International Health Groups Warn WHO, WTO On Medicines Seizures 21/02/2009 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 7 Comments Leading international public health advocates have sent letters to the heads of the World Health Organization and World Trade Organization calling on them to act to prevent possible circumvention of international trade rules for intellectual property rights relating to shipments of legal generic drugs bound for developing countries.
US Congressional, USPTO Officials See Geneva Policymaking Up Close 19/02/2009 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A small group of United States congressional staff and officials from the Obama administration working on intellectual property issues were in Geneva this week to discuss IP policy with representatives of intergovernmental organisations and industry, according to sources.
Strong EU Trade Provisions On IP Seen As Threat To Poor Nations’ Medicines Access 18/02/2009 by David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments BRUSSELS – Efforts by the European Union to insert strong provisions on pharmaceutical patents in a series of free trade agreements it is negotiating could imperil access to medicines in developing countries, global public health activists have alleged. As part of trade talks being conducted with India, Colombia, Peru and a regional grouping in south-east Asia, EU officials have proposed that drug-makers should benefit from a robust intellectual property regime. National regulatory authorities in the countries concerned would be prevented for lengthy periods from using data provided by a company that holds a drug patent in order to authorise a generic version of that medicine.
US Debates Patent Exam Deferrals; Patent Reform Bill Expected This Year 13/02/2009 by Liza Porteus Viana, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is considering a deferred-examination procedure to help reduce the backlog of the more than 770 million patent applications that have not yet been looked at. And the US Congress may be willing to help give the agency the authority to do so in this year’s patent-reform legislation.
Taubman Of WIPO Picked To Head WTO IP Division 04/02/2009 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Kaitlin Mara and William New Antony Taubman, acting director and head of the Global Intellectual Property Issues Division at the World Intellectual Property Organization, has been named to the top IP position at the World Trade Organization, the WTO has confirmed.
Concern Erupts Over WTO System And Medicines Shipments; TRIPS Talks Rekindling 03/02/2009 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 8 Comments By William New The ambassadors to the World Trade Organization from Brazil and India on Tuesday charged that other WTO members had no grounds to block legitimate shipping of generic medicines on the basis of potential intellectual property rights conflicts in the transit country and said recent cases of doing so in the Netherlands call […]
WIPO Ponders New Negotiating Style; DDG Positions Opening; Patent Filings Falter 29/01/2009 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New The World Intellectual Property Organization saw record patent filings again in 2008, but the rate of growth is slowing, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the WIPO secretariat is privately exploring with member governments ways to break through a longstanding deadlock in policy negotiations underway at the UN institution, and […]
WHO Global Strategy On IP And Health Considered, Implementation Advances 28/01/2009 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Kaitlin Mara Progress made on the World Health Organization strategy on public health and innovation was highlighted to WHO members on Saturday, including the production of a key budgeting document detailing timeframes and estimated costs of implementing the strategy. The Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property was discussed […]
Proposed EU Copyright Term Extension Faces Vocal Opposition In Parliament 27/01/2009 by David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch 8 Comments By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch BRUSSELS – Strong opposition is being voiced by members of the European Parliament over plans to extend the copyright protection applying to sound recordings from 50 to 95 years. Both left and right-leaning Parliament members (MEPs) have signalled that they intend to vote against the proposed extension at […]
Hope For Consensus On WHO And Counterfeits Moves To May Assembly 27/01/2009 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By Kaitlin Mara A World Health Organization report and draft resolution on counterfeit medical products drew energetic debate last week, though no compromise has yet been found to bridge disagreements over the consultation process behind the counterfeit report and over the risk of confusing intellectual property violations with potentially dangerous misrepresentation of medicines. Members agreed […]