WHO Members Near Deal On Framework For Influenza Pandemics 15/04/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment World Health Organization members trying this week to agree on elements of a framework for helping the world address the next influenza pandemic headed into the final night of the meeting in intensive negotiations. At press time, negotiations were focused on specifics of standard agreements for the transfer of genetic materials related to flu virus strains.
Superconductivity Is Celebrated This Year, Further Work Needed To Tame It 09/04/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A hundred years ago, Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and his student Gilles Holst discovered a property that was to launch decades of fervent research to understand the phenomenon: Superconductivity. Today, researchers are still trying to find ways to use this remarkable property, but are celebrating the centenary of its discovery.
UN Agencies Encourage Use Of WTO Measures To Lower HIV Medicines Costs 15/03/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Three United Nations agencies have joined together to explain to their member countries the little-understood but hard-won flexibilities to applying stiff international intellectual property rules. The focus of the new policy brief is on improving access to HIV treatment, and it offers a series of actions for governments and international organisations.
Caribbean IP: Establishing An Arbitral Tribunal For The Region 11/03/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments The use of arbitration across the Caribbean has been largely within the context of trade union disputes and is still something of a novelty in resolving commercial and private disputes in the region, Abiola Inniss writes.
Medicines Patent Pool Aims To Increase Access To HIV Drugs In Developing Countries 10/03/2011 by Tavengwa Runyowa for Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments The newly created Medicines Patent Pool promises to increase access to HIV/AIDS medications in developing markets. Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the pool operates a scheme in which pharmaceutical patent holders voluntarily licence their drugs to generic manufacturers who then produce more affordable versions for patients in poorer countries
Canada Considers Amendment To Compulsory Licensing Regime For Medicines Access 08/03/2011 by Tavengwa Runyowa for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The Canadian Parliament is on the verge of amending the nation’s patent regime to make it easier for generic drug companies to provide low-cost HIV medications for developing countries.
Panel: Help Needed With IP Implications Of Nagoya Protocol On Genetic Resources 07/03/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment The new international agreement on access and benefit-sharing of genetic resources has many IP implications, according to panellists at an event last week. And at least one United Nations agency is launching an effort to help countries with those IP implications.
In Brazil And The IP World, It’s Tropicalization Time! 04/03/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Benny Spiewak writes: There used to be a time when Brazil meant almost exclusively Carnival, Samba and Soccer. Well, those days are over and there is an undeniable message that will echo through the knowledge-based, creative, innovative world: Wake-Up, World, It’s Tropicalization Time!
Pharma Backs Calls For Extension Of TRIPS Deadline For Least-Developed Countries 10/02/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Developed country pharmaceutical companies today announced their support for an extension of the deadline for poor countries to comply with a global trade agreement on intellectual property rights that would significantly raise their obligations to protect IP. The extension idea has been proposed by the United Kingdom government in a new trade strategy document.
New Biodiversity Benefit-Sharing Protocol Relies On National Rules, Experts Say 07/02/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment PARIS – The recently agreed international instrument to facilitate access to genetic resources and the equitable sharing of benefits accrued from those resources opened for signature last week, and the text is already getting mixed reviews from stakeholders.