Anti-Microbial Resistance, Budget, Reform Raise Debate At WHO Executive Board30/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentThe World Health Organization Executive Board this week has addressed the relationship between the UN agency and its funders and lobbyists, examined the budget for the next biennium, and looked at the issue of the growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. Image Credits: Flickr – NIAID
Ebola, Reform High On WHO Executive Board Agenda This Week26/01/2015 by Catherine Saez and William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentThe World Health Organization Executive Board yesterday adopted a resolution on Ebola, on the eve of today’s opening of its 10-day meeting addressing a broad range of health issues, including several of relevance to the intellectual property and innovation community. Today, Italy requested that member states be involved in the setting of WHO guidelines, raising governance issues, while WHO Director General Margaret Chan called for strong health systems and reform to the WHO structure, and asked for room to move on WHO relations with industry.
The Latest News In Intellectual Property From ANEPI Ecuador24/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentWelcome to (ANEPI), the first Intellectual Property News Agency of Ecuador. The Agencia de Noticias Especializada en Propiedad Intelectual (ANEPI) publishes news, analysis, interviews, feature articles, a weekly update and more on Ecuador and the region, at http://www.anepi.ec. Articles are primarily in Spanish with some translation. Below is the list of the week’s stories on […]
WIPO Re:Search Celebrates 3 Years, Looks To The Future20/01/2015 by William New and Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentSeveral years ago, the World Intellectual Property Organization set up a project aimed at helping bring together those with intellectual property rights and those with ideas for research to develop medical products for people in need. The project, WIPO Re:Search, has gathered numerous partners and is beginning to look ahead to its next phases, including the possible eventuality of drug development, according to the WIPO secretariat.
Gilead To Appeal India Patent Rejection, Hails Regulatory Approval16/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentPharmaceutical manufacturer Gilead has given its side to this week’s story of the rejection of its patent on a hepatitis C treatment in India, and it insists it will prevail in making its medicines available in India on its terms.
Report Looks At Open Access From Perspective Of Authors, Institutions, Publishers15/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentA new industry report explores ways authors, research institutions and publishers are grappling with the increasing move toward open access mandates by governments.
Key Hepatitis C Patent Rejected In India14/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 4 CommentsToday’s rejection by the Patent Office Controller of India of a patent application by Gilead company for a key drug against hepatitis C is being hailed by advocates as a path to dramatically lower costs of treatment for the disease. Hepatitis C has been noteworthy for exorbitantly priced medicines over the past year. A look at the decision shows that a provision in India’s law continues to stop patent applications if they fail to show sufficient novelty and inventive step – and are subject to opposition.
India’s Draft IP Policy Shows Major Changes Coming, While Fitting IP System To Local Needs08/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentThe first draft of a national intellectual property rights policy being developed by a “think tank” of Indian IP experts shows adherence to the country’s principles of bending the IP system to its local needs. But it also shows signs of major change toward more international goals of enforcement and promotion of strong IP rights.
Most-Read IP-Watch Stories In 2014: A Tale Of Staff Issues, India, Hot-Button Topics07/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentAll year long, Intellectual Property Watch expends great energy and resources to bring hundreds of carefully written, detailed stories on policymaking – technical committee meetings, legislation, negotiations, legal cases, and latest reports and papers. But in what is perhaps typical of readers everywhere, many of the best-read IP-Watch stories of 2014 were those few that involved elections and personnel issues and India, followed by a range of hot button issues such as high-priced medicines, copyright and knowledge access, patent valuation, or internet surveillance.
Top European Copyright Experts Urge Reform, Unification Of Copyright05/01/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentThe European Copyright Society, an august group of copyright experts from across Europe, has issued a letter to new European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger supporting his mandate to pursue copyright reform and calling for a unification of European copyright laws.