Report Explains Rapid Rise In Chinese Patents; Compares Innovation Quotient 11/12/2014 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 10 Comments China has been filing patents at far greater rates than any other nation on earth in recent years. This week, a Thomson Reuters report broke down that growth and compared it with other leading nations on the basis of innovation.
Will India, US Bridge Divide Over Intellectual Property Rights? 10/12/2014 by Patralekha Chatterjee for Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments There is an uptick in India-United States relations. US President Barack Obama will be in India in January as the chief guest at the country’s Republic Day Parade. Obama, who hosted India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington in September, will become the first US president to attend such a celebration, a display of India’s military might and ethnic diversity, as well as the first to visit India twice while in office.
Limitations And Exceptions For Libraries, Archives And Education At WIPO: What To Know About The Africa Group Proposal 10/12/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The 29th Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights at the World Intellectual Property Organization is currently underway. On the agenda, inter alia, will be discussions on Limitations and Exceptions to Libraries, Archives and Educational, Teaching and Research Institutions. Against the backdrop of the success with the Marrakesh Treaty, the trajectory looks set for these further exceptions and limitations to succeed.
Draft UN Post-2015 Development Goals: Future Must Not Be ‘Business As Usual’, Including IP Rights 07/12/2014 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Last week’s United Nations draft report for the post-2015 sustainable development goals under negotiation calls for continued progress toward sweeping improvements in the lives of all people and the health of the planet, including ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected but do not get in the way.
WIPO Committee On Development Solves Two Standing Issues, Breaks Cycle Of Disagreement 15/11/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments After months of repeated difficulties in WIPO committees plagued by stalled decisions or inability to agree on future work, the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) appears to have turned the odds and managed to agree on two longstanding issues.
WIPO’s Assistance To Developing Countries: Taking Forward The Unfinished Reform Agenda 13/11/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Dr. Carolyn Deere Birkbeck writes: At this week’s Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), WIPO Member States continue to debate next steps on the unprecedented 2011 External Review of WIPO’s assistance to developing countries. With a new Deputy Director General for the WIPO’s Development Sector due to start work this December, the prospect of new leadership also marks a time for Members to provide clear direction. They should act this week and in the coming months to set clear priorities for the Secretariat – and for themselves – that would give greater focus to the ongoing work of improving WIPO’s development cooperation activities, and to establish a mechanism for monitoring progress.
African IP Body Steps Up Regional Effort To Adopt Plant Protection Protocol 13/11/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), with the help of the United States and an international plant variety organisation, is working to grow regional support for a controversial draft law. The draft protocol would boost protection for new plant varieties, despite concerns of local civil society that it would not be in the best interest of ARIPO members’ food security due to its potential impact on small farmers. ARIPO held a regional workshop on the issue in recent weeks in part to build support for a treaty negotiation to lock in these protections.
Zephyr Of Hope For Longstanding Issues At WIPO Committee On Development And IP 13/11/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A lighter mood seems to have set in at the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), after a year of what was qualified as a cycle of disagreements by some. Although delegates reiterated previous positions on some longstanding agenda items, some middle-ground alternatives seem to have gained attention.
WIPO Committee On Development And IP Opens With Overloaded Agenda 10/11/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) opened today with a heavy agenda and open issues that carried over from past sessions. In particular, delegates are expected to find agreement on a list of speakers, which would unlock the convening of an international conference on IP and development. They also must agree on the terms of reference of an independent review of WIPO’s implementation of the 45 Recommendations of the 2007 Development Agenda.
TRIPS Council Next Week: Tobacco, Innovation, Non-Violations, Public Health Review 22/10/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The next meeting of the World Trade Organization Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is scheduled to take place on 28-29 October. In addition to the regular agenda items of the Council, two additional agenda items have been submitted by members, relating to tobacco plain packaging and innovation. Image Credits: Catherine Saez