Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Intense negotiations are going on this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization over an external review of how the World Intellectual Property Organization delivers technical assistance on intellectual property to developing and least-developed countries. At stake is how to implement some of the recommendations suggested in the four-year old report.
A recent workshop on patentability criteria illustrated how countries are using the policy space provided by international trade rules to calibrate their patent law. In particular, incremental innovation remains a trying issue for national legislators, speakers said.
DAKAR, Senegal -- The World Intellectual Property Organization 2015 African Ministerial Conference on Intellectual Property for Emerging Africa took place last week in Dakar, the Senegalese capital where around 50 ministers gathered as well as 200 participants. Among the many themes addressed, the conference called for better recognition of the rights of artists and creators. Musicians called for a strong musicians’ union to better defend their rights, advocating for a reform of African legislation on copyright. And Africa must boost its creativity and innovation to produce sports content by learning on what others are doing, panellists said.
The implementation of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization Development Agenda ranked high in the opening statements of developing country delegates attending this week’s Committee on Development and Intellectual Property. The participation of WIPO in the broader UN Sustainable Development Goals was also raised.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Libraries and archives are increasingly important in the digital era, but without better access to their vast reservoirs of data and materials for research and education, “we are going to lose out,” Anne Leer, World Intellectual Property Organization deputy director general, culture and creative industries sector, said at a conference hosted this week by the National Library of Sweden and Stockholm University. The 5-6 November event looked at whether cross-border copyright collective rights management might be an effective mechanism for accessing digital archives and libraries.
The World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) meets this week with a full agenda, including guides on trademark licensing, open innovation networks, and IP commercialisation. Delegates are expected to approve new development project proposals and progress reports on existing projects. Also on the agenda is the spicy issue of coordination of the WIPO Development Agenda.
October saw a flurry of changes in law offices in the United States. In Geneva, the coordination for Group B developed countries at the World Intellectual Property Organization changed hands, and the Medicines Patent Pool added four members to its Governance Board.
DAKAR, Senegal -- As Africa is emerging to become a centre of economic growth, strong and well-developed national intellectual property systems can help the continent unlock its citizens’ creativity and innovation and further boost economic growth, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry said today in Dakar, the Senegalese capital where the African Ministerial Conference kicked off. Gurry was joined by top officials from a number of African nations.
According to a prominent researcher in the field of neglected tropical diseases, the World Intellectual Property Organization has a prominent role to play in addressing the lack of research and development for neglected diseases.
A joint symposium of the World Health Organization, World Trade Organization and World Intellectual Property Organization this week included several panels on how trade, public health and intellectual property could positively interact to increase access to medicines.
The president of the World Intellectual Property Organization staff association earlier this month raised profound concerns about ongoing practices involving staff at the UN institution. The WIPO director general then took the floor to address many of the concerns, offering explanations on various points, according to participants. In the end, both sides may be looking for an improvement this year.
The latest instalment of the World Intellectual Property Organization seminar series, “The Economics of Intellectual Property,” set out to answer the question of whether the process of digitisation has affected the supply of new creative works.