Saudis Seek Alternative Energy Partners Through WIPO Green Program 20/03/2019 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The government of oil-dependent Saudi Arabia has posted a series of requests for proposals for renewable energy technology partnerships via the World Intellectual Property Organization “Green” initiative that provides a marketplace for IP-protected products related to the environment.
Innovation And Regulation Of Gene-Edited Vegetables: An Interview With IP Lawyer Chris Holly 05/03/2019 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Chris Holly is a practicing intellectual property lawyer with extensive experience helping clients leverage IP portfolios in the agriculture, food, microbiology and biotechnology industries. Intellectual Property Watch’s David Branigan interviewed Holly to gain his perspective on the technological, regulatory and intellectual property considerations of next generation plant breeding techniques, in particular those that involve gene editing using CRISPR technology.
Asian NGOs Raise Concern Over IP And Seeds In RCEP Trade Deal 26/02/2019 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement under negotiation among Asia and Pacific nations must not include measures that would undercut countries’ ability to protect diverse local farming systems and sustainable plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, a range of Asian nongovernmental organisations argue. Groups in India, Malaysia and the Philippines this week specifically called for the RCEP not to include the high-level protections under the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).
TRIPS Council To Look At IP And The Public Interest, Business Interest 11/02/2019 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The World Trade Organization is the prime gathering point for the world’s governments to discuss and negotiate on policies of the day. A decades-long swinging pendulum within the WTO’s committee on trade and intellectual property is IP’s contribution to innovation and economy and its contribution to the public interest. At its meeting this week, the committee will feature discussions on both.
“Biopiracy” On The High Seas? Countries Launch Negotiation Towards A New International Legally Binding Instrument On Marine Genetic Resources In Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction 14/12/2018 by Intellectual Property Watch, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Wend Wendland writes: Countries have begun to negotiate a new international legally binding instrument on marine genetic resources in the high seas. The negotiation is an opportunity for countries to re-think existing frameworks which regulate access to and benefit-sharing in genetic resources. Countries have divergent views on if and how IP issues should be addressed in the new instrument. Developing countries have an interest in the establishment of mechanisms for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from research into marine genetic resources and for the transfer of marine technologies. IP issues are relevant in both cases.
Indigenous IP And Climate Change Subject Of New Book 12/12/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment As this week opened with a meeting of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee working on the protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, a new book was released that looks into indigenous rights and indigenous intellectual property, in the context of the Paris Agreement. The book also looks into Tesla’s open innovation strategy.
Traditional Knowledge, Folklore: How To Protect Them From Misappropriation – This Week At WIPO 10/12/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The ways to protect traditional knowledge and folklore against misuse and misappropriation are under discussion this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Member states are trying to find consensus on draft articles of a potential treaty, with a focus on core subjects, such as the scope of protection, and definition. Meanwhile, the fund which allows indigenous peoples to participate in the discussion is depleted, as calls for contributions have remained unanswered and some countries have refused in the past to allow WIPO’s ample revenues to pay for them.
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.
Economically Sound And Fair Global Genetics Benefit-Sharing System Possible, Panellists Say 29/11/2018 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — UN Convention on Biological Diversity members were trying this week to address questions that were left open when its protocol on access and benefit-sharing was adopted eight years ago. One of them is how to deal with genetic resources which are not yet covered by the protocol. A side event to the biennial conference of CBD members this week presented a solution, which they say could provide a more efficient, cost-effective and fairer system of access and benefit-sharing, based on inventions protected by intellectual property rights.
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.
