World Trade Organization Public Forum: Moving Beyond Friends Or Foes26/09/2017 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentAt a time when international trade might be perceived as creating more harm than good, the World Trade Organization is proposing to go “behind the headlines” and beyond the rhetoric, as the theme of its yearly public forum of stakeholder discussions, which opened today.
Infojustice: Ottawa NAFTA Round Turns To Copyright26/09/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentInfojustice writes: It was being reported among various observers of NAFTA over the weekend that the talks in the IP chapter are progressing toward Copyright. The US appears poised to table the first set of its demands for that portion of the IP chapter. But it is also rumored that that the US demand may exclude the issue of copyright balance.
Panel Debates Potential Impact Of Reversal Of US Administration Patent Review25/09/2017 by Dugie Standeford for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentThe United States Supreme Court recently agreed to hear arguments in Oil States Energy Services v. Greene’s Energy Group, a case involving a patent on a device used for hydraulic fracturing (fracking). After the patent was granted, Greene’s petitioned for, and was granted, an “inter partes review (IPR)” by the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). After losing at the board, Oil States asked the high court to determine that IPR, which is used to analyse the validity of existing patents, is unconstitutional because it takes away private property rights by denying Art. III jury trials.
Unitaid Official Explains How ‘Breakthrough’ HIV Medicine Pricing Deal Brings Best To The Neediest25/09/2017 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentIn the midst of the high-level meetings of the annual United Nations General Assembly last week, health officials from the UN and foundations announced what they called a breakthrough pricing agreement that will speed the availability of “the first affordable, generic, single-pill HIV treatment regimen containing [the key compound] dolutegravir to public sector purchasers in low- and middle-income countries at around $75 per person, per year.” A senior official at Unitaid, the drug purchasing mechanism that helped reach the deal, explained to Intellectual Property Watch how it came about and why this is significant.
WTO Market Access Committee Debates China, India Restrictions On IT, Russia’s GIs On Wine22/09/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentIn the World Trade Organization Market Access Committee today, a range of member countries raised concern over China’s tariffs on semiconductors and India’s duties on a range of information technology products. In addition, the European Union raised concern over uneven application of lower tariffs for geographically indicated wines, favouring local producers.
New Collaboration To Deliver Open-Source Submission And Peer-Review Platform22/09/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentThis week, eLife and Collaborative Knowledge Foundation announced a partnership “to build a user-driven, open-source submission and peer-review platform” aimed at improving on existing industry models.
US Copyright Agenda Stalling In Congress22/09/2017 by Emmanuel Legrand for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentNEW YORK — The music community in the United States has a wide copyright agenda covering various business issues and stakeholders. While it had entertained the notion that a new President with its new administration and Congress would be more sympathetic to the complex needs of the industry, it is still waiting for the Trump administration to act on copyright issues, judging from comments made by various stakeholders in the legislative process during an industry panel in New York this week.
German Court: Thumbnail Images In Search Engines Not A Copyright Violation21/09/2017 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentIn a noteworthy ruling, the German Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe today decided that the use of picture search engines and the publishing of the resulting thumbnails and reference links does not violate German copyright law (I ZR 11/16 – Vorschaubilder III) . The case that had been brought by US adult content provider Perfect 10 against AOL Germany turned out favourable to Google in the end, whose picture search engine had been the tool in question.
Panel Advances Key Public Interest Issues In Gene Editing Technology21/09/2017 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 CommentWASHINGTON, DC — The still-emerging breakthrough CRISPR gene editing tool has the potential to transform the field and do enormous good for humankind. But let’s make sure we understand it better and ensure the public interest before launching into using it too widely. Meanwhile, companies and researchers are actively licensing the technology. That was a message of a set of panellists working close to CRISPR’s development, speaking at a recent event in Washington, DC.
WHO Issues Alarming Report On Coming Shortage Of Antibiotics20/09/2017 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a CommentA new report issued today by the World Health Organization shows a “serious lack” of new antibiotics in development, even as resistance to existing antibiotics are on the rise. The head of the WHO said the report shows an “urgent need” for investment into research and development. In addition, a second report today from WHO […]
