Original news and analysis on international IP policy
A newly published study from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) outlines significant problems in accessing medicines in South Africa – which is said to have the highest number of people living with HIV in the world – and urges its government to use available tools under international trade law such as exceptions to patents on needed medicines.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued its draft strategic plan for 2014-2018 and is asking for comments.
A recent European Union regulation on customs enforcement of intellectual property rights has raised concerns among civil society actors who find that the regulation might not be an improvement over its previous version under which seizure of legal generic medicines in transit occurred a few years ago, leading to a World Trade Organization dispute.
Alongside last week’s meeting of the World Trade Organization intellectual property committee, the United States, European Union and Jamaica organised an event on the relevance of intellectual property in sports. Speakers from professional organisations such as the International Olympic Committee, the Association of European Professional Football Leagues, and the Nike company were invited to share their experience in the matter.
Innovation experts participating in a two-day seminar at the United Nations in Geneva last week highlighted the complexities as well as the potential benefits linked to the promotion of innovative practices in public administrations at the national, regional and local levels.
A new study of 12 leading international standard-setting organisations (SSOs) found a high degree of inconsistency and lack of clarity when it comes to intellectual property rights and licensing. The study also includes analyses on how standards policies are evolving in Brazil, China and India.
The GAVI Alliance launched a mid-term report this week showing that the public-private partnership is on track to immunise more than 250 million children by 2015 and prevent some four million deaths. GAVI’s CEO said it uses multiple tools to help reduce prices of vaccine and that intellectual property rights do not pose a serious threat to its success.
Infojustice.org reports: Last week, the report Brazilian Patent Reform: Innovation Towards Competitiveness was launched at an event at the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies.
The World Trade Organization intellectual property committee last week agreed on a draft decision on disputes that are not in direct violation of WTO IP rules but where one country’s measures negatively affect another country’s expected benefits. Plain packaging for tobacco products was also discussed as Ireland is preparing to introduce such a measure meant to discourage tobacco use, and some countries presented their views on the importance of IP rights in sports.
Climate change calls for new technologies to face its consequences, governments agree. But research and development efforts are mainly conducted by the private sector in developed countries and are patent-protected, which is doing little to diffuse the technologies in developing countries, said a lecturer in Geneva this week.