People: Change Of IP Guard At US, Australia Missions; IFPMA Readies New Leader 07/05/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Kaitlin Mara and William New In the People column: the US mission IP team is undergoing a complete transformation, while a former top US IP negotiator in Geneva returned last week in a biotech industry suit, and still another US negotiator appears poised to follow.
WHO IP And Health Group Concludes With Progress; Tough Issues Remain For Assembly 06/05/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Note: The latest version of the draft strategy (dated Saturday, 3 May, 14.00h) is now available on the WHO website [click here]. By Kaitlin Mara and William New The World Health Organization (WHO) negotiations on public health, intellectual property and innovation ended Saturday with substantial progress toward consensus on a draft strategy but with a […]
WHO Members Inch Toward Consensus On IP, Innovation And Public Health 02/05/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Kaitlin Mara and William New Members of the World Health Organization (WHO) gathered this week to address innovation and intellectual property issues in public health saw hope for agreement on a strategy paper focused on the needs of developing countries, particularly on neglected diseases. But with two days remaining in the negotiations, difficult issues […]
WIPO Candidates Address Civil Society Concerns on Access, Transparency 23/04/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By Kaitlin Mara Candidates to be the next director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) had the opportunity to meet with civil society groups recently to discuss how WIPO’s strategies for the future might involve both more transparency and better accountability to stakeholders in environmental, social, and economic issues. José Graça Aranha of […]
Experts Discuss Policy On Patent Landscapes For Life Sciences 22/04/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Kaitlin Mara Access to quality data in intellectual property policy in the life sciences is as necessary as it is hard to obtain, said a recent meeting of technical experts, called to discuss challenges in patents and innovation in medical, agricultural, and other biological technologies. Patents on life sciences figure into the “key debates […]
Further Resolution Needed To Keep IP Issues In WTO Negotiations 18/04/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Kaitlin Mara Intellectual property rights issues on the table in the newly invigorated World Trade Organization negotiations are at risk if remaining deep differences cannot be further narrowed in the coming weeks, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said Thursday. “I have called for continued consultations between the groups of members concerned to resolve this, […]
April Edition of IP-Watch Monthly Reporter Now Available 08/04/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Reporter features the most important news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the IP community at the United Nations, World Trade Organization, Geneva missions, regional and national IP offices, industry and non-governmental organisations, plus News Briefs on reports and events that do not […]
Office Open XML Officially Approved As International Standard 01/04/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 16 Comments By Kaitlin Mara The much-debated open document standard Office Open XML (OOXML) has been approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), according to a document obtained by Intellectual Property Watch. The result of the voting showed 24 supporting votes by participating national standards bodies allowed to vote, known as “p-members,” versus eight opposing votes. […]
Panellists Outline Strategies On Exceptions And Limitations To Copyright 20/03/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Kaitlin Mara An event at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) last week brought some key actors in copyright and related rights to discuss the value of limitations and exceptions and to present a recently released study describing an international instrument on limitations and exceptions. At the outset, Carolina Sepulveda from Chile’s Ministry of […]
A Telling Year Ahead For Free And Open Source Technologies 18/03/2008 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Kaitlin Mara The year 2008 is one of consolidation and maturation for alternatives to traditional intellectual property rights made possible by the ease of information transfer via the Internet. The free and open source software community is growing more prominent, and the access to knowledge communities are expanding to include a broader range and deeper understanding of their issues.