Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Russia is negotiating for accession to the World Trade Organization at the same time it is talking with the United States bilaterally about exceeding the terms of the WTO agreement on intellectual property rights, and a senior Russian official said…
Roche, the Swiss-based company with rights to a medicine believed to be the most effective in the event of an avian influenza pandemic, has expressed openness to discussing arrangements with companies or governments to produce more of its flu treatment…
An ad hoc, high-level global business leaders’ group that was in Geneva last week to push World Trade Organization negotiators to move forward on free-trade talks highlighted the importance of intellectual property rights protection. But the group stopped short of…
A meeting on 16 September of the World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property rights saw little progress on the issue of a creating a register for geographical indications for wines and spirits, according to sources in Geneva. But…
Failure to get agreement on a proposal to harmonise national patent laws by World Intellectual Property Organisation members will not impact the functioning and credibility of the organisation, a top WIPO official said today. Failure to agree “is not necessarily…
Issues under negotiation at the World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property issues are somewhat stalled, despite – or because of – their ties to broader issues being negotiated at the WTO, sources in Geneva say. It remains to…
Brazil, a developing country leader on international intellectual property issues, has come under pressure at home and abroad over whether to lift domestic patents on foreign pharmaceuticals for AIDS to allow cheaper generic versions to be produced. This week, nearly…
Ten years after the signing of a multilateral agreement pitched as a vehicle to help developing countries defend against unilateral actions against them by larger countries, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) annual report on trading partners’ protection…
Ambassador Linnet Deily, the United States representative to the World Trade Organization, has informed staff that she will be leaving office on June 15, according to a US trade official. Deily, who said she will be returning to the United…
Governments negotiating to amend the World Trade Organisation intellectual property agreement to allow countries to export generic pharmaceuticals to other countries in need failed to reach agreement by a 31 March deadline, according to sources in Geneva. The deadline was…