Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The arrest of the president of Google's operations in Brazil is the latest in a string of court decisions to test the neutrality stance of the search giant. Since its beginnings, Google has seen itself as an internet middleman, insisting that it should not be held legally liable for any defamatory or infringing content posted by its users.
The Argentine Intellectual Property Act No. 11.723, which dates back to 1933, contains only one exception to copyright holders’ absolute power: the “droit de citation”, with an absolute maximum length of 1000 words or 8 bars for musical compositions, it must take into account the extension of the original work and is limited to certain non-profit uses only (education, research and the like).
The Mexican Intellectual Property Office (IMPI) last week announced that the Mexican Ambassador in Japan had signed the much debated Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. Now it thinks it can persuade the country's new Senate to pass it.
Compulsory licences can provide an efficient way to decrease prices of drugs in developing countries but the conditions of issuance of a licence influence the benefits countries can derive from them, particularly if the countries have a technology gap, according to an economic model presented this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
A recent book comes in time for the international policy debates coming to a head over access to medicines, intellectual property rights and public health in developing countries.
The quadrennial conference of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) sets the course of the UN body work for the next four years. The mandate of the conference has evolved since its creation to become mainly a provider of research, policy analysis and technical assistance to developing countries. This time around, the conference will serve as a wide-ranging forum for trade and development issues, and intellectual property issues will haunt discussions in several areas.
Word is spreading of a recent decision by a Brazilian judge to annul a patent on a key AIDS drug, effectively allowing less expensive generic versions into the country, and calling into question other such patents.
Bien que Gilead ait apporté des améliorations considérables à ses précédentes licences volontaires portant sur des médicaments antirétroviraux essentiels, les licences que l’entreprise a concédées au Medicines Patent Pool, fondation créée par UNITAID, comportent des restrictions regrettables qui fragilisent leur impact sur l’accès à des antirétroviraux génériques de qualité garantie plus abordables dans les pays en développement.
Another chapter of the Brazilian copyright reform is out. The third version of the draft bill leaked a few days ago to a major newspaper in the country, and a handful of academics had access to it, writes Pedro Paranaguá.
Public health advocates in a dozen countries worldwide have launched a coordinated campaign to bring about generic competition on a key medicine for HIV/AIDS, currently under patent by a pharmaceutical producer.
The role of online intermediaries in copyright enforcement is on the international negotiating table in recent plurilateral trade agreements. Those negotiating with the US would be advised to examine carefully what is being offered, writes Margot Kaminski.
Luis Carlos Wanderley Lima, funcionário sênior responsável pela política brasileira que expressa a opinião do Ministério da Saúde no referente à análise de pedidos de patente que possam ocasionar um impacto na saúde pública, renunciou recentemente em protesto contra as modificações na mencionada política. Em uma sessão de perguntas e respostas com a Intellectual Property Watch, ele conversou com relação a sua decisão.