WHO Members Reach Preliminary Agreement On TRIPS And Malaria 21/05/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A preliminary agreement has been reached at the World Health Assembly on a draft proposal on malaria and the use of flexibilities in trade law to promote access to preventive technologies, sources said. After being discussed at the World Health Organization Executive Board meeting in January (IPW, Public Health, 6 […]
WHO Head Expresses Commitment To Strengthen IP Working Group 20/05/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan this week made a firm commitment to strengthen an intergovernmental working group on innovation and access to treatments that for the past year has struggled to find its focus, sources said. With a new proposal from Brazil focusing on what WHO can do […]
US To Loosen Drug Patent Provisions In Some Trade Deals 17/05/2007 by Martin Vaughan for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Martin Vaughan for Intellectual Property Watch WASHINGTON – The White House has agreed to loosen restrictions on clinical test data and patent safeguards for pharmaceuticals in bilateral trade agreements between the United States and Peru, Panama, and Colombia as part of a broader agreement with congressional Democrats to spur progress on the Bush administration […]
IP Rises At Assembly As Brazil Proposes Greater WHO Role In Trade 17/05/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Intellectual property has become a major issue at this year’s World Health Assembly, with Brazil introducing a new draft resolution on public health, innovation and intellectual property, adding to various draft resolutions involving IP already under discussion. Meanwhile, a question was raised this week about WHO leadership on these issues. […]
Health Assembly Tackles Proposals On Avian Flu Virus Sharing 16/05/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Early in the 2007 World Health Assembly, the focus has moved to avian flu virus sample sharing for the development of treatments and access by both developed and developing countries. A drafting group started work on combining various proposals, including new drafts from the United States and an Indonesia-led group […]
Developed Countries Seek Clarification Of Idris’ Alleged Age Discrepancy 15/05/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By William New Citing concerns over accountability and leadership at the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Switzerland are pushing for answers to allegations that WIPO Director General Kamil Idris purposely misrepresented his age on official documents for years. “We are by no means losing interest in this issue,” a […]
US Supreme Court Reins In Reach Of US Patents 15/05/2007 by Sarah Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Sarah Lai Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch The United States Supreme Court in late April reined in another patent appeals court ruling it deemed overly-expansive. The high court ruled that software companies liable for infringing a patent in the United States cannot at the same time be held liable by American courts for the same activities outside of US borders. “Foreign law alone, not United States law, currently governs the manufacture and sale of components of patented inventions in foreign countries,” wrote Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on behalf of three of her colleagues, Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and David Souter.
The WIPO View On Enforcement, Idris And Development Agenda 14/05/2007 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Wolfgang Starein is the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) official with primary responsibility for enforcement of intellectual property rights. In a series of recent interviews with Intellectual Property Watch, Starein talked about WIPO’s enforcement agenda for the coming year, a January 2007 enforcement conference, access to knowledge, WIPO’s relationship to the World Trade Organization (WTO) […]
IP Issues May Spark Debate At World Health Assembly 10/05/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Intellectual property rights issues could play a significant role in the annual World Health Assembly which begins next week. While not the most prominent topic for the assembly, IP is expected to arise in discussions on malaria, avian influenza and in the “mid-term” progress report of a contested working group […]
USPTO Cautious In Interpretation Of Supreme Court Ruling On Patents 09/05/2007 by Sarah Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Sarah Lai Stirland for Intellectual Property Watch The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a preliminary memorandum that instructed its examiners to interpret a landmark Supreme Court ruling conservatively – even as the wider community in the field of US patent law expect the opinion to shake up longstanding rules that determine when an idea is too obvious to be granted a patent. The office also formed an experts’ group on the issue.