Original news and analysis on international IP policy
The World Intellectual Property Organization this week may have witnessed the beginnings of a resumption of high-level negotiations on an international treaty on the protection of audiovisual performances.
Structural reforms within the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that altered the representation of non-commercial interests of internet users in ICANN policy development are “seriously flawed,” according to the body’s non-commercial users’ group. ICANN is the non-profit…
The third amendment of China's patent law will enter into force from 1 October, 2009. In this article, Wenting Cheng explores the major changes in substantive requirements for patent grant, post grant enforcement and adaptation of Chinese patent law to international norms on the protection of intellectual property.
The World Trade Organization has issued an arbitration report in a dispute between the United States and Brazil over US cotton subsidies, giving Brazil the right to use trade countermeasures against the US, and in certain circumstances to suspend intellectual property obligations.
Senior officials from well over 100 nations at a five-day United Nations conference on Thursday issued a succinct declaration committing them to establish a global framework on the delivery of products and services related to climate change. But earlier negotiating versions of the declaration from the week obtained by Intellectual Property Watch show substantive disagreement and the removal of pages of draft text.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is teaming up with US pharmaceutical company Pfizer to hold a workshop in Mumbai, India on 9 September on “intellectual property and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry.” Presentations at the non-governmental session will…
The Obama administration on Thursday announced several key changes related to intellectual property rights and trade.
A website providing unlimited music and movies for a token price is seeking to take advantage of a 2007 World Trade Organisation ruling between the Caribbean nations of Antigua and Barbuda and the United States, which granted Antigua the right to suspend some US intellectual property rights obligations. The action raises questions about implementation of cross-retaliation rulings, in which the complaining country can seek damages in a different sector than that in which the harm was incurred.
A recent lawsuit involving patents on human genes related to cancer brought against the United States patent office, a biotechnology company and a foundation has attracted international attention to the issue of gene patenting, and on 27 August a group of influential associations voiced their opposition to such patents.
Undeterred by two previous decisions by Indian authorities holding that under Indian Patent Law, its leukaemia drug - Gleevec is not patentable, Novartis now wants to take the fight to the Indian Supreme Court. Meanwhile, also this week, sources say Indian authorities rejected applications for patents on two HIV/AIDS drugs, opening the way for cheaper generic versions to be developed and marketed.