Original news and analysis on international IP policy
India has stirred some discussion with its recent proposal to create a new United Nations body for global internet-related policies. The proposal comes within the context of efforts by developed countries to build support for an open internet and by the UN to address gaps in global internet governance and increased unilateral moves to block content online.
World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan today made a strident pitch to WHO member governments to invest in the well-known United Nations agency, citing several unique and essential aspects of the organisation. The WHO Executive Board is meeting this week to address major reform of the WHO, in part due to a severe funding shortage but reaching into its place in the global public health spectrum.
Members of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today approved Palestine as a member state, a move expected to force the United States to choose between withdrawal from UN agencies including the World Intellectual Property Organization, or removing a national law preventing the US from funding and participating in any organization with Palestine as a member.
An unusual sight met passers-by at the World Intellectual Property Organization around lunchtime today. The street was crowded with several fire trucks and yellow security tape kept people away from the entrance to the main building. A number of WIPO staff were outside waiting to know if they could go back to their work stations after a fire started in the WIPO basement around 11:30, according to a security source. According to another source on the site, the fire was rapidly under control but smoke had spread and the electricity was down.
A patent for a conventionally bred form of the common household vegetable broccoli appears to be on its way to acceptance by the European Patent Office following a change to the patent by the company filing it, according to sources. The decision not to revoke the patent, which has been the subject of protests and now calls for action in national courts, could clear the way for hundreds of other vegetable patents to follow, a source said.
The Philippines Intellectual Property Office has issued a statement in response to criticism that an IP enforcement meeting it is hosting this week with numerous corporate representatives "does not favor big corporations."
Members of the Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) are preparing to vote to allow Palestine to become a member, according to sources. If this happens, it could create uncertainty about United States membership in UN agencies, including the World Intellectual Property Organization.
On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) is trying to dispel its image as a non-transparent organisation and is working on a new user-friendly website with public access to a number of formerly reserved documents. Meanwhile, for the first time farmers protested outside the UPOV building in Geneva, as they seek to preserve the ancient practice of saving seeds from their harvests to use the next year.
This week the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Union is often criticised by civil society as being opaque, but plant breeders seem reasonably content with the latest version of the convention. However, some breeders that do not rely on seeds to reproduce their plants are seeking a clarification in the convention to prevent illegal use of their protected varieties.
The third consultative forum of drug-purchasing mechanism UNITAID held in Geneva on 4-5 October resulted in a set of recommendations related to intellectual property rights and medicines access. The forum provided the opportunity for a wide array of global health actors, industry and country representatives to review the organisation’s progress in the last five years and to provide input on its future activities.
Despite international frameworks and mechanisms to protect food security as a human right, a number of violations are committed in total impunity, according to the third edition of the "Right to Food and Nutrition Watch" issued today, this year with a focus on accountability issues.
The UN agreement struck last year to bolster access and benefit-sharing related to biodiversity has been gaining signatures rapidly and may on its way to an early approval, according to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity secretariat. However, while countries are signing, not one has yet had a chance to ratify it.