Category Venues

WHO Report Compares Prices, IP Status Of HIV Treatment In Middle-Income Countries

A new report from the World Health Organization concludes that prices of HIV treatments vary greatly between middle-income countries (MICs), often depending on patent landscape, licensing agreements, whether drugs were sourced from originator companies, and regulatory approval. For third-line treatments, the price of drugs remains a challenge for all, with newer products more likely to be patented in key countries of production.

UN Expert Calls For Using Public Food Purchasing To Boost Right To Food

“Governments have few sources of leverage over increasingly globalised food systems - but public procurement is one of them,” the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to adequate food states in a new report. The right to food should be included in public food purchasing according to five principles in order to make food systems fairer and more sustainable, he said.

EPO Internal Strife Spills Over Into European Parliament, Human Rights Court

Relations between European Patent Office (EPO) staff and senior officials, already tense due to work issues with President Benoît Battistelli, have been further undermined by the continuing presence of Vice-President Željko Topić, according to a source close to the situation. Claims about Topić's suitability for office by one of his former employees at the Croatian State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) have now reached the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), while a petition by the Association for the Advancement of the Rule of Law (Juris Protecta) in Croatia has been filed in the European Parliament.

Reforms To Spanish Patent Law Promote Filings At National Level

On 11 April 2014, the Spanish Council of Ministers approved a draft law reforming the current Spanish Patent Law of 1986. The reform aims to reconcile the regulation with the international framework, strengthen the Spanish patent system and make it easier and faster to obtain solid patent titles in Spain. It contains a few notable changes.

WIPO Publishes Expert Paper On Documenting Traditional Medical Knowledge

The World Intellectual Property Organization recently published a paper entitled, “Documenting Traditional Medical Knowledge.” Withthe growing use of traditional and alternative medicines in developed countries, their importance in developing countries' health systems and the multi-billion dollar potential of benefits for companies, “documenting and protecting these medicines is becoming a greater priority,” the document states.