UNCTAD Conference Opens With High-Level Calls For Action On Trade And Development 18/07/2016 by Fredrick Nzwili for Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments NAIROBI, Kenya (IP-Watch) – The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 14th Session opened here yesterday, with leaders calling for deeper and broader cooperation between trade and development.
For UNCTAD Ministerial, NGOs Call For Development Focus, Not Trade Rules Enforcement 14/07/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Days before a major meeting of the governing body of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), over 100 non-governmental organisations worldwide are calling for the organisation to maintain its development role and not help implement international and regional trade rules.
V4 Countries Launch Visegrad Patent Institute As Region’s First ISA, IPEA 08/07/2016 by Jaroslaw Adamowski for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment With the aim of strengthening regional cooperation in intellectual property, the four member states of the Visegrad Group, which comprises Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, launched the Visegrad Patent Institute (VPI) on 1 July. Applicants will be allowed to communicate with the institutions in their respective mother tongues, and fees for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications will be reduced by as much as 40 percent, according to Poland’s Patent Office (UPRP).
Trade Experts: Financing Not IP Slows Adoption Of Clean Energy Tech 04/07/2016 by Priti Patnaik for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Constraints on financing, restrictions on services and not so much access to technology emerged as one of the biggest challenges in the innovation, deployment and diffusion of clean energy technologies during an unusual session last week in Geneva which brought together climate scientists and trade policy wonks. Technologists and chemical engineers also came together to discuss how unlocking trade could help clean technologies in the context of the implementation of the Paris agreement on climate change.
Africa Regional Group Proposes Patents And Health Programme At WIPO 29/06/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment This week in the World Intellectual Property Organization patent law committee, the African Group submitted an updated proposal for a work programme on patents and health that would help developing countries tailor patent law to their circumstances.
Embassy In London Under Siege, IP A ‘Neo-Liberal Pillar’, Ecuador Minister Says 29/06/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment A top Ecuadoran official said today at the United Nations in Geneva that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s health is deteriorating after four years confined in the Ecuadoran embassy in London, while the United Kingdom and Sweden are ignoring the findings of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which called for Assange’s release. The Ecuadoran Minister of Foreign Affairs also said Ecuador will carry on issuing compulsory licences for medicines as it sees fit, underlining the increasing role of intellectual property and the greater privatisation of knowledge.
ARIPO Reviews Draft Regulations On Implementation Of Arusha Protocol On Plant Varieties 24/06/2016 by Hillary Muheebwa for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) last week hosted a meeting of experts in Harare, Zimbabwe, to review the Draft Regulations for the Implementation of the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
South Centre Steps Up Activity On IP, Medicines Access, Trade, Investment And More 23/06/2016 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The intergovernmental South Centre has raised the level of its activity on issues of relevance to the intellectual property community in recent weeks.
WTO Reports On IP Trends In G20 Countries 21/06/2016 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment As part of a larger report on the G20 top global economies, the World Trade Organization has provided a discussion of policy developments in trade and intellectual property. This includes a look at international policy actions, recent agreements, and national legislation and trends.
Amid Allegations Of IP Theft By Corporations, Local Kenyan Innovators React 10/06/2016 by Fredrick Nzwili for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments NAIROBI, Kenya – As start-up and innovation centres spring up across Africa, Kenya – which birthed the continent’s tech movement – is emerging as one of its leading innovation nuclei. But concerns are intensifying here that young inventors are losing their innovations to conglomerates, in what is alleged as intellectual property theft or abuse.