Pressure Rises On Drug Patents In Brazil 15/05/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Brazil, a developing country leader on international intellectual property issues, has come under pressure at home and abroad over whether to lift domestic patents on foreign pharmaceuticals for AIDS to allow cheaper generic versions to be produced. This week, nearly 200 non-governmental organisations from around the world signed onto a letter urging the Brazilian government […]
Key US Official On TRIPS And Public Health To Step Down 11/05/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Ambassador Linnet Deily, the United States representative to the World Trade Organization, has informed staff that she will be leaving office on June 15, according to a US trade official. Deily, who said she will be returning to the United States to spend more time with family, played a key role in the current round […]
Academic Panel Profiles Benefits of IP for Economic Development 10/05/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment On the coattails of last week’s multi-sided seminar on intellectual property and development at the World Intellectual Property Organisation came a half-day Georgetown University forum on “intellectual property, technology diffusion and economic development.” The Georgetown forum, held in Geneva outside WIPO on the day after the seminar, was largely attended by WIPO personnel and industry […]
Drug Patents Still At Issue In U.S.-Central America Trade Deal 01/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Washington, D.C.–The free trade agreement signed last year by the United States, five Central American nations and the Dominican Republic still faces a tough fight in the U.S. Congress for a number of reasons, one of which remains provisions on the treatment of pharmaceutical patents. Guatemala recently responded to U.S. government and industry pressure by […]
TRIPS Public Health Amendment Deadline Missed 31/03/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Governments negotiating to amend the World Trade Organisation intellectual property agreement to allow countries to export generic pharmaceuticals to other countries in need failed to reach agreement by a 31 March deadline, according to sources in Geneva. The deadline was set last year to replace a 30 August 2003 waiver for countries to manufacture products […]
India’s TRIPS Compliance Effort Could Be Test Case 24/03/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment In what could be seen as a “test case” for the balance between intellectual property protection and the promotion of public health, the Indian government today appeared to meet a World Trade Organisation obligation by passing a law on the protection of pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical patents. But the Indian Parliament made a number of […]
Talks On TRIPS and Health Stall As Deadline Nears 21/03/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Negotiations to expand the availability of medicines under a World Trade Organisation agreement on intellectual property rights by 31 March broke down Monday after informal consultations showed no compromise forthcoming, according to diplomatic sources in Geneva. At issue is an amendment of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to allow […]
Officials Make Incremental Progress In TRIPS Talks 15/03/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Officials negotiating to implement and update a 10-year-old agreement on intellectual property rights at the World Trade Organisation made a little progress toward that goal last week, according to official sources in Geneva. While small gains on the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) are hard-fought, the outcome of several days […]
Clash Continues On U.S.-Central America Trade Deal 01/03/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Protection of pharmaceutical patents may not be the biggest reason the Bush administration is struggling to line up congressional votes for a free trade agreement with five Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, but it remains critical to its passage. The issue pits two sides against each other within a larger, ongoing struggle to […]
The Domino Effect of US FTAs: Public Health Groups, Members of Congress claim CAFTA will choke Access to Medicines 04/11/2004 by Isabelle Scherer for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Recent efforts to rally Congress to approve a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) reached earlier this year with Central American countries has reignited debate about USTR’s approach to intellectual property and the implications for access to essential medicines. The Agreement with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua was reached in May 2004 and supplemented […]