Entangled In Amendments, HADOPI 2 Hits Summer Break 21/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The French National Assembly vote on a bill to protect literary and artistic intellectual property rights online has been pushed back to September, according to a source at the Assembly. The bill passed the French Senate on 8 July (IPW, IP Burble, 9 July 2009). If passed into law, it would give the newly created […]
Drop In R&D Funding For HIV Vaccine 21/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Global research funding for HIV vaccine decreased by 10 percent in 2008 from the previous year, representing the first time the levels have fallen since investment trends have been tracked, according to a new report. The report was released this week by the HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group, an initiative of UNAIDS […]
ACTA Talks May Open Up, Slightly 20/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The latest round of negotiations for an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) held in Rabat, Morocco on 16-17 July resulted in the announcement that after closed-door discussions on transparency, the only agreement reached on transparency was to release draft agendas of future closed-door negotiating rounds. Public interest groups and technology companies are seeking a voice and […]
Shift In Top IP Posts At WHO 17/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment From the ip-health listserv Friday, an internal communication from World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan announcing a change in staff responsible for innovation and intellectual property issues. On 1 August, Elil Renganathan of Malaysia, the current director of Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property, will move to become director of Planning, Resource Coordination and […]
‘Drop Internet Issues From ACTA, Add Public Interest’ 17/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Nine organisations representing the technology industry, libraries, digital rights and privacy interests have sent a letter to United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk urging that issues related to the internet be dropped from negotiations for an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). They also demanded that in the secretive ACTA negotiation, negotiating documents be made available to […]
US Measures To Strengthen Trade Enforcement 16/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Thursday announced new measures to strengthen the enforcement of the country’s trade rights seen as a key part of US economic recovery and growth strategy. “Our new approach to enforcement is simple,” Kirk said in a statement, available here. “We will deploy our resources more effectively to identify […]
Double Serving In Geneva: McDonald’s’ IP Tax Move 16/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment McDonald’s is shifting its European headquarters to Geneva in an apparent attempt to avoid new tax rules in the United Kingdom that would result in double taxation of revenues earned from intellectual property rights, according to a spokeswoman for McDonald’s quoted in the Guardian newspaper this week. The move seeks to benefit from advantageous intellectual […]
UK Parliament Report: Health Access A ‘Treatment Timebomb’ 15/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment “Maintaining HIV/AIDS treatment to keep people alive will cripple developing economies, or place unbearable strains on richer countries trying to support them and action is needed now, to avert crisis later,” says a report released this week by a cross-cutting parliamentary group in the United Kingdom. The All Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS, a backbench […]
G8 Public Health Report Cites IP, Innovation 10/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Group of 8 industrialised countries plus Russia have issued their report on global public health, and a preliminary report on accountability. The 165-page health report (mostly annexes) encourages implementation of the World Health Organization strategy on intellectual property rights and innovation. It also calls for a review of “options for new innovative financing mechanisms […]
Too Pricey For A Patent? Glivec Rejected 09/07/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Novartis’s patent application for Glivec, a blood cancer drug, was recently ruled not patentable by the Intellectual Property Appellate Board of India (IPAB) for failing to meet the requirements under section 3(d) of the Indian Patent Act, which states that a pharmaceutical derivative must demonstrate enhanced “efficacy” over the prior known molecule, according to Indian […]