Burdened With Brackets, Biodiversity ABS Protocol Needs Political Will To Survive 28/09/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Substantive progress eluded the negotiators of a draft protocol on biodiversity access and benefit sharing last week in Montreal, according to participating sources. The third attempt at finding consensus on key aspects of the text was unsuccessful and negotiations will carry on at the major United Nations meeting on biodiversity next month in Japan.
The Realities Of Traditional Knowledge And Patents in India 27/09/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments India’s laws on traditional knowledge are yielding interesting positive and negative results, writes Mohan Dewan.
Ambassadors Meet Outside WTO To Discuss TRIPS Negotiations 24/09/2010 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments More than a dozen ambassadors to the World Trade Organization met today at the New Zealand mission in Geneva to discuss the state of negotiations related to intellectual property rights and trade.
Coherence Needed To Avoid Multilateral Legal Swamp, WTO Told 22/09/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The multilateral system with its different agencies dealing with specific areas is sometimes seen as incoherent in global negotiations and norm-setting as there are overlaps in competency, definition and scope, according to speakers at a side event to the recent World Trade Organization Public Forum.
African Traditional Knowledge And Folklore Given IP Protection Despite Warning Of TK Commodification 12/09/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments Some African nations signed a protocol on the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore at the beginning of August gaining the praise of the World Intellectual Property Organization. However, a United Nations report launched in January warned against the application of western legal and economic principles to collectively owned knowledge in traditional communities.
US Looking For New Tack On IP Rights With BRIC Countries 03/09/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Developed countries are looking for ways to address the ongoing lack of intellectual property enforcement and efforts to bypass international trade obligations in the four biggest emerging global economies, as well as emulation of this behaviour by other emerging economies in particular as the four countries have a stronger voice in international fora, a panel of United States trade experts said this week.
The Future Of Biotechnology Patents In The European Union 17/08/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A recent Court of Justice of the European Union opinion in Monsanto Technology LLC v. Cefetra BV et al. may unintentionally inflict serious economic harm on the European biotechnology industry, argue industry attorneys Richard Peet, Vid Mohan-Ram, and Philippe Vlaemminck.
International Experts See Backswing In Pendulum Of Biological Patenting 21/07/2010 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments MUNICH – Some experts in Europe are coming to agreement that a tipping point might have been reached with regard to biological patents. At a conference organised this week by the “no patents on seeds” initiative on the eve of a public hearing of the European Patent Office on cases involving the patenting of broccoli and tomatoes, non-governmental representatives and farmers associations from Europe and elsewhere said there were detectable changes in American jurisprudence and European governments seem to be rethinking the biopatent issue.
Consensus On Binding Biodiversity Agreement Elusive, To Reconvene in September 20/07/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A last-chance negotiation of a draft protocol text on biodiversity access and benefit-sharing has been given yet another chance as delegates parted ways on Friday in Montreal without an agreement but with a tentative plan to reconvene to try to tie it up before a major UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting in October.
AIDS Conference Campaigns For International Focus, Funding and Research 19/07/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The 18th International AIDS conference opened its doors in Vienna on Sunday with a purpose of keeping the HIV issue high among international priorities in the context of a global economic crisis, and to promote universal access to treatment.