UN Climate Change Report Assesses Options For Technology And IP Policy 25/04/2014 by Julia Fraser for Intellectual Property Watch 7 Comments The latest United Nations report on climate change offers advice for international and national intellectual property policies relating to climate change mitigation technology. Although strong IP rights may foster green technology development and transfer in developed countries, there is a lack of evidence to support IP strengthening in developing countries, it concludes.
UPOV Approves ARIPO Draft Legislation Spreading Plant Variety Protection To Africa 15/04/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The African Regional Intellectual Property Office last week obtained a positive decision at the international level on its draft law to protect new varieties of plants. Amid protest from civil society, the regional office now has to adopt the draft law and has said it would convene a diplomatic conference (high-level negotiation) in 2014 in order to do so.
UPOV To Examine ARIPO Legislation On Plant Variety Protection 08/04/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Several committees of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) will meet this week. One of them is called to assess a draft legal framework on plant variety protection from the African Regional Intellectual Property Office (ARIPO). The draft legislation has drawn ire from civil society who charge that it is detrimental to small farmers and who argue that ARIPO does not have legitimacy to become a UPOV member.
Assessment Of Climate Change Data Offers Conflicting Advice On IP 01/04/2014 by Julia Fraser for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment A much-discussed new United Nations report on climate change addresses intellectual property issues and the role of innovation in developing technology and disseminate knowledge for local adaption to climate change.
Final UN Report On Right To Food Calls For Redesign Of World Food System 10/03/2014 by Maëli Astruc for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In a final report before the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) today, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food called for a redesigned world food system to ensure the human right to adequate food and freedom from hunger. This includes some changes to the way intellectual property rights apply to food and agriculture.
Patents Not Best To Protect Traditional Medical Knowledge, Author Says 07/03/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Traditional medical knowledge would be best protected through liability rules instead of patents, according to a book exploring the applicability of intellectual property rights to traditional medical knowledge protection, and in particular if IP rights are suitable to promote the goals of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
IP Rights Impact Practice Of Science, Global Justice, Author Says 26/02/2014 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Intellectual property has a strong effect on the practice of science, leading to a shift in research attention for the benefit of the rich, while impeding access to essential goods for the disadvantaged, according to a recent book.
Year Ahead: Biotech, IP Promise to Create Controversy From Farms To Big Pharma In 2014 25/02/2014 by Liza Porteus Viana, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The intersection of biotechnology and intellectual property continues to be a hot topic across the globe. From the patenting of certain plant varieties to human genes, to biodiversity and food security, to genetic resources, countries from developing to developed are attempting to navigate often blurred lines in terms of what can and cannot be patented, what should – and shouldn’t – be patented, and protecting innovators from farmers to plant breeders to drug manufacturers.
Tobacco Packaging, Green Tech, University IP On Plate Of WTO IP Committee 20/02/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Technology transfer for green technologies, and the compliance with international trade rules of plain packaging for tobacco products will once again be on the agenda of the World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property next week. A new agenda item on university technology partnerships is also expected to be discussed.
WIPO Genetic Resources Text Compiles Differences, Heads To General Assembly 10/02/2014 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Despite spending a week in mostly closed, informal discussions, the World Intellectual Property Organization committee working on the protection of genetic resources, got little closer to breaching the opposing viewpoints. Members managed to produce a draft text – with signs of steps toward a middle ground – that they say can serve as a basis for further discussion on the development of an international instrument preventing wrongful patents.