Original news and analysis on international IP policy
"Tobacco-related illness is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced," according to the World Health Organization, and plain packaging of tobacco products can save lives, it said. The theme of this year's no-tobacco day, today, is: Get ready for plain packaging, as the WHO is calling for countries to introduce plain packaging in their territories.
The establishment of the WTO Agreement on TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and the proliferation of plurilateral, bilateral and regional agreements have significantly contributed to the increasing complexities of the intellectual property system. The emergence of new actors, reflecting conflicting expectations and the adoption of new trade agreements that often exceed the standards set by the TRIPS agreement, have resulted in a new density of rules that have further fragmented the international system. These developments have unavoidably called for further analysis by academics and stakeholders.
Chidi Oguamanam writes: The global South is full of significant, diverse biological and genetic resources. It’s also home to most of the world’s indigenous communities. This is why developing countries are sensitive about protecting their genetic resources and traditional knowledge.
Indigenous communities enjoy a close relationship with nature. Genetic resources are central to producing their traditional knowledge. This drives innovations in agriculture, medicines and conservation. But global intellectual property frameworks – the legal mechanisms for securing knowledge ownership – still haven’t taken this reality into account.
After waiting for over a decade, the World Trade Organization is finally close to achieving the first ever amendment to its rule-book, with only a handful of members still needing to formally accept new intellectual property provisions dealing with one aspect of access to medicines.
Two thirds of the membership (108 of the WTO’s present 162 members) have to ratify or “accept” the amendment (on exporting medicines made under compulsory licence) before it can take effect. The number of accepting members is finally approaching 108. This has exposed a discrepancy in the way the European Union’s membership is counted. And that in turn raises questions over when the 108 is actually reached.
Worse, the counting method the EU uses could even prevent some amendments ever taking effect.
Genius, brilliant, generous, wholehearted, warm, kind, funny, original, musician, art lover, brave, restless, these are few of the most suitable and recurrent attributes of Denis Borges Barbosa, who passed away on Saturday, April 2nd. Leading IP professor, researcher and attorney in Brazil, he was also the key international face of Brazilian IP, write Allan Rocha de Souza and Cláudia Chamas.
That the Indian government has been under pressure from the United States to change its patent regime is no secret among those who follow the public discourse on intellectual property rights. Now, a new controversy about India’s alleged private assurance to the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and other lobby groups that it would not invoke compulsory licensing for commercial purposes seeks to add fuel to fiery speculation about a shift in India’s policy on IPR.
Public health advocates, academics, patients, governments and others this week presented further ideas to the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines on ways to break the longstanding pattern of expensive medical products around the world as a way to pay for research and development.
The World Trade Organization said today that momentum continues to build among member states to accept a public health amendment to the WTO intellectual property rights agreement, as three more countries adopted it in the past week.
The Ukrainian Parliament is currently drafting an amended Customs Code to introduce a number of changes to the country’s intellectual property legislation. Moreover, in mid-March, local lawmakers authorised Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko to ratify the protocol amending the TRIPS agreement which enables increased exports of pharmaceuticals produced under compulsory licences to countries which are not capable of manufacturing them locally.
Discussions on the worth of intellectual property for innovation and development have been a recurring agenda item during recent meetings of the World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property. This week, education and how it can raise awareness of IP was discussed with WTO members presenting their national experiences, and some developing countries warning against colluding IP and innovation.