WHO Director Tedros Gives Thoughts On Access To Medicines, Gene Editing, Ebola 03/12/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (Dr Tedros) met with United Nations journalists today, in what he said would become a regular end-of-the-year meeting with the press. He gave an update on the ongoing Ebola outbreak and his views on the recent human gene editing by a Chinese researcher, and on the use of gene drive organisms to fight malaria. He also provided his views on access to affordable and safe medicines.
China Pulling The Cart To Propel Global IP Filings To New Heights, Trademarks Skyrocketing – WIPO 03/12/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Global intellectual property filing numbers kept rising unabated in 2017, as China continued to pull the numbers upwards. The World Intellectual Property Indicators 2018, published today, also showed what the head of the World Intellectual Property Organization qualified as extraordinary growth in trademark applications. And he remarked on the increasing importance of intellectual property in the contemporary economy.
Conferences On Medicines Patent Information, Patent Office Cooperation, At WIPO This Week 03/12/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization patent law committee meeting this week will convene two half-day conferences, one on cooperation between patent offices, and the other on publicly accessible databases on patent information on medicines and vaccines. Other topics for discussion will be patents and health, confidentiality of communications between patent applicants and their advisors, quality of patents, and the research exception.
WIPO Copyright Committee Closing Chair’s Text Shows Way Forward On Broadcasting Treaty, Exceptions, Resale Right 30/11/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights concluded its work in a weeklong meeting early today, a rare occurrence, after agreeing on ways forward for a draft treaty on broadcasting, limitations and exceptions for a range of groups such as libraries and educational institutions, and additional topics such as creation of a task force on artists’ resale royalty rights, and upcoming regional meetings. The final chair’s text below shows the details.
CBD Biennial Meeting Closes With Resolutions On Digital Sequence Data, Conflicts Of Interest, Global Benefit-Sharing 30/11/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The biennial meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its protocol on access and benefit-sharing closed yesterday with a list of adopted decisions. Among them was a decision to commission several studies on the impact of digital sequence data on the CBD for a recommendation at the next meeting in 2020. Delegates also agreed on a study to examine cases of genetic resources, and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, not yet covered by the protocol. Also adopted is the first decision on the management and prevention of conflicts of interest in expert groups.
UN Biodiversity Convention Agrees On Precautionary Approach To Synthetic Biology 29/11/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment SHARM El-SHEIKH, Egypt — While the world has been taken by surprise after a Chinese researcher declared he had genetically modified twin babies, and critics are rising from all parts, the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a decision on synthetic biology today at the close of its biennial meeting. The decision which calls for a precautionary approach was hailed by civil society groups which were calling for a moratorium preventing gene drive organisms to be released in the wild.
Do Patent Trolls Exist? Two Studies Reach Different Conclusions (Part 1) 29/11/2018 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment They are called many things. Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs), Patent Trolls, and on occasion, names not suitable in polite company. They often are accused of harming innovation and the economy, while providing nothing useful in return. They, less often, are said to promote innovation, in part by helping small inventors monetize their discoveries. Two recent academic studies attempt to shed light on this dispute, but their findings seem contradictory – at least at first.
Shared Indigenous Knowledge And Benefit-Sharing Needs Particular Attention, Panel Tells CBD 29/11/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment SHARM El-SHEIKH, Egypt — Traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources held by indigenous and local communities is often not confined to one group or one specific geographical location. Displacement whether cultural or forced, political redesigning of borders, and exchanges with other communities have all contributed to the dispersion of that knowledge. This shared knowledge poses an issue in the context of benefit-sharing of commercial benefits on inventions derived from this knowledge. A side event on the side of the biennial meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity looked at how to address shared traditional knowledge.
New Draft Of WIPO Broadcasting Treaty Consolidates Proposals 28/11/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee members last night reach preliminary agreement on a new draft text for a global treaty aimed at protecting broadcasting organisations. A copy of the text is available below.
Gene Editing Divides UN Biodiversity Convention Members On Synthetic Biology Evaluation 28/11/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — After informal closed consultations, a draft decision was issued yesterday on how the UN Convention on Biological Diversity should address potential impacts of synthetic biology, during the biennial conference of the parties taking place this week. The issue of the release of gene drive organisms into the environment was a contentious issue as civil society had been lobbying for a moratorium preventing the release into the wild of those organisms able to wipe out entire species. This morning consensus was still eluding delegates, particularly over the singling out of gene editing in the decision.