Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen After Thailand issued a compulsory license for government production of an HIV/AIDS drug, the patent holder of the product, Merck Sharp & Dohme, has proposed reducing the price by almost two-thirds, local sources said. But…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Proposed changes to Kenya’s intellectual property rules, which could negatively impact the possibility to import cheaper medicines, were recently withdrawn at the last minute, according to local sources who did not rule out the proposal’s…
By Catherine Saez Although China is the biggest traditional knowledge holder in the world and has been patenting its traditional medicine knowledge since 1993, its existing patent regime does not appear to be able to protect traditional knowledge or its…
By William New Just in time for the New Year, the United States Congress has passed a bill that will continue to allow the production of knock-off champagnes from outside of France. The European Union is currently examining a bill…
By William New As the year end draws near, United States government officials are marking the ground for international intellectual property debates to come in 2007. On 13 December, Senator Patrick Leahy, incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee released…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The United States has busily negotiated bilateral free trade agreements with a variety of developing countries in recent years, and now appears to be using these to influence those countries’ positions in multilateral bodies such…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch An independent study of Britain’s intellectual property framework has found it essentially sound but in need of changes at the national and international levels. Many of its 54 recommendations appear uncontroversial, but several…
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch A series of five recent hearings in the Justice Committee of the German Parliament have revealed deep rifts over the second part of Germany’s copyright law reform. This so-called “second basket” deals with…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch LONDON – Increasing consumer demand for accessing online content anytime, anywhere is politicizing copyright, speakers said last week at the Digital Hollywood Europe conference here. Frustration over restrictive and incompatible digital rights management…
By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen While the music industry said it is a “big disappointment” that the United Kingdom will not extend copyright protection to sound recordings beyond its current 50 years as stated in a leaked section of a…