Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Several major generic-medicine producing nations last week held a discussion on the dangers of compromised medical products and joined together to urge new steps such as defining terms, focussing on public health and strengthening national regulatory capabilities beyond strictly enforcement actions that they say have been manipulated and at times counterproductive.
Europe has promised at the "highest levels" to fix laws that caused generic medicine seizures in the Netherlands, the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry said today. The minister is in Geneva for meetings on the ongoing Doha Round trade liberalisation talks at the World Trade Organization.
United States Attorney General Eric Holder today called on other governments to join in intensifying the fight against intellectual property infringement, on the theme that, “intellectual property crimes are not victimless.” But his law enforcement argument may need finessing to reach all stakeholders.
Entrepreneurial law firms in the United States and United Kingdom are targeting suspected internet infringers through mass letter-writing and lawsuit campaigns. Are “copyright trolls” the way of the future for protecting digital content?
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The United States’ search for ways to spark its job growth has led to a focus on intellectual property rights, and this week several significant developments boiled over.
India’s laws on traditional knowledge are yielding interesting positive and negative results, writes Mohan Dewan.
Patent offices around the world must work together to combat the inefficiencies in patent processing that threaten to stifle innovation and as a result slow needed growth of the global economy, David Kappos, director of the US Patent and Trademark Office said today.
A frontline debate among many industry intellectual property lawyers in the United States is how to handle the explosion in use of online social networking media tools like Facebook, Twitter or FourSquare.
Private-sector experts and key government officials in the United States came together this week to discuss strategies for improving rules and procedures on intellectual property, and look for ways to maximise the value of company IP assets while cutting costs.
Some African nations signed a protocol on the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore at the beginning of August gaining the praise of the World Intellectual Property Organization. However, a United Nations report launched in January warned against the application of western legal and economic principles to collectively owned knowledge in traditional communities.
Everyone you ask this week about the Anti-Counterfeiting Agreement (ACTA) tells you that they’re just about to work their way through the new draft version to understand the implications of changes made during the recent negotiation round in Washington, DC. Massive changes to the text have been revealed by yet another leak of the draft treaty text being negotiated by 10 countries and the EU 27 member states.