Category WTO/TRIPS

E-Commerce Regulation Needs Harmonisation, Labour Rules Should Be Part Of Trade Laws, Panellists Say

As electronic commerce is on the rise, attempts to regulate it are fragmented and in need of harmonisation, according to a panel at the recent World Trade Organization Public Forum. Intellectual property could be a harmonisation tool and is a market maker, one of the panellists said. Separately, a session looked at the relationship that they said should exist between trade and labour rights, and said the way goods are produced should be taken into account in WTO rules.

Human Rights Go Hand In Hand With IP In Making Health Systems Work, UN Forum Hears

Innovation is vital for the development of medicines, but innovation without proper access to them is pointless, Roberto Azevêdo, Director-General of World Trade Organization has said. Several other agency heads spoke at the same event, where World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed the importance of universal health coverage.

US Misrepresentations Called Out By Antigua In Online Gambling Case At WTO

The tiny Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda today at the World Trade Organization gave an account of misrepresentations by the United States in its failure to fulfil a WTO dispute settlement panel's finding that the US owes Antigua for US measures against online gambling that harmed the island's economy. The United States now owes Antigua some $200 million in damages, and has offered only about $2 million. Now Antigua will formally request negotiations with the US trade office. At stake is Antigua's authorisation by the WTO panel to recover its damages by failing to protect US intellectual property rights there, which it again reluctantly threatened to do if there is no resolution.

E-Commerce: Some Developing Countries Push Back On Idea Of New WTO Rules

While the profile of electronic commerce is rising in diverse international fora, some developing countries are saying they do not want to discuss a new negotiating mandate for e-commerce rules at the World Trade Organization. The current work programme on e-commerce is still adequate, they find, and the WTO Ministerial Conference in December should address more pressing issues, such as agriculture, or completing the Doha Development Round negotiations.

Use Competition Law For Wider Access To Cheap Medicines?

The topic of access to medicines has gained momentum in recent years as high prices of new medicines affect developing countries and developed countries. The role of competition legislation in preventing market abuses and monopoly situations has been pointed to as a possible lever to facilitate access to generic medicines and balance the potential negative effects of intellectual property protection.

Initiative Aims At Using New Technologies To Reinvigorate International Trade

As protectionism tempts some, the International Chamber of Commerce Brazil is launching an initiative to bring new technologies to the rescue of international trade. The new digital age holds promise and is inevitable, but requires solid policymaking and improvement in such areas as education and broadband coverage to deliver on its possibilities, panellists at the World Trade Organization Public Forum said today.

Key IP Delegates In Geneva – Fully Updated!

Geneva, Switzerland is the gathering point for the world's governments to set international policy and practices relating to intellectual property rights, as they cut across many of the public policy issues of the day (eg innovation, trade, internet, health, food), including at the World Intellectual Property Organization, World Trade Organization and World Health Organization. Everyone has a stake in what governments and their stakeholders do in these venues. But who do you talk to in order to get your message through? Now Intellectual Property Watch has fully updated its unique list of the diplomats representing many of the key nations in those institutions in Geneva. Available here for subscribers only!

Fifa Rahman

Malaysia Inclusion In Gilead Voluntary Licence – A Product Of Compulsory Licence Pressure

Gilead’s announcement today that they would include four middle-income countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Belarus, Ukraine) in their sofosbuvir voluntary licence was a welcome surprise, and will enable millions access to their highly effective, but exorbitantly priced, drug. The decision to include these countries, however, no doubt is a response to increasing pressure from within these countries to either issue a compulsory licence (CL) or a government use licence (GUL), invalidate the sofosbuvir patents, or block data exclusivity for the drug.