlined after the 14th round of negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) that they are still on track for finalising the deal during the outgoing Obama administration. At the same time, they acknowledged that after three years of negotiations some chapters have never been discussed.
Worldwide sales for orphan drugs are forecast to reach $178 billion by 2020, according to a recent industry report. Moreover, the orphan drug market is expected to grow almost 12 percent per year, a level the broader pharmaceutical market “could only dream about” with its expected annual growth of 5.9 percent, according to Lisa Urquhart, editor of EvaluatePharma Vantage.
Days before a major meeting of the governing body of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), over 100 non-governmental organisations worldwide are calling for the organisation to maintain its development role and not help implement international and regional trade rules.
Gilead is the US company whose use of patents to charge $1000 per pill for a hepatitis C medicine in the United States helped make high drug prices a developed country household issue and fodder for elected officials seeking change. Now the company has come under further fire after being found to have moved some US$10 billion overseas to avoid US taxes - even after having received US taxpayer support for its activities - which it orchestrated by moving its patent rights overseas. A new report detailing the company's tax dodge includes a proposal for a way to clamp down on this type of patent activity.
A bill introduced in Kenya’s parliament intended to streamline, govern and regulate the country’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector has been met with opposition from different quarters over fears that it could put ICT technicians out of practice and stifle the country’s innovation capacity if passed into law.
BARCELONA, Spain -- The Huawei v ZTE Case C - 170/13, 21 July 2015 prescribed some guidelines for fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing negotiations, for both standard-essential patent holders and users. A recent private-sector panel addressed European FRAND case law and the latest information and communications technology industry policy opinions, in particular concerning royalty assessment rate (end-user or technology), royalty stacking, patent pool approach and injunctions.
BARCELONA, Spain -- A recent industry conference panel here covered topics of changing intellectual property scenarios perceived from different angles, in particular from operating companies which manufacture products or services and patent assertion entities (PAEs).
The Modern Poland Foundation is pleased to launch an Open Call for Speakers at the 5th International CopyCamp Conference (October 27-28, 2016 in Warsaw).
Populism is in vogue these days and critics of pharmaceutical patents are trying to ride the wave, claiming that undermining patents will dramatically decrease prices but not reduce innovation. Both sides of that claim are flawed, writes Steven Tepp.
The European Commission is expected to pass a controversial declaration on the “adequacy of US data protection standards” on 12 July, making transfers of personal data from the European Union to the United States legal once more. [Update: Privacy Shield was announced today by the US and EU.]