Desafíos en las conversaciones de la ONU sobre acceso e innovación en salud pública 18/10/2007 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Por Paul Garwood A la ronda de negociaciones que tendrá lugar el próximo mes sobre un plan de las Naciones Unidas para impulsar el acceso a los medicamentos para los pobres del mundo le espera un camino difícil, en el que países y regiones se encuentran divididos respecto a cuestiones contenciosas como los derechos de […]
Battle Rages Over WIPO DG As Staff Dissents, Africa Cries Racism 17/10/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 16 Comments By William New Hundreds of employees at the World Intellectual Property Organization, a prominent United Nations agency, have signed a petition calling on WIPO Director General Kamil Idris to put the organisation’s interests before his own in addressing allegations that he misrepresented his age on official documents and possibly engaged in other untoward activities. Idris […]
London Agreement Seen Easing EU Patent Filing 16/10/2007 by David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch Obtaining a Europe-wide patent should become easier next year when an accord reducing the translation requirements for protecting an innovation comes into effect. Under the London Agreement, countries that recognise English, French or German as one of their official languages will no longer stipulate that a full description of a patent be translated into their most commonly-used language. English, French and German are also the three official languages of the European Patent Office in Munich. The change was aimed at reducing the administrative and financial burden on patent filers but has raised concerns.
Canada, EU Acting On Public Health Exceptions To WTO IP Law 15/10/2007 by David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch Canada has become the first country to notify the World Trade Organisation that it has allowed a drugs firm to use an international scheme for manufacturing generic versions of patented medicines introduced four years ago. Meanwhile, the European Union this week is continuing a debate over whether to […]
OECD Calibrates Role In Fast-Changing Internet Society 15/10/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment OTTAWA – The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Paris-based club of 30 of the world’s largest economies, is moving fast to keep up with the newest trend on the Internet: user-generated content. Referred to generally as ‘Web 2.0’, this trend includes collaboratively developed websites such as Wikipedia and YouTube, social networking platforms such […]
US Requests Second WTO Panel On China’s IP Protection 11/10/2007 by David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch The United States has decided to step up its challenge to China’s restrictions on copyright-protected books, music and films by asking the World Trade Organization to establish a dispute settlement panel. During June and July, the US and China held formal talks over trade restrictions applied by the […]
EU Copyright Levies Extend To New Media As Harmonisation Lags 11/10/2007 by Alicia Martin-Santos for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Alicia Martin-Santos and Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch European Union countries are imposing copyright levies on a whole new range of digital media, including digital music players, USB flash sticks, hard drives and, potentially, mobile phones and wireless connections, as efforts to harmonise Europe’s heterogeneous copyright landscape continue to languish. Copyright levies are imposed on blank material (such as blank CDs, DVDs or paper) or digital recording media (used to store digital content) in order to compensate authors for end-users’ private copying. They first appeared in the 1960s and were charged on paper, photocopying equipment and tapes. New recording media, such as mp3 players (like iPods) or even mobile phones are being examined for potential levying.
UN Talks On Public Health Access And Innovation Face Challenges 10/10/2007 by Paul Garwood for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Paul Garwood Next month’s round of negotiations on a United Nations plan to boost access to medicines for the world’s poor are set for a rough ride, with countries and regions split on contentious issues such as intellectual property rights and how to spur drug innovation for the benefit of all. The World Health […]
Open Letter From Staff To The Director General Of WIPO 08/10/2007 by Intellectual Property Watch 16 Comments Pour la version française, cliquer ici Where are you Director General? For the first time in WIPO’s history, the Assemblies were unable to agree on the adoption of the budget of the Organization. For the first time, the member states had to have recourse to a fratricidal vote on these questions and thereby to abandon […]
NGOs Having Major Impact On WIPO Agenda, Panel Says 05/10/2007 by Paul Garwood for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Paul Garwood Non-governmental organisations have been able to influence the debate and priorities within the World Intellectual Property Organization and make IP issues more understood in the developing world, speakers at a seminar in Geneva said Monday. Wend Wendland, head of WIPO’s programme on traditional knowledge, which began in 1998, said civil society had […]