Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) last week held a mandated seminar on the right of everyone to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. In some cases, intellectual property rights may not be helping, according to speakers.
Mutual understanding between the international trade community and internet stakeholders would be of great benefit to help adjust the multilateral trade regime to the rapidly changing landscape of the digital economy.
The US Chamber of Commerce's Global Intellectual Property Center organised a panel during the World Trade Organization Public Forum last week to explore what industry sees as challenges of trade in the digital age. Three panellists presented concerns - mainly counterfeiting - and solutions they have put in place to address such challenges.
The UN International Telecommunication Union today released global statistics on information and communications technology, showing great advances in speed, reach and mobile connectivity, but with the reality that billions of humans are still not connected to the internet.
A panel of industry representatives presented their views at the World Trade Organization on the diffusion of innovation, calling intellectual property rights key to the process. Meanwhile, another panel looked at innovation as a growth strategy for the global South.
Academics and experts from international organisations met last week at the World Trade Organization to discuss the role of know-how in today’s global economy, stressing the relevance of trade secrets in global value chains and international transfer of technology.
A newly awarded patent on a process allowing parents to choose genetic traits from prospective donors for their children is creating a buzz in the United States and beyond.
In recent years, the Caribbean has been placed under a considerable amount of pressure to comply with the international regimen on intellectual property rights writes Abiola Inniss.
According to the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, five new ratifications have brought the 2010 treaty on the protection of genetic resources closer to ratification.
The innovative capacities of countries cannot be measured with a simplistic matrix, taking only into account the number of patents or the research and development expenditures, said a World Intellectual Property Organization official. Meanwhile, WIPO’s views were buttressed by an expert from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.
A closed-door working group under the World Health Organization will meet next week to continue working out details of a plan for companies to pay for the right to use influenza virus strains to potentially develop patented treatments.
The membership of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization in its celebrated annual General Assembly have spent most of the last few days in informal small groups behind closed doors, trying to reach agreements on issues that seem simple but for them, go to the heart of the organisation’s functioning.