Original news and analysis on international IP policy
In light of increasing attempts to trademark the South African product rooibos, rooibos tea industry stakeholders are considering a call for an audit of the product’s trademarks registered in the world, in order to inform the best strategy to protect it as a unique South African product.
CAPE TOWN - The South African National Intellectual Property Policy is expected to be published this month, after a much-anticipated wait to see what shape and form the policy has given intellectual property rights in the country.
Marrakesh, Morocco - The 28 June signing of the new international treaty to improve access to published materials for the visually impaired brought relief to the beneficiaries and satisfaction to delegations. But some underlined the need to sign and ratify the new treaty.
As World Intellectual Property Organization delegates were giving their closing statements after today’s adoption of the Marrakesh treaty for the blind that some called a miracle, just outside the door of the Palais des Congrès, a large group of blind people was demonstrating to bring attention to their need for employment.
Since 2009, seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa have reduced new HIV infections among children by 50 percent, and others have made significant progress, according to a new report by UNAIDS. But efforts in some countries have stalled, it said.
Leader of the newly formed Renewables Club and rated as a world leader in the green energy race, South Africa has done little to secure this advantage with intellectual property rights of its own.
A Harvard University professor known for advancing global development issues hails the merits of agricultural innovation, including biotechnologies, as the unique solution to food security.
During a recent meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), a study on innovation in the informal economy was presented by the organisation's secretariat. The exercise was conducted in an effort to better understand how innovation occurs and how intellectual property is relevant in that context.
A recent report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the European Patent Office (EPO) looks at the role of the patent system in clean energy technology (CET) transfers in Africa. One of the highlights of the report is that less than 1 percent of identified CET-related patent applications have been filed in Africa, despite there being a high level of potential in renewable energy sources.
While diplomats are trying to find consensus on an international instrument to protect traditional knowledge at the World Intellectual Property Organization, some countries are establishing systems to protect their traditional knowledge domestically. South Africa will be launching on 24 May its National Recordal System to catalogue its indigenous knowledge.