April Edition Of IP-Watch Monthly Reporter Available 17/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A note to our readers: The April edition of Intellectual Property Watch’s Monthly Reporter is available on our website. The monthly publication, available online and in hard copy every month, features an updated compilation of top stories appearing on the IP-Watch Website (www.ip-watch.org). Click here to read the April edition.
Reform Debate Trips Up WIPO Development Aid Meeting 15/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Members of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on Friday failed to agree on the proper role for a permanent committee on technical cooperation that could impact larger efforts by some to reform WIPO toward development issues. Debate focused on a proposal by developed countries (drafted by Canada) to broaden the scope of the existing […]
Non-Profits, Industry Offer Views On WIPO Development Agenda 14/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Non-governmental organisations from across the spectrum were elbow to elbow with members of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) this week as they wrestled with a proposal for an agenda to increase attention to the needs of developing countries. Private and non-profit sector representatives generally lined up on either side of debate between developed and […]
WIPO Development Agenda Talks Move Ahead 13/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment World Intellectual Property Organisation members late Wednesday night agreed to continue discussing a proposal to more deeply infuse developing country needs into the mission of the UN body. After three full days of closed-door meetings – much of them in private meetings of smaller groups — members reached a carefully crafted compromise: to hold two […]
Nations Clash On Future Of WIPO Development Agenda 11/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Developed and developing countries faced off Monday over whether and how the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organisation’s mission should be transformed to better address the needs of developing countries. The basis for the three-day discussion ending Wednesday at the Geneva-based WIPO is a developing country proposal to change WIPO into a more typical U.N. organisation […]
India Joins Opposition To Casablanca Patent Meeting Outcome 10/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments India, a critical player in policy debates at the World Intellectual Property Organisation, has announced its opposition to a recommendation on global patent harmonisation backed by a select group of countries in a February consultation with WIPO Director General Kamil Idris. The recommendation was agreed to by all but one participant in an invite-only consultation […]
Debate Heats Up Over WIPO Development Agenda 01/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Negotiators attending closed meetings at a UN body in Geneva in mid-April could shape the policy agenda for development and intellectual property for years to come, participants and observers say. It is not clear how the consecutive meetings at the World Intellectual Property Organisation will relate to one another. The first, an “intersessional intergovernmental meeting” […]
Drug Patents Still At Issue In U.S.-Central America Trade Deal 01/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Washington, D.C.–The free trade agreement signed last year by the United States, five Central American nations and the Dominican Republic still faces a tough fight in the U.S. Congress for a number of reasons, one of which remains provisions on the treatment of pharmaceutical patents. Guatemala recently responded to U.S. government and industry pressure by […]
TRIPS Public Health Amendment Deadline Missed 31/03/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Governments negotiating to amend the World Trade Organisation intellectual property agreement to allow countries to export generic pharmaceuticals to other countries in need failed to reach agreement by a 31 March deadline, according to sources in Geneva. The deadline was set last year to replace a 30 August 2003 waiver for countries to manufacture products […]
US Trade Representative Releases Annual Trade Barriers Report 30/03/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Washington, D.C.—The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) on Wednesday cited rising global piracy and counterfeiting as a top foreign trade barrier to U.S. products and services in 2005. “There is a discouraging upward trend [in piracy and counterfeiting],” a US trade official said in a telephone press briefing on the release of the […]