“We Are Here Today To Be Optimistic”: Stories And Advice From Women In IP 04/10/2016 by Alexandra Nightingale for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Under the banner of “inclusive trade,” last week’s World Trade Organization Public Forum hosted an array of sessions to discuss how a wider range of individuals and businesses can participate in the trading system. One prominent subject of discussion therein is how women can overcome the constraints and obstacles preventing them from accessing and obtaining the benefits of trade, and participate more fully in the field of intellectual property.
Time To Talk Digital Issues At WTO With Focus On Developing Countries, Forum Hears 30/09/2016 by Peter Kenny for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Now is the time for those who want to bring new voices to the digital trade and general trade debate involving the World Trade Organization, says an adviser to a leading security think tank in Switzerland.
UN Panel Report On Access To Medicines Seen As Holding Potential For Change 29/09/2016 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment NEW YORK – Speakers at a side event to the United Nations General Assembly last week commended a new report on access to medicines prepared by a high-level panel hand-chosen by the UN secretary general as containing fresh ideas and the potential to bring change to a longstanding problem.
Albania, Montenegro Amend IP Legislation With EU Bids In Mind 19/09/2016 by Jaroslaw Adamowski for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment In a bid to push forward their ongoing membership negotiations with the European Union, two Balkan States have moved to further harmonise their intellectual property regulations in line with EU legislation. Albania’s new copyright law will enter into force this October, and Montenegro’s amended legislation on trademarks, industrial design and topographies of semiconductor products entered into force last July.
UN High-Level Panel On Access To Medicines Issues “Landmark” Report 14/09/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 10 Comments The long-awaited report by the United Nations High Level Panel on Access to Medicines was released today, making many recommendations. The panel calls for countries to embrace the policy space available in the World Trade Organization intellectual property rules, and invest more in health. It also calls for negotiation of a binding international treaty on research and development, delinking prices from R&D costs, greater transparency in drug pricing, public health impact assessments in free trade agreements, and encouragement to better use international legal tools available to countries to ensure affordable medical products. And it lays out the path ahead, calling for several new bodies to be created to take recommendations forward. [Note: story is being continuously updated during the day, now adding industry response]
Kenya In Drive To Get Artisans, Designers To Embrace IP 13/09/2016 by Maina Waruru for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment NAIROBI, Kenya — At a market stall in Kariokor some 300 metres from Kenya’s capital Nairobi city centre, Stephen Musyoka is busy at work making covers for handwoven baskets, a traditional sisal fibre shopping basket known as Kiondo made by older women from different communities in Kenya.
Global Brand Offers Window Into Africa’s Intellectual Property Rights 09/09/2016 by Munyaradzi Makoni for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment CAPE TOWN, South Africa — For 30 years, Nandos, a South African, Portuguese-themed eatery, has made its brand, poking fun at politicians, laughing at the madcaps of society, throwing innuendos with joyful abandon and filling tummies with peri-peri chicken.
Specialized IP Courts: Recognizing Country-Specific Needs Is Complex 08/09/2016 by Alexandra Nightingale for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment In light of the growing global “innovation market” and the rapid development of technologies, countries have reviewed and modernised their judicial systems to address the increase in intellectual property issues. Notably, the establishment of specialized IP courts has been a prominent feature of judicial mechanisms to resolve IP disputes.
UNITAID Issues Call For Solutions To Overcome IP Barriers 06/09/2016 by Alexandra Nightingale for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments UNITAID, the drug financing mechanism, has put out an appeal calling for ideas on solutions to overcome intellectual property barriers that may be preventing progress in public health. The deadline for submissions is coming near.
WHO Experts Seek To Have Its Flu Framework Recognised Under Nagoya Protocol 02/09/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Will an international instrument protecting genetic resources get in the way of the world’s preparedness to fend off the next influenza pandemic? This is one of the questions left open for a group of experts reviewing the World Health Organization Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework. Meanwhile, one stakeholder is claiming to have been denied full and fair participation.