Top IP-Watch Stories Of 2010: Copyright Fights, ACTA, Medicines Access 30/12/2010 by William New and Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment At Intellectual Property Watch, a list of the top 25 posts of 2010 reveals your – our readers’ – top interests and tells the tale of the past year. It also is a reminder that quality reporting needs support. Please subscribe to IP-Watch via our website, or contact the director at wnew@ip-watch.ch.
Nations Closer To Pandemic Vaccine Framework, Key Negotiator Says 24/12/2010 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment There could be some good news in 2011 for poor populations concerned about the impact of devastating pandemic diseases. Nations last week reached some breakthroughs behind closed doors in the sensitive international negotiations on finding a way to ensure all global citizens can obtain vaccines in the face of pandemics, according to a leading official in the talks. But some observers said problems remain in establishing clear rules for fair access and benefit-sharing of viruses and vaccines.
US Industrial Policies, R&D, And The WTO’s Definition Of Non-Actionable Subsidies 23/12/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The US organizes a sophisticated industrial policy regime by exploiting an exception in the World Trade Organization agreement that allows governments to subsidize research and development carried out by private firms, writes Professor Fred Block.
US Ambassador: Over-Focus On Development “Will Kill” WIPO 17/12/2010 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments The World Intellectual Property Organization is headed in a controversial direction, and a focus on development at the expense of protection of intellectual property rights will mean the end of the agency, the United States Ambassador Betty King said yesterday.
US Ambassador In Geneva Defends Secrecy In UN Pandemics Negotiations 17/12/2010 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The United States Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva this week offered a frank assessment of the UN system of dealing with pandemic diseases, and defended the need for governments to negotiate in secret to work out remaining differences.
Efforts To Limit Effects Of TRIPS In India Might Not Be Working, Study Says 17/12/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Strategies may be failing to ensure developing countries’ implementation of global trade rules for intellectual property protection does not squelch access to affordable medicines worldwide, according to a study presented this week.
WIPO’s Gurry Says ‘Crisis In Multilateralism’ Bringing Changes To IP 17/12/2010 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The rapid pace of technology and dramatic shifts in the global economy will bring change to the multilateral structure set up after the Second World War, and these changes will affect the intellectual property system, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry said this week.
UN Climate Talks Find Make-Do Solution; IP Rights Dismissed 14/12/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The United Nations climate change conference closed at dawn last Saturday, with a make-do package of decisions advantageously labelled the “Cancun Agreements”. Intellectual property rights have all but disappeared from the texts as Bolivia stood alone in disagreement and was shush-gavelled.
Europe Told Of Obligations On Virus Benefit-Sharing 14/12/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In what may be the first legal reference to newly adopted international rules on sharing the benefits of and access to genetic resources, non-governmental groups have sent letters to top European health officials reminding them of these obligations in the context of influenza viruses and access to vaccines – a topic under debate this week at the World Health Organization.
IP Issues In Shadows At Climate Change Conference 10/12/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment As delegates in Cancun, Mexico, neared the end of their search this week for consensus on how to stop climate change, intellectual property issues were being set aside for later.