Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A seminar on the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications was held at the United Nations last week with panellists exploring the intersection between intellectual property and human rights in the context of public health, agriculture, and the role of flexibilities to achieve balance between private and public interests.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) last week held a mandated seminar on the right of everyone to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications. In some cases, intellectual property rights may not be helping, according to speakers.
According to the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, five new ratifications have brought the 2010 treaty on the protection of genetic resources closer to ratification.
The inner workings of United Nations agencies can be very complicated, with clashes of cultures and management styles and any number of pressures. The case of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization appears to be a particular example in this respect.
The United States Congress' failure to pass a budget for the government by the end of the fiscal year on 30 September, which led to today's shutdown, will have a variety of effects on the patent process, according to a new article.
Former US National Security Agency and British MI5 employees urged the European Parliament yesterday to push for better better democratic oversight over secret services and better protection of whistleblowers. Nothing less than the sovereignty of states and of citizens are at stake, warned former NSA official Thomas Drake.
As many as 300 members of the staff of the World Intellectual Property Organization have supported a petition urging the WIPO director general to withdraw a proposed amendment to the internal justice system at the UN agency, according to informed sources. The petition calls on WIPO member states to reject the proposed changes.
NEW YORK – The vast collaboration between the pharmaceutical industry, government and civil society is perhaps “one of the best-kept secrets of our industry,” the head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) said this week, stressing the need for even more cooperating heading into the post-2015 development agenda at the United Nations.
A recent report by a United Nations agency calls for an urgent shift of paradigm in agricultural development.
Brazilian President Dilma Roussef yesterday sent a stern warning to the United States over ongoing revelations of state espionage during the opening of the 68th United Nations General Assembly in New York and at the same time called for a multilateral framework for internet governance.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will hold a seminar on the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications in Geneva next week.
A coalition of civil society organisations yesterday officially launched a set of 13 principles on the application of human rights to communication surveillance during a side event at the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.