Year Ahead: Reforming Global IP Systems – Trends In A2K In 2010 12/02/2010 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Ensuring public access to knowledge while supporting intellectual property rights cuts across broad areas such as internet availability, public health, education and culture, climate change, and basic technical standards. And while the non-profit movement that has worked to encourage access is facing serious challenges this year, they are set to fight it out in the various fora related to essential drugs, books and academic journals, and software again in 2010.
Knowledge Access Blooms In The Desert: Egypt’s Fragile Stake In IP 11/02/2010 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 7 Comments CAIRO – The launch this week on the new campus of American University in Cairo of a new centre and a new book on access to knowledge in Egypt offered a view on the complexities of the issues and the challenges developing countries face to ensure global intellectual property rights are incorporated into their legal systems in the most locally productive ways possible.
WTO Members To Consider Review Of TRIPS Public Health Amendment 11/02/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A waiver to World Trade Organization rules intended to aid people in poor countries in gaining access to medicines has remained essentially unused in the over six-and-a-half years since it was put in place. On Friday, member states of the WTO will in an informal meeting discuss this situation and see what, if anything, needs be done.
Advisory Group: ‘Near Perfect Storm’ Coming On Gene Patents In The US 10/02/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments A report by a United States health department advisory group issued last week presents recommendations aimed at preventing patents on genes and licensing practices in the US from negatively impacting patient access to genetic tests that would allow them to establish their genetic dispositions to declare potential illnesses.
Year Ahead: Biotech And Patentability Under Debate In The US, EU 09/02/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Biotechnology lies at the intersection of a wide spectrum of fields, such as agriculture, health and environment. Because biotechnology relates to life sciences, it is often the subject of ethical, sometimes intense political debates between stakeholders, in particular involving intellectual property rights. In 2010, as the first signs of global economic recovery are emerging, the debates are expected to increase.
February Edition Of IP-Watch Monthly Reporter Now Available 09/02/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Intellectual Property Watch Monthly Edition features top news on international IP policymaking, the latest on who is coming and going in the international IP community, news briefs and more. The February edition is now available for subscribers at: http://www.ip-watch.org/user/newsletter.
First-Ever Drop In Filings Under Patent Cooperation Treaty Seen In 2009 08/02/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments International patent filings under the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Patent Cooperation Treaty fell for the first time in three decades in 2009, owing to a deep economic downturn, WIPO officials said today. Overall patent filings fell 4.5 percent in 2009, but industrialised nations were particularly hard-hit, and are also expected to have slower growth rates in 2010 than emerging economies.
Google Book Deal Still Needs Work, US Justice Department Says 05/02/2010 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The United States Department of Justice yesterday told the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that progress had been made on its concerns in the settlement allowing internet search giant Google to scan millions of books into a database. But the government lawyers continue to have doubts on copyright, class certification and antitrust issues, they said.
EPO Suspends Decision On New President 03/02/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment An extraordinary session of the European Patent Organisation Administrative Council intended to help elect a replacement for outgoing president Alison Brimelow today was again unable to come to a conclusion between the three remaining candidates for the post. There will be another extraordinary Council meeting on 1 March, just four months before the post was […]
A2K4 Conference To Address IP And Human Rights 02/02/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The fourth Access to Knowledge conference (A2K4) hosted by the Yale Law School Information Society Project in New Haven, Connecticut (US) will take place on 11-13 February. The event will be streamed live on video here, and will focus on the human rights aspects of intellectual property, and remote participants can submit comments via Twitter. […]