Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) this week blocked the first request by Qatar for a World Trade Organization dispute settlement panel to rule on measures by UAE that Qatar alleges interfere with trade in goods and services and with protection of Qatar's intellectual property rights. Neighbouring countries say they have taken actions out of concern that Qatar is providing financial support for terrorist groups.
The escalating prices of medicines has become a growing global concern. Among many issues, intellectual property has been pointed to as providing monopolies that allow for unaffordable prices, in particular in developing countries. Though there is consensus among countries that IP is but one of the issues, the extent of the IP influence is not agreed. The use of compulsory licences as a way for developing countries to grant access to medicines to their populations was discussed during the World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property last week, with divergent opinions.
World Trade Organization committee members this week were asked to recommend to the upcoming ministerial conference whether to lift or indefinitely prolong a moratorium shielding intellectual property from complaints between members not involving a breach of a WTO agreement. Short of a consensus, the intellectual property committee will have to reconvene next month to try to find agreement. Separately, a two-year extension was granted to countries not yet having ratified the public health amendment to WTO IP rules.
The importance of intellectual property protection for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and the challenges they might encounter to ensure that protection was the focus of an event organised this week by a group of developed and middle-income countries at the World Trade Organization. According to the group, the event aimed at drawing connections between IP policies that are under discussion in the WTO IP committee.
Members of a 2008 World Trade Organization coalition are trying to rekindle a negotiation to provide the same level of protection granted to wines and spirits to other geographical indications, and to grant intellectual property protection to genetic resources and traditional knowledge. The discussion might not make it to the December WTO ministerial, but the group hopes to open a “fresh window” for discussion.
The intellectual property committee of the World Trade Organization is meeting next week with several notable items on the agenda, including some reviving earlier negotiations. Among topics for discussion on intellectual property and innovation is a focus on inclusive innovation and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. Also, India also submitted a series of questions for the European Union about goods in transit, echoing an earlier WTO dispute. And separately, some countries are holding a workshop on geographical indications and traditional knowledge.
Some 300 global nongovernmental organisations have signed a letter voicing concerns about the agenda of the upcoming World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in December. In particular, they target the alleged push by some countries for a new agenda on digital trade, which they describe as “wrong.”
On 18 August 2017, the Trump administration invoked Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to launch an investigation into alleged Chinese violations of intellectual property rights (IPR). In response, China stated that the United States ‘disregards the rules of the WTO’ and that it will ‘take all proper measures to safeguard its legitimate rights’. Alongside investigations into steel and aluminium imports, the new Section 301 case holds the potential to escalate US–China trade tensions, write Zhiyao (Lucy) Lu and Gary Clyde Hufbauer.
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.
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.