High Expectations This Week For Progress On Exceptions And Limitations At WIPO 22/06/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Limitations and exceptions are once again a major topic at the UN intellectual property organisation’s meeting on copyrights and related rights. Delegations this week are discussing several draft proposals to improve access, in particular for visually impaired people, each with their own set of recommendation. With a fourth and new proposal from the African countries on the table, delegates are meeting to try to find common ground, raising the expectations of civil society.
Comparative Analysis Shows US Patent Office Scores Poorly On Patent Quality 18/06/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Quality across patent systems has been understudied but a new methodology put forward by the former chief economist of the European Patent Office suggests that the EPO provides higher quality services than its United States and Japan counterparts. Efforts at collaborative work between patent offices are being made but mutual recognition might not be possible or desirable without some harmonisation in the way the different systems operate.
Questions Arise On Value Of GIs For Poor Countries; Register Stuck At WTO 14/06/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments While World Trade Organization members met with their usual stasis last week on a mandated register for geographical indications, industry proponents of GIs continued lobbying to raise the awareness of delegates of countries not historically concerned with this form of intellectual property protection.
The Biosimilars Pathway: An Invitation To Litigation 11/06/2010 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Lynn C. Tyler writes: The litigation provisions of the recently-enacted legislation establishing a pathway to bring biosimilars to market contain “patent” ambiguities in key areas, particularly whether the various lists of patents to be litigated are exclusive. Courts will have to resolve these issues over the next several years, likely at great (and unnecessary) expense and uncertainty to litigants.
FIFA, Vuvuzelas And Facebook: The Global Trophy Of IP Protection 11/06/2010 by Emma Broster for Intellectual Property Watch and Cheikh Kane for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment In the run-up to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in South Africa, sometimes described as the biggest marketing event in the world, there have been a number of instances where FIFA and local businesses have conflicted over the use of terms to advertise their products.
Health Waiver, IP Enforcement Discussed At Lively WTO TRIPS Council Meeting 10/06/2010 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments After two days of lively discussion, members of a World Trade Organization committee this week agreed to devote a day in October to an in-depth discussion on a waiver to WTO intellectual property rules aimed at boosting access to medicines for poor countries. In addition, some member countries presented concerns about the possible effect of a global enforcement push by developed countries and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) under negotiation outside WTO, while ACTA proponent countries sought to allay fears.
New Business Models Proposed In Debate On EU Culture And Copyright 09/06/2010 by David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments BRUSSELS – Small fees for internet users could be used to pay musicians and other artists for the dissemination of copyright-protected work online, a Brussels conference has been told.
UNITAID-Backed Patent Pool Final; Drug Licence Talks Can Begin 08/06/2010 by William New and Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 9 Comments The final step in the establishment of a patent pool under international drug-purchasing mechanism UNITAID was taken today, the UN body announced.
WHO’s Chan Responds To Allegations Of Misconduct On Flu Pandemic 08/06/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment “At no time, not for one second, did commercial interests enter my decision-making,” Director General Margaret Chan of the World Health Organization declaration in a letter today defending the organisation’s increasingly scrutinised response to an outbreak of H1N1, or ‘swine flu.’
New Rwanda IP Policy Taps Information For Development 08/06/2010 by Kaitlin Mara for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment “Information is the lifeblood of development,” says the government of Rwanda in a recently-adopted intellectual property policy, part of the country’s comprehensive development strategy. The new policy attempts to integrate Rwanda into the international IP system while simultaneously safeguarding the freedom it needs to drive its own innovation system.