UN Body Offers Guidance To Governments On Boosting IP Systems 30/07/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New The World Intellectual Property Organization may be the biggest United Nations agency in Geneva working on IP issues, but another body also has taken up the effort. And in a recent conference held by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), panels of experts informed officials from economies in transition about technology […]
Europe Takes IP Enforcement Build-up To Intergovernmental Channels 30/07/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New Advanced European countries are increasingly looking for channels to school their neighbours and worldwide free-trade agreement partners on the enforcement of western-style intellectual property rights. And in order to get them to bite, officials are promoting the benefits to countries themselves of creating and protecting their own ideas. Now an effort is […]
WIPO TK Committee Moves To Consultations To Map Out Future Work 11/07/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen With a day remaining in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) committee meeting on traditional knowledge and genetic resources, the chair has moved to informal consultations with regional coordinators to discuss the future of the committee, whose mandate expires this year. Meanwhile, the African Group has submitted a new paper […]
China, India Discuss National IP Strategies, Local Innovation 06/07/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen Officials from the governments of China and India discussed challenges in developing national strategies for intellectual property and innovation at a recent colloquium, but common to both countries were aims to boost local innovation by stressing research, and build on technology transfer. Patent applications seem to be on the rise […]
US To Seek 15 Percent Cut In WIPO Patent Fees; Idris Age Debated 20/06/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New The United States is proposing a patent fee cut at the World Intellectual Property Organization in light of a sizeable financial surplus at the United Nations organization. The proposal is included in materials for the 25-28 June WIPO Program and Budget Committee (PBC) meeting, which may also address an internal “desk-to-desk” review […]
WIPO Committee Reaches Breakthrough Agreements On Development Agenda 15/06/2007 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By William New with Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen A World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) committee negotiating proposals this week for a stronger development focus at WIPO appeared to be on track to finishing work by meeting’s end Friday, though some hurdles remained. At press time, breakthrough agreements had been reached on contentious issues such as […]
Negotiators Agree To Add Access To Knowledge To WIPO Mandate 14/06/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen World Intellectual Property Organization members negotiating development-related proposals for WIPO’s future mandate reached preliminary agreement on several more key issues Thursday, including access to knowledge and exceptions and limitations. Agreement came after lengthy talks on what officials described as the most difficult area of the negotiations, which are expected to […]
Countries Get Set For Second WIPO Development Agenda Meeting 08/06/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen with William New Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are gearing up for the second and final meeting next week of a committee addressing proposals to increase the development orientation of WIPO’s mandate. A preparatory meeting in Singapore and several non-papers have set the stage for a key […]
G8 Summit Agrees On Africa Declaration With Weakened TRIPS Language 08/06/2007 by Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Tove Iren S. Gerhardsen The Group of Eight (G8) final declaration on “growth and responsibility” in Africa is being met with initial reactions from observers that it contains a weaker approach to address patents and medicines to ensure “universal access.” Discussions about patents and medicines in any forum appear to lead to the World […]
G8 Summit Strengthens IP Protection; May Undercut Compulsory Licensing 07/06/2007 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch, and Tove Gerhardsen The strengthening of intellectual property rights protection in “a new dialogue” between Group of 8 and emerging economies moderated by the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the possible establishment of an “IPR Task Force focussing on anti-counterfeiting and piracy” are among decisions […]