Turning Promises Of Marrakesh Treaty For Visually Impaired Into Reality 21/11/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment With the recent entry into force of the Marrakesh Treaty providing copyright exceptions for persons with visual impairments, a panel convened alongside last week’s World Intellectual Property Organization copyright committee meeting explored ways to transform the treaty’s promises into reality.
Message To WIPO: Here’s The Assistance We African Inventors Really Need 16/11/2016 by Justus Wanzala for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment NAIROBI, Kenya — Patent protection is a challenge to many an inventor in developing countries. Inventors in most African countries, for instance, are compelled to surmount huge obstacles to protect their inventions. In order to remedy the situation, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in collaboration with the World Economic Forum has launched an Inventor Assistance Programme (IAP). Now, the local inventor community in Kenya has a few words for WIPO on how to expand the programme to make it more effective on the ground. Trust is one of them.
Panel Explores Relation Between Plant Breeders’ Convention And Plant Treaty 16/11/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment When countries belong to several international instruments, some aspects of those instruments may run contradictory to one another. A symposium held recently by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) sought to explore the interrelations between the convention and the international treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Farmers’ rights lie at the intersection of the two treaties and while some find the treaties complementary, some others view them as contradictory on farmers’ rights. Meanwhile, farmers themselves have been blocked from participating in deliberations.
South Centre, FAO Sign Agreement Promoting Tech Transfer, Innovation 15/11/2016 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The intergovernmental South Centre and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation have signed a five-year agreement to help the global south fight malnutrition, reduce poverty, and address climate change consequences. The memorandum of understanding was signed on the margins of the recent climate change discussion held in Marrakesh.
WTO ‘Paragraph 6’ System For Affordable Medicine: Time For Change? 14/11/2016 by Alexandra Nightingale for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A range of practitioners and representatives in the manufacture of medicines, intergovernmental officials, academics and civil society representatives last week gave diverse views on the effectiveness of a waiver to international trade rules intended to ease shipments of affordable medicines to low-income countries.
WTO Members Discuss UN High-Level Report On Medicines Access That WHO Declined To Discuss 10/11/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The World Trade Organization intellectual property committee this week discussed the report of United Nations Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on access to medicines which offered recommendations regarding the use of intellectual property in international trade. Developing countries taking the floor accentuated the use of flexibilities under trade rules, and the World Health Organization gave an overview of how its activities follow the panel’s recommendations, and its future projects. Civil society meanwhile criticised the WHO’s decision to dismiss a request by some developing countries to include discussions on the UN report at the next Executive Board Meeting.
WIPO Development Committee Finds Compromise On Future Work 07/11/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Intellectual Property Organization committee on development last week agreed on a work programme which appears to be the best compromise to keep discussing subjects that developing countries consider as having major importance, such as how WIPO integrates development in its work, how the organisation implements the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and how WIPO delivers technical assistance to developing countries. They will also continue working on a project and a proposal related to technology transfer.
Proposals On How To Better Implement WIPO Development Agenda Recommendations Kept On Agenda 04/11/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Today, the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on development agreed to pursue discussions on how WIPO is implementing the recommendations of its sweeping 2007 Development Agenda. The secretariat is instructed to provide a response to a set of recommendations provided by independent reviewers.
WIPO Committee Agrees To Focus Work To Improve WIPO Technical Assistance 04/11/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on development today agreed on how the committee should continue work on improving WIPO technical assistance to developing countries. For the next six sessions, delegates will work on a proposal for forums and secretariat reports with the aim of raising the accountability and effectiveness of WIPO technical assistance.
WIPO Members Divided On IP Agency’s Role In Implementation Of UN Sustainable Development Goals 02/11/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Countries of the world decided in 2015 to launch an ambitious agenda to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030. What should be the role of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization in the attainment of the adopted United Nations Sustainable Development Goals? This question, discussed at the WIPO Committee on Development and IP, is dividing countries, as developed countries argue that only a few goals apply to the work of WIPO, and others argue that there should be no ‘cherrypicking’ as all the goals in one way or another do apply to WIPO’s work as a UN agency.