IP Rights Must Remain Distinct From Fake Medicines Policy At WHO, Members Warn 30/01/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Intellectual property issues emerged at the World Health Organization Executive Board today as members discussed fake and substandard medicines, with some countries saying that the fight against such medicines should not serve as a pretext to enforce intellectual property rights and prevent access to safe generic medicines.
Antimicrobial Resistance, Budget, Reform Raise Debate At WHO Executive Board 30/01/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Health Organization Executive Board this week has addressed the relationship between the UN agency and its funders and lobbyists, examined the budget for the next biennium, and looked at the issue of the growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. Image Credits: Flickr – NIAID
Gavi Receives Record-Breaking Financial Pledges For Vaccines 29/01/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, boasted success this week as its biennial replenishment conference attracted US$ 7.5 billion in pledges, which is the organisation said is expected to allow 300 million additional children to be vaccinated in poor countries. The vaccine industry pledged support for “strong” immunisation programmes, while public health advocates called for significant price […]
Technical Investigators Have Rules To Follow In China’s Intellectual Property Courts 29/01/2015 by Mingjiang Liu for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment BEIJING – With the Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou Intellectual Property Courts being put into operation late last year, the rules for technical investigators had been missing until 21 January, when the Supreme People’s Court released the Provisional Regulations of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues concerning the Participation of Technical Investigators in Intellectual Property Court Proceedings. This is China’s first of its kind making rules for technical investigators.
Looking Behind The Different Invalidation Rates Of Oppositions And IPRs 28/01/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Opposition proceedings in Europe have long served as a powerful tool for third parties to challenge the validity of a patent before the European Patent Office (EPO). Now, under the America Invents Act (effective September 2012), the United States (US) has two new procedures for challenging the validity of a patent before the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO): inter partes review (IPR) and post-grant review. Current statistics indicate a higher invalidation rate for IPRs as compared to EPO oppositions.
New Proposal To Extend WHO Action Plan On Innovation, IP Rights 27/01/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment At the World Health Organization Executive Board today, a group of countries tabled a proposal to extend the WHO plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property until 2022. Yesterday, the Executive Board took note of the Global Vaccine Action Plan while some countries remarked on issues of affordability and accessibility. And today, one of the key discussions of the week – on the engagement of WHO with lobbyists, donors, and other interested non-governmental parties – has begun.
Ebola, Reform High On WHO Executive Board Agenda This Week 26/01/2015 by Catherine Saez and William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The World Health Organization Executive Board yesterday adopted a resolution on Ebola, on the eve of today’s opening of its 10-day meeting addressing a broad range of health issues, including several of relevance to the intellectual property and innovation community. Today, Italy requested that member states be involved in the setting of WHO guidelines, raising governance issues, while WHO Director General Margaret Chan called for strong health systems and reform to the WHO structure, and asked for room to move on WHO relations with industry.
The Latest News In Intellectual Property From ANEPI Ecuador 24/01/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Welcome to (ANEPI), the first Intellectual Property News Agency of Ecuador. The Agencia de Noticias Especializada en Propiedad Intelectual (ANEPI) publishes news, analysis, interviews, feature articles, a weekly update and more on Ecuador and the region, at http://www.anepi.ec. Articles are primarily in Spanish with some English translation. Bienvenido a (ANEPI), La Primera Agencia de Noticias […]
WIPO Seminar Discusses Interface Between IP And Private International Law 23/01/2015 by Elena Bourtchouladze for Intellectual Property Watch and James Cote for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Experts gathered in Geneva recently to review past projects on intellectual property and private international law, and look toward the future. Now, through efforts to draft a set of guidelines, headway is being made on finding ways to manage the legal uncertainties in this area.
Biosimilars Present Opportunity, Challenge For Developing Countries, UNCTAD Group Says 23/01/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Biosimilars are a hot topic. Beyond the colossal profits foreseen by some, drawing a lot of interested parties into the game, developing countries mean to play a role in this new frontier. However, biosimilars – close copies of biopharmaceutical products – are difficult and very costly to produce and come as a challenge to the generic industry used to duplicating small molecules. And some warn about differences in regulatory requirements, which could effectively boot developing countries out of the global market.