Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Government negotiators at the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organisation General Assemblies continued their work into the weekend to try to reach agreement on key outstanding issues. All discussions of these issues have reverted to closed, informal meetings, in contrast to…
After a week of meetings at the World Intellectual Property Organisation General Assembly, the United States is possibly alone in firmly objecting to the continuation of a high-level meeting on a proposal for a WIPO development agenda. The proposal for…
By Sarah Lai Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch A wall of opposition from the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and independent inventor communities this year gutted some of the most controversial provisions from an ambitious patent reform bill introduced in July in the…
The top officials of the World Intellectual Property Organisation member states this week gather for their annual meeting facing an unusual number of critical issues for the U.N. body, several of which involve the credibility of the organisation itself. The…
A meeting on 16 September of the World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property rights saw little progress on the issue of a creating a register for geographical indications for wines and spirits, according to sources in Geneva. But…
Failure to get agreement on a proposal to harmonise national patent laws by World Intellectual Property Organisation members will not impact the functioning and credibility of the organisation, a top WIPO official said today. Failure to agree “is not necessarily…
Issues under negotiation at the World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property issues are somewhat stalled, despite – or because of – their ties to broader issues being negotiated at the WTO, sources in Geneva say. It remains to…
Non-profit and industry organisations last week offered a wide range of views on the incorporation of a development agenda into the work of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Their views came as WIPO member governments debated greater participation of civil…
After months of debate, officials addressing a proposal to make the World Intellectual Property Organisation more sensitive to developing countries could agree only that further discussion is needed. “We had a chance to discuss a huge quantity of proposals made…
The 25 nations of the European Union on Thursday proposed that talks on a stronger development-oriented agenda for the World Intellectual Property Organisation be continued through 2006. The Group of African nations on Thursday also put forward a new list…
At the start of day two of a meeting on reform of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization toward developing country concerns, the United States put a political stake in the ground, calling for the meeting to recommend moving development…
Up against a deadline to agree on a final report this week, members of the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organisation debating how the organisation can better reflect developing country needs got underway quickly Wednesday. The goal this week is “to…