US Senate Judiciary Chairman Questions High Cost Of Medicare Drug Coverage 27/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments United States Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, has demanded answers from the government Medicare programme regarding the rapid rise in costs of coverage of Americans’ prescription drugs. The demand follows a press report showing an extremely high climb in costs for the so-called “catastrophic coverage” program.
MSF International Access Campaign Recruiting Executive Director Of Access Campaign 25/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) International Access Campaign is recruiting an Executive Director (ED) of the Access Campaign.
UNDP Initiative Seeks Impact-Driven Entrepreneurs From 10 Developing Countries 25/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a joint initiative with Impact Hub, an international community of social entrepreneurs. The initiative is a platform named “#Accelerate2030,” aiming at supporting and promoting the most promising impact-driven ventures focusing on the UN Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs).
New French Law Opens Market For Non-Profits Selling Public Domain Seeds 22/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment New legislation on biodiversity has been adopted by the French National Assembly, opening doors for the sharing and selling of seeds in the public domain to amateur gardeners. For some associations that had been illegally trading public domain seeds, this is seen as a major victory.
The “Denial Playbook”: An Original Product Of The Oil Industry 22/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments New documents reveal that the oil and tobacco industries took pages from the same book to engineer their decade long campaigns on denying the existence of climate change and smoking-related cancer. The playbook also appears to have originated not with tobacco, but with the oil industry itself, and the two even appeared to share patents.
Blockstream’s New Patent Strategy: Trust Us, We Won’t Sue You 21/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Blockstream, which developed the blockchain technology and bitcoin, has announced a defensive patent strategy. The crux of it: assurance that users of its technology won’t be sued.
US Justice Department Nails Three In Mass Mailing Trademark Scam 20/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A Wells Fargo bank manager in California worked with two colleagues to conduct a scam targeting trademark holders and launder the proceeds, the United States Department of Justice said today.
UK Government Called To Action To Further Boost IP Enforcement 19/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The United Kingdom-based Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG) industry group launched a “manifesto” earlier this month, calling on the government to establish a more effective and comprehensive response to intellectual property crime.
EU Anti-Counterfeiting Rapid Intelligence System: One Database For All Data On IPR Infringement 19/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the European Commission Trade Directorate recently launched a new intellectual property enforcement tool that aims to pool together all data relating to IP rights infringement experienced by EU companies into one database to help build prevention strategies. This is one of many new EU initiatives to counter growing IPR infringement and counterfeits.
CISAC: 90 Years In The Service Of Authors And Composers 19/07/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), the world’s leading network of authors’ societies, has published a book looking back at its 90 years in existence. The CISAC Story – 90 Years in the Service of Authors and Creators Worldwide, was distributed in three languages at the Confederation’s General Assembly last month in Paris.