Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A panel addressing negotiators this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization asserted the property rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities over traditional knowledge and genetic resources and called on delegates to draft an international instrument compliant with their internationally recognised rights.
World Intellectual Property Organization member countries are working to get past their differences this week toward agreement on a way to protect genetic resources from biopiracy. A new document shows focus on misappropriation as a policy objective, and that a bridge still needs to be found on the issue of mandatory disclosure of origin in patent applications.
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee working on ways to protect genetic resources and traditional knowledge opened a weeklong meeting yesterday by gathering country ambassadors to try to inject momentum into discussions. But after the session, it appeared that many delegations had restated known positions. Everybody seemed to agree on broad goals, but not on the way to reach them.
On 6 March, the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization will hold its once-every-six-year election for a director general, a prized post in the multilateral system. Tomorrow (4 February), the candidates will face member states and take questions. Intellectual Property Watch explains the process.
The 54-member African Union last week declared its support for Geoffrey Onyeama as a candidate for director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has posted a tribute to legendary American folk singer, songwriter and activist Pete Seeger, who died on 27 January at the age of 94.
Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization patent law committee this week bridged significant differences and agreed on a range of activities for future work, each with their own goals for the international patent system in mind.
A new pharmaceutical industry-backed study draws attention to the value of innovative medicines in reducing healthcare costs and to the wider society that goes beyond clinical and personal values. However, in middle income countries, national prioritisation and improvements in healthcare infrastructure are needed to maximise the value of medicinal innovation, the study found.
The recent World Intellectual Property Organization Conference on Open Innovation: Collaborative Projects and the Future of Knowledge showed the potential of open collaborative innovation in confronting some of today’s greatest challenges. This model of innovation is used in industries ranging from health research and solutions to climate change to film production and museum design.
An important international platform that has seen stark differences in the past, the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) began a weeklong meeting today on improving the patent system with parties promoting their own interests and asking straightforward questions of others.
Participants at a recent conference in South Africa offered insights and some optimism about prospects for local communities to exploit their traditional knowledge to help their economies while at the same time protecting that knowledge.
Looking back on 2013, the list of the most-viewed stories on the Intellectual Property Watch website shows that reporting on activities in India, especially related to patents and public health, continued to draw the most attention. Other top stories were the Marrakesh Treaty on copyright exceptions for blind readers, legal cases involving patents on seeds and on plant and human genes, the election for World Intellectual Property Organization director general, free-trade agreements (including the Wikileaks leak of the IP chapter of the Trans-Atlantic Partnership agreement), Russian copyrights, and 3D printing.