Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Por William New El más reciente comité de la Organización Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual (OMPI), cuyo impacto posiblemente sea el más alto y cuyo objetivo es garantizar que todas las actividades de la organización sean lo suficientemente favorables para…
By Kaitlin Mara Records of human history and creativity – glimpses into the past caught on papyrus or in carefully preserved books – might themselves become things of the past without better ways to create permanent record in an increasingly…
By Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch In a flurry of intellectual property-related activity, the European Commission this week ordered copyright collecting societies to loosen their stranglehold on cross-border music licensing, proposed extending the term of copyright protection to 95…
By Catherine Saez Standards and intellectual property rights appear to be worlds apart and to respond to opposite purposes, according to a recent panel of legal and policy experts. While standards are established to ensure compatibility in technology to the…
By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch CAIRO – African countries recently approved a plan to set up a parliamentary knowledge network to enhance legislative and institutional capacity for creating science and technology-based legislation including intellectual property rights. But the…
By Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch
When Biotechnology Industry Organization CEO Jim Greenwood meets with members of the United States Congress to talk to them about follow-on biologics, he brings a graphic model of an aspirin and a DVD showing the complex molecules of a biologic drug. He uses these visuals to help explain the differences between traditional chemical drugs and newer, cutting-edge biological ones being used in many breakthrough therapies for cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases.
The differences between traditional chemical drugs and biological ones is the crux of the debate going on in the United States as Congress and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) try to create a regulatory pathway that gives consumers greater access to cheaper, generic biological drugs, but still spurs innovation and protects innovator patent claims.
"When the legislation was introduced at the beginning of this Congress, most pundits expected that we'd oppose it," said Greenwood, a former House representative from Pennsylvania, told Intellectual Property Watch. "But that was a mistake the pharmaceutical industry made in the '80s - trying to resist the notion you could safely make generics …our view at BIO is that we need to follow the science, and science says you can make follow-on biologics that can be safe and can save the consumer money and therefore we support it."
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Despite earlier statements by European negotiators that the planned Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) would need time for fine-tuning, nations seem to accept a fast track movement now. ACTA has been mentioned as an…
By Kaitlin Mara A confidential draft text circulated recently among some World Trade Organization members reveals an attempt to consolidate separate proposals aimed at the protection of product names with location-related associations and characteristics (called geographical indications) and at the…
A confidential text, dated 30 June and available here, and circulated recently among some World Trade Organization members reveals an attempt to consolidate separate proposals on the protection of geographical indications, biodiversity and traditional knowledge.
By Wagdy Sawahel for Intellectual Property Watch Seventeen African ministers of arts and culture have officially launched the newly formed Southern and Eastern Africa Copyright Network (Seaconet) in a bid to strengthen regional collaboration and cooperation in the field of…