British Official To Lead UPOV As Civil Society Interest Rises 28/03/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), an intergovernmental agency that provides technical advice and guidelines for the identification and protection of new plants, will have a new leader for the first time in a decade, it was decided Friday.
Lamy: “Not Where We Wanted To Be” In WTO Round 28/03/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy on Friday said that there are “technically no insurmountable obstacles” in resolving the long-struggling Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks this year, but that this timeline was always a political rather than technical one. In the so-called WTO stock-taking, regarding the size of the gaps that remain “we […]
Biodiversity Negotiators Seek To Finalise Draft Access, Benefit-Sharing Regime 22/03/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Delegates to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity today begin the last formal meeting before a late-2010 deadline to negotiate an agreement ensuring fair and equitable access to and benefits from the world’s scarce biological resources.
China Tells WTO: Obligations Fulfilled On IP Dispute Case 22/03/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment China on Friday briefed the World Trade Organization on improvements in its intellectual property rights enforcement needed to bring it into compliance with a dispute settlement decision made last year.
New US Broadband Internet Plan Scrutinised; Cybersecurity Bill Includes IP 17/03/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch and William New Leave a Comment The United States Federal Communications Commission’s newly released plan to expand broadband internet access within the country was well-received from several sides of the digital rights debate, with some questions. Separately, a new cybersecurity bill introduced in the US Congress today includes measures to protect intellectual property rights.
Public Health Policy In 2010: Research Funding And Regulations 17/03/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Finding ways to fund research and regulating medication is critical to international public health policy and intellectual property rights specialists in 2010.
Lamy: IP Gaps “Illuminated,” But Not Narrower 16/03/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy has announced to member states that governments’ differences on two key intellectual property issues have been “better illuminated” by an ongoing informal consultation process, though he added, “I would not say that the gaps are narrower.” Lamy has been meeting with a small group of countries over the […]
Le Conseil des ADPIC envisage la tenue d’un atelier sur un amendement relatif à la santé publique 16/03/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Le groupe Propriété Intellectuelle de l’Organisation Mondiale pour le Commerce s’est réuni plus brièvement que prévu, le 2 mars 2010, pour discuter d’un éventuel atelier sur un amendement visant à faciliter l’accès à des médicaments génériques abordables pour les pays dépourvus d’industrie pharmaceutique, d’une nouvelle proposition de la Bolivie, et de trois questions de propriété intellectuelle qui, bien qu’anciennes, n’ont pas connu de développement significatif.
European Generics Industry Calls For “Urgent Patent Reform” 11/03/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment “Competition and real innovation” will be increasingly difficult if the patent system in Europe is not reformed, the European Generic Medicines Association (EGA) said today at its “Legal Affairs Forum,” which took place on 11 March. The European Patent Office must “look to improve the quality of patent examinations and applications and accelerate examination and […]
Indian Civil Society Raises Concerns Over US Industry-Sponsored IP Summits 11/03/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Public interest groups in India are raising questions over annual summits involving Indian judges and policymakers that are being funded by major western industry groups, in particular pharmaceutical companies. At this year’s summit, held recently, a section of India’s patent law which prevents the extension of monopoly power for incremental innovations came under attack, the groups have said.