Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Health Organization global strategy on health and intellectual property includes powerful and potentially paradigm-shifting elements, but it also has notable shortcomings for human rights, says a new document prepared for the United Nations group responsible for the right to development.
Sidney Rosenzweig of the Progress & Freedom Foundation writes that some countries, such as China, want to take advantage of new environmental technologies without having to pay, and are advocating the use of compulsory licences to access them.
The genetic revolution has come to food, as debates over how to deal with future pressures of population and climate change look to agricultural technology in hope of answers. But questions still remain over who owns the technology, who will do the research, and what forms of - and even whether - biotechnology is appropriate to human needs and the needs of smallholding farmers.
Officials from two lawyerly United Nations agencies met recently to discuss their roles and build cooperation in intellectual property finance, especially in light of the global economic crisis.
The World Intellectual Property Organization is facing the possibility of negative income for the first time in its history, the United Nations agency’s director general said Monday. Director General Francis Gurry made the remarks during a press conference on its annual report on trademark filings at WIPO in 2008 that showed a new record high for trademark registrations but signs of a slowdown late in the year.
That there will be a future for the international Internet Governance Forum seems likely, though the form its future incarnation will take is not. Delegates to an open consultation on internet governance this week began to sort out some base modalities on how to evaluate the progress of the United Nations-led discussion venue, as a deadline approaches to decide whether and how the group will continue.
A small group of United States congressional staff and officials from the Obama administration working on intellectual property issues were in Geneva this week to discuss IP policy with representatives of intergovernmental organisations and industry, according to sources.
By Kaitlin Mara and William New Antony Taubman, acting director and head of the Global Intellectual Property Issues Division at the World Intellectual Property Organization, has been named to the top IP position at the World Trade Organization, the WTO…
By William New The World Intellectual Property Organization saw record patent filings again in 2008, but the rate of growth is slowing, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the WIPO secretariat is privately exploring with member governments ways…
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch and William New
Changes in several key international agencies and governments will bring a cadre of new faces to positions that address intellectual property policy, and some potential names for those spots have been circulating in recent weeks.
The naming of the new chief of the World Trade Organization IP Division is "imminent," according to sources close to the process. And as US President Barack Obama began his first weeks in office in late January, many IP-related positions also remain unfilled.