India’s IP Policy On Stage As Modi Heads To US

Will India’s new government bring in radical changes in the country’s intellectual property rights regime? That question has generated enormous buzz but no definitive answer ever since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power with a decisive mandate in May this year.

[Update: the Indian government has announced that it has begun a process for a comprehensive IPR policy over the next six months, including a government think tank. See report here. The government website is here.]

Review Of WIPO Programmes, Staff: Lisbon Agreement, Global Challenges, Geographic Diversity

The World Intellectual Property Organization Program and Budget Committee is meeting this week to scrutinise the UN agency’s inner workings. At the meeting, the director general’s report on programme performance gave member countries the occasion to comment on WIPO’s various…

IP-Watch Celebrates 10 Years With An Update!

At Intellectual Property Watch, www.ip-watch.org, we're celebrating our 10th anniversary by innovating to bring you the best independent coverage of international intellectual property policy possible. We are excited to announce our new website design, aimed at making our content easier to read, navigate and organize, with a simpler layout, clear text, more images, and new features like the From the Regions section.

WIPO Members Work To Strengthen Oversight Of UN Agency

World Intellectual Property Organization member governments are hard at work this week trying to improve auditing and oversight of the UN agency, coming after a successful year financially but a year of questions about governance and transparency. Proposed changes include a number of measures on conflicts of interest and investigations even at the highest levels of the organization.

WTO: Antigua Has New Idea For Gambling Case; Cuba Rails Against US Trademark

In a longstanding World Trade Organization dispute about measures affecting the cross-border supply of gambling and betting services, Antigua and Barbuda has made a new proposal to the United States on a way to solve the issue of the US not complying with a WTO ruling it lost. And in a separate matter at the same WTO meeting last week, Cuba referred to the US failure to change a law barring a rum trademark in the context of railing against US policy of "economic suffocation" of the island nation.

Group Calls For ITU Constitution Amendment To Protect Right To Privacy

A report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the right to privacy in the digital age has been lauded by a group of civil society organisations who also called states to curtail mass surveillance and for the ITU constitution to be amended.

Biosimilar Medicines Need Strong Regulation, IP Crucial For Innovation, Pharma Says

Biosimilar medicines might prove to be a new reservoir for innovation for the pharmaceutical industry. However, the complexity of their manufacture needs a stringent regulatory framework, according to the industry.

UN Inspectors Find Need For Transparency, Changes In Governance At WIPO

The United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) has issued a substantive analysis of management and administration in the UN World Intellectual Property Organization. And while the report highlights significant progress in a number of areas, it offers a list of ways WIPO can do better – including on transparency and sorting out staff concerns and strengthening member state oversight.