EU Commissioner To Boost IP Focus, Seek Last Push For Community Patent 13/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment BRUSSELS – The European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Charlie McCreevy, this week said he will pay “particular attention” to intellectual property rights during the coming year, including one last drive to create a European Community patent. “I will go for one big last push for the Community patent,” he told a 12 July […]
Idris’s Age Corrected At WIPO Amidst Speculation Of Benefit-Seeking 13/07/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Kamil Idris, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, has acted to correct his age as it is recorded at WIPO after 20 years, setting off speculation that he stands to gain handsomely from the change. In addition, some governments and others are checking for instances of his misreporting to determine whether there was […]
WIPO Committee Set To Approve Reports On Budget, Construction, Personnel 12/07/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The powerful Programme and Budget Committee (PBC) of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week appears to be in agreement with WIPO management on several critical and previously contentious endeavours. At the sparsely attended first day of the 11-13 July PBC meeting, members appeared to generally agree with proposals from WIPO, according to participants. These […]
European Commission Fines Microsoft €280.5 Million In Antitrust Case 12/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment BRUSSELS – The European Commission today fined Microsoft €280.5 million ($356.35 million) for failing to comply with a 2004 Commission request to provide documents that would make it easier for other companies to develop products that would be interoperable with Microsoft’s products. This is the first time in the European Union’s 49-year-long history that it […]
MSF: Patent Monopoly Hinders Developing Countries’ Access To New HIV/AIDS Medicine 06/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A monopoly by a single pharmaceutical company on a new medicine for HIV/AIDS has limited access to the medicine to a select group of patients in developing countries, a non-profit group said today. The product is lopinavir/ritonavir (Kaletra) and is only produced by the pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories, which holds the patent for the product, […]
Key Personnel Changes Coming At EU, Japan, US Delegations In Geneva 03/07/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Key negotiators on intellectual property rights from the European Commission, Japan, and the United States have announced they will be leaving their Geneva posts this summer. The nations represented by these negotiators account for the vast majority of the world’s intellectual property. After three years as intellectual property attaché at the US Mission to the […]
WIPO Development Agenda Talks End With No Agreement For Now 30/06/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment By William New and Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen After two week-long meetings and intensive consultations during the year, talks on bolstering the development perspective of the World Intellectual Property Organization ended today with no agreement, sending proposals back to the UN body’s annual meeting of member states in September. But a continuation of the debate […]
WIPO Development Agenda Negotiation Hits Rocks 29/06/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Negotiations for the infusion of a stronger development mandate into the work of the World Intellectual Property Organization may have hit a wall today after key proponent governments called for an end to talks to protest unfair treatment of their proposals. If over for now, the issue would be passed to the WIPO General Assembly, […]
WIPO Members To Seek Agreement On Development Agenda 24/06/2006 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment As they head into the final scheduled meeting of the year on a proposed development-oriented reform of the World Intellectual Property Organization, member governments are looking for agreement on how to proceed – this week and in the future. Officials interviewed on 23 June revealed that deep divisions remain heading into the 26-30 June meeting […]
WHO Intergovernmental Working Group On IP Ready “In Days” 23/06/2006 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment An intergovernmental working group on intellectual property rights mandated by the May World Health Assembly is expected to be set up “in the next few days,” according to World Health Organization sources. The WHA resolution adopted in May called for the committee to be created “immediately,” and supporters are getting eager to see the issue […]