UN-led Conference Grills Corporations On Support For Restrictive Internet Regimes 31/10/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New ATHENS – Participants in this week’s Internet Governance Forum here saw strong support for ensuring public access to knowledge as tough questions were put to technology corporations for their apparent support of restrictive government practices. But representatives of the corporations, including Cisco Systems, Google and Microsoft, held their own in the debate. […]
New Internet Governance Proposal Would Trim US Role, Boost Private Sector 31/10/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New ATHENS – As hundreds of Internet practitioners and visionaries gathered here for a forum on governance of the Internet, two long-time stakeholders have issued an updated proposal aimed at defusing the biggest policy tensions by moving governance to the private sector and increasing international involvement. The proposal comes from Becky Burr, a […]
Seminar: Smaller Drug Companies May Have Niche Role In Neglected Diseases 31/10/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen There may be a market advantage for small and medium-sized pharmaceutical enterprises (SMEs) in focusing on diseases prevalent in developing countries that are neglected by larger companies, according to a recent seminar. The seminar was held by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in cooperation with a United Kingdom-based free-market […]
Online Content Among Many Issues At Internet Governance Forum 31/10/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New ATHENS – The four-day Internet Governance Forum opened on 30 October by addressing many topics, among them the availability of content online. Content on the Internet will be addressed in a variety of ways this week, including ways to boost local content creation in developing countries, ways to protect intellectual property rights, […]
Un rapport incite les États-Unis à demander à l’OMS une révision de sa politique de publication 30/10/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Par Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen À Washington, un haut fonctionnaire américain de la santé publique invite instamment le président de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé à retirer une publication commanditée par l’OMS qui se montre critique envers la politique commerciale des États-Unis. Le haut fonctionnaire accuse l’Organisation d’une éventuelle incompétence organisationnelle et demande une révision […]
WHO Online Consultations On IP Working Group Begin Next Week 27/10/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment [Editor’s Note: This story was modified shortly after publication to reflect the WHO reply on meeting participation.] By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The World Health Organization (WHO) has set the dates for online consultations on the working group on public health, innovation and intellectual property from 1 to 15 November, it said today. “WHO encourages […]
WTO TRIPS Council Stumbles Over Inclusion Of Enforcement 27/10/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A meeting of the World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property rights this week erupted in disagreement over how to address enforcement of those rights in the committee. The debate in the 25-26 October meeting of the WTO Council for the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights […]
Way Sought To Boost Developing Country Production Of Essential Medicines 26/10/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Participants at a recent United Nations seminar on developing country production of essential medicines agreed that such a scenario should be possible but they disagreed on the means to get there. While there was disagreement about the practicalities of certain intellectual property-related regulations (such as when and who should use […]
Developed Countries Seek To Elevate Enforcement Measures In TRIPS Council 25/10/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The European Union has received support from Japan, Switzerland and the United States in its push to raise enforcement of intellectual property rights higher on the agenda of the World Trade Organization (WTO). On the first day of the 25-26 October meeting of the council for the WTO Agreement on […]
Global Pharmaceutical Industry Launches Ethics Code, Highlights Importance Of Patents 20/10/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen As part of its greater focus on accountability and transparency, the global pharmaceutical industry will launch a new code of marketing ethics next year, it announced at its recent biennial meeting in Geneva. Meanwhile, its stand in support of patents will remain unchanged, although its strategy was challenged at the […]