Nations Begin Signing Protocol On Biodiversity Access And Benefit-Sharing 07/02/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Four developing countries have signed a recently completed international agreement on access to genetic resources and the fair retribution of benefits accrued from those resources. The protocol opened for signature in New York last week and efforts are underway to set up an information clearinghouse.
WHO R&D Financing Committee Approved With Controversial Industry Expert 22/01/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments World Health Organization members yesterday struck a compromise allowing a Swiss industry representative to sit on a committee selecting proposals for research and developing financing for neglected diseases, disregarding the fact that he is author of one of the proposals. Special safeguards were added to prevent undue influence, but questions remain for some about a conflict of interest.
WHO Future In Question; Debate Over Industry Representation 17/01/2011 by Catherine Saez and William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments A seemingly overworked and impoverished World Health Organization opened its Executive Board session today with calls for reform amid deep concerns about its financial future. Meanwhile, dissension arose over an industry representative named by the WHO secretariat to a new research and development funding working group, sparking the WHO director general to cast doubt on the role of industry in such groups.
Fair Usage In Caribbean Intellectual Property 16/01/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch 4 Comments A panoramic view of the IP situation in the Caribbean would present to the observer a carnival of Olympic size replete with politicians, diplomats, rights advocates, consumer groups, law enforcement, and impotent jurists, all gyrating discordantly to the WIPO band while Caribbean citizens look on, or are pulled or shoved in, writes Abiola Inniss.
Patent On AIDS Medicine Denied In India; Seen Unlocking Market 04/01/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A decision by the Indian Patent Office to reject a patent on an AIDS drug last week has drawn acclaim from civil society and Indian generic pharmaceutical industries. The decision was not based on a controversial article of Indian law aimed at preventing patent extensions but rather on the grounds of non-inventiveness. Abbott Laboratories, meanwhile, presented Intellectual Property Watch with justification for its Indian patent request.
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.