Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A handful of influential members of the United States Congress have sent a letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, urging the Obama administration not to support the re-election of World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry.
The White House recently announced the nomination of Pamela Hamamoto, a childhood friend and major fundraiser of President Obama's, to be the next ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, including agencies like the World Intellectual Property Organization, World Health Organization and International Telecommunication Union.
The Geneva-based Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) recently published a "guidance resource for the negotiation of fair research contracts in collaborative research partnerships." The guide includes several basic considerations on intellectual property rights for contract negotiators.
The United States State Department has made a one-time contribution of US$350,000 to the perennially cash-strapped Internet Governance Forum, a multi-stakeholder discussion forum established by the 2003-2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
United Nations independent experts on freedom of expression and on human rights and counter-terrorism today announced that they have requested information from the United Kingdom government on the recent detention of David Miranda, partner of the Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald at Heathrow Airport, London, and the reported destruction of computer hard drives by British officials at the Guardian newspaper.
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) has been the subject of various comments this week.
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) yesterday took action on reports pertaining to HIV/AIDS, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), and science and technology for development.
A new report from the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) proposes solutions to advancing the global debate on the protection of traditional knowledge shared among different indigenous communities.
Just as the world of international intellectual property law and policy is ever-changing, so are the faces within it. Below you will find an updated list of the latest people news and IP moves across international organisations, national and regional governments, nonprofit organisations, and the private sector, from the first half of this year.
The process for the 2014 election of the director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization is now available. And according to sources, the incumbent may have some competition for the post.
World Intellectual Property Organization members are nearing conclusion of negotiations for an international instrument or instruments on issues critical to indigenous peoples, such as protection of traditional indigenous knowledge, practices and genetic resources. But the WIPO membership as a whole has been miserly when it comes to funding indigenous peoples’ participation in the process, and now many are in danger of being left out of the process.
The contribution the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) can make to the formation of a post-2015 UN development agenda was at the centre of a thematic debate in Geneva last week. The agenda, to be developed by the General Assembly, is expected to include issues such as innovation, public health and the transfer of technology.