WTO Ministers Say Complete Doha Round Or Suffer Irrelevance30/11/2009 by Kaitlin Mara, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentWorld Trade Organization members today called for a completion of the Doha Development Round of trade liberalisation talks in 2010, tying its success to the relevance of the organisation as a whole, at the opening plenary session of this week’s WTO ministerial. Members also urged a stronger review mechanism, and the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization questioned the effectiveness of the multilateral system.
Multilateral Trading System Under Scrutiny At WTO Ministerial30/11/2009 by William New and Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentThe World Trade Organization’s first full ministerial in four years is not a negotiating forum. Rather, it is bringing together some 150 trade ministers for some soul-searching on the state of the multilateral system and the work of the WTO. Measuring the event’s success (or failure, as in some past ministerials) will be difficult, but new directions may be infused into the 15-year-old organisation and a high-level political statement may be used to drive trade negotiations forward in the coming year.
Pharmaceutical Patent Pools Seen As A Life And Death Matter In Kenya30/11/2009 by Nicholas Wadhams for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentNAIROBI – At the headquarters of UNITAID and other groups seeking to boost access to HIV/AIDS medicine, the notion of a patent pool where drug companies would combine their intellectual property is seen as an important way to drive down drug costs.In the Kenyan capital Nairobi, home of AIDS activist Nelson Otwoma, the patent pool is a matter of life and death.
Congress Hearing On US Trade Preferences Tells How Pressure Works29/11/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentThe United States House of Representatives Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee held a hearing on 17 November on the “Operation, Impact, and Future of the US Preference Programs.” Speakers noted how threatening to remove small economies from unilateral US trade benefit list helped persuade them to agree to US demands. Hearing speaker list and testimony […]
UN Talks On IP Licensing And Finance Head To Final Phase27/11/2009 by Liza Porteus Viana for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentA United Nations group that has been hard at work laying out recommendations for how to effectively integrate intellectual property into secured financing law is heading into the final phase.
UN Eyes Next Steps On Food Security; Biotech Pleased With Summit Mention26/11/2009 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentThe United Nations food agency is working to strengthen a global food security committee following last week’s World Food Summit in Rome, but key observers deplored the lack of firm commitments at the gathering, while industry welcomed the mention of biotechnology in the summit declaration.
Biodiversity Negotiations Need To Allow For Flexibility In Business, Industry Says25/11/2009 by Kaitlin Mara, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentAspects of a legally-binding international agreement on access and benefit-sharing under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity may harm business interests and also fail to reach its objectives of protecting and preserving biodiversity, said members of a panel of industry representatives in Geneva yesterday. Some also expressed doubt about the likelihood of the access and benefit sharing regime meeting its deadline of having full agreement by its October meeting next year in Nagoya, Japan.
Les délégués espèrent trouver un consensus sur la coordination du Plan d’action pour le développement en avril25/11/2009 by Kaitlin Mara, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentLors de négociations informelles tenues vendredi dernier dans la matinée, le Comité du développement et de la propriété intellectuelle semble s’être approché d’un consensus sur le mécanisme de coordination du Plan d’action pour le développement. Cependant, l’après-midi même, les gouvernements ont été incapables de surmonter les divergences qui subsistaient.
Bilski Decision Likely To Narrow Patentable Subject Matter In US, Panel Says24/11/2009 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentFor years, the United States has taken an expansive position on the types of inventions that are patentable. Software, medical tests, and business methods – for example – have all been granted patents. But that is likely to change when the US Supreme Court hands down its decision in Bilski v. Kappos, according to most members of a 19 November panel, Patentable Subject Matter After the Bilski Oral Argument, hosted by American University Law School and the Federal Circuit Bar Association.
UN Biodiversity Negotiators To Work From Single Text On Access, Benefits24/11/2009 by Kaitlin Mara, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentFor the first time in its history, a working group tasked with negotiating an international regime for access to genetic resources and the sharing of related benefits under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has agreed on a single negotiating text. But participants in the process say the text, while a comprehensive compilation of all divergent views on the regime, still has a way to go before becoming a consensus document.
