Landmark India IP Board Decision Against Hepatitis C Drug Patent 04/11/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments India last week saw a landmark public health decision on the evolving role of intellectual property rights in the context of the public interest.
WTO IT Agreement Committee Reports Progress, Reservations 02/11/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments A group of countries working to expand the World Trade Organization Information Technology Agreement (ITA) showed progress this week, but some continued to have reservations, the WTO reported.
Petition Urges Delay, Discussion Of Pan-African IP Organization 24/10/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A new petition circulating worldwide urges the delay of a suddenly fast-moving proposal to create a Pan-African Intellectual Property Organization (PAIPO). The delay effort – which seeks an open discussion of the proposal to make it more tailored to local African needs – comes just weeks before African Union representatives meet to consider its adoption.
Peace, Love, and Private Practice: Film Industry Lawyer Ted Shapiro To Depart MPA 22/10/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Ted Shapiro, a long-time copyright industry advocate in the European legal trenches for the Motion Picture Association, will leave at year’s end for a private law firm in Brussels.
UN: Governments To Double Biodiversity Funding, Push Access/Benefit-Sharing 22/10/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment At last week’s high-level meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) governments agreed to double financial flows toward biodiversity by 2015, the CBD has announced. They also came up with strategy to move forward on access and benefit-sharing of biodiversity.
Honduras Requests WTO Panel On Australia Tobacco Law 17/10/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Honduras has submitted a request for the formation of a dispute settlement panel at the World Trade Organization regarding a tobacco plain-packaging law Australia has passed for public health reasons.
Open-Access Journal eLife Publishes First Articles 16/10/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A new open-access journal for science, eLife, has released its first collection of research articles.
Civil Society Network Issues Proposals On Climate Change And IPRs 15/10/2012 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment An international network of civil society groups has issued a set of proposals for governments to encourage innovation and access to key technologies against climate change while taking intellectual property rights into account.
ITU Undertakes Work On Standards Essential Patents 12/10/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has tasked an expert group on intellectual property rights with coming up with ways to update ITU patent policy with an eye toward clarifying litigation involving “standards-essential patents.”
No Deal For Now On WIPO Design Treaty, Patent Law Work Plan 08/10/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week could not agree on a work plan for the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP), leading to a likely postponement of the next committee meeting. In addition, the annual WIPO General Assemblies failed to agree to hold a diplomatic conference on a Design Law Treaty, but did agree on an expedited way forward. And the Assemblies took note of the work of the committees on standards and enforcement.