Visually Impaired, Civil Society, Industry Defend Their Stakes In Marrakesh 20/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment This week’s World Intellectual Property Organization Marrakesh Diplomatic Conference, anticipated to deliver an international treaty allowing visually impaired people wider access to books, is also an arena where different stakeholders hope to influence the debate. Civil society calls for a practical treaty that really works on the ground, while industry insists that safeguards to protect the integrity of the international copyright laws be included in the treaty.
WIPO VIP Treaty: Opening Statements Lay Out Differences 20/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Displays of good intentions peppered the two first days of World Intellectual Property Organization negotiations on treaty facilitating access to books for visually impaired people. However, countries pleading for flexibility reaffirmed their previous positions. Developed countries seeking to preserve the international copyright system, and developing countries assuring that the treaty is not jeopardising this system.
Good Intentions Echo In Marrakesh At Start Of Negotiations On Treaty For The Blind 18/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization diplomatic conference expected to yield a treaty creating exceptions and limitations to copyright for the benefit of visually impaired people opened today in Marrakesh, Morocco. Assurances of good faith and willingness to find solutions for remaining issues were given by delegates, while WIPO Director General Francis Gurry called for unity, King Mohammed VI talked about moral obligation in a royal message, and visually impaired people called for negotiators to create history. All nonetheless agreed on the importance of the copyright system.
US Supreme Court Rules On Pharma Payments To Delay Generic Drugs On Market 17/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United States Supreme Court in a five to three decision today found that settlement agreements by branded pharmaceutical companies involving payments to generic companies to delay their cheaper drugs’ entry into the market may not be immune from antitrust scrutiny but are not “presumptively” unlawful. The case was sent back to lower court.
Test Of Political Flexibility In Final Lap For WIPO Treaty For The Blind 14/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Starting next week, Marrakesh, Morocco, will be the site of a two-week high level conference expected to yield a treaty facilitating the international access to books for blind and visually impaired people. Stakes are high, not only for the beneficiaries, but also for the industry worried that the copyright system might be endangered by the new treaty, introducing limitations to copyright.
WTO TRIPS Council: Discussion Of Innovation Shows Divergent Views; Tobacco Back On Agenda 13/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The impact of intellectual property rights on the transfer of ‘green’ technology was brought up to the World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property this week with divided points of view. In addition, a discussion on cost-effective innovation was criticised by some developing countries as side-tracking the committee’s objectives, and the European Union’s planned revision of its tobacco products directive was disapproved by some producer countries.
LDCs Obtain New Waiver On IP Obligations At WTO, Take It As A Limited Victory 12/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments World Trade Organization members this week agreed to give least-developed countries an extra eight years to implement international intellectual property protection rules. The decision received a broad support among countries, with some voicing reservations about the negotiation process.
WTO Members Agree On Draft Extension Of TRIPS Transition For LDCs 07/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments World Trade Organization members today reached a draft decision on a request put forward by least-developed countries to extend the period during which they do not have to comply with international rules of intellectual property rights protection, according to sources. Under the terms of the hard-fought decision, LDCs can benefit from an extension of eight more years.
WIPO Study: Informal Economy Important To Developing Country Growth, But No IP 07/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments During a recent meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), a study on innovation in the informal economy was presented by the organisation’s secretariat. The exercise was conducted in an effort to better understand how innovation occurs and how intellectual property is relevant in that context.
Protection Of Local GI Products Can Benefit Women, Speakers Say 04/06/2013 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Geographical indications, a European invention, have attracted interest in a number of developing countries. According to several speakers at a recent industry conference on the subject, GIs can provide economic sustainability for rural families. In Africa, two cases were provided to illustrate the role of the valorisation of a particular resource and the ancestral know-how of women, promoting their social and financial autonomy.