Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The recent Geneva Health Forum captured the fevered pitch in the larger ongoing conversation around innovative financing for research and development for public health. A new report on a voluntary pooled fund for neglected diseases was discussed at the forum.
This week a group of delegates at the UN World Health Organization is seeking to finalise agreement on a draft framework defining the organisation’s relationships with external actors, such as philanthropy, the private sector, academia, and civil society. Today, Norway put forward a potential compromise. Meanwhile, dozens of civil society organisations called on member states to stand up to pressure to compromise the intergovernmental body’s independence from private sector influence.
The Medicines Patent Pool announced today that its current licensing agreement with ViiV Healthcare for a new antiretroviral drug will be extended to all lower middle-income countries.
A potential treaty to facilitate international applications for industrial designs for creators is on the agenda of a meeting next week at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Also on the meeting agenda is the protection of country name registration and use as trademarks, and a proposed geographical indications filing system.
Last week’s World Intellectual Property Organization conference on the digital content business gathered speakers from different sectors of industry, from content producers to authors and performers. Rightsholders and others gave updates and tried to advance strategies for managing rights in a digital market.
“What we are going through is nothing short of a revolution,” announced a leading radio and television broadcast editor, speaking yesterday at a World Intellectual Property Organization event on digital content. But the revolution seems to be coming in “snack-sized” portions, said speakers.
The much-advertised World Intellectual Property Organization conference on the digital content market kicked off with a visionary speaker calling for the broadening of intellectual property rights income as a way forward for a sustainable economic ecosystem and reducing inequalities. The WIPO director general meanwhile said digital technology has brought new possibilities and reduced prices but also carries its load of regulatory challenges.
The United States government continues to ratchet up its rhetoric against state-sponsored “cyber” theft of intellectual property, but private firms largely report that they have to take matters into their own hands.
It’s easy to find valuable and useful patents, if you have small patent portfolios, but it can be a daunting task when portfolios contain hundreds or thousands of patents. Yet this task is critical for any business, and especially for technology companies that typically hold significant portfolios.
The alleged intellectual property chapter of a secretive regional trade agreement between an association of ten Asian countries plus six others was released yesterday by a civil society group, which says richer countries in the region are pushing for stringent IP rules.