HIV Medicine Aluvia Stock-Out Dogs South Africa, Raising Patent Concerns 28/10/2015 by Munyaradzi Makoni for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment CAPE TOWN, South Africa – While Médecins Sans Frontières have blamed stock-outs of ‘Aluvia’ on the refusal to licence a patent for a generic of the HIV medicine in South Africa by AbbVie pharmaceutical company leading to persistent supply problems, the company said it has taken measures to address the problem.
External Review Of WIPO Re:Search Shows Successes, Areas For Further Work 27/10/2015 by William New and Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A revealing independent review to be published this week on WIPO Re:Search, the World Intellectual Property Organization initiative for development of medical products for neglected tropical diseases, malaria and tuberculosis, gives a set of recommendations to ensure the sustainability and success of the initiative.
WSIS+10 Explained: Interview With Constance Bommelaer, Internet Society 22/10/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment On 15-16 December 2015, government officials from more than 190 countries will meet in New York to discuss the future of the internet. They will review progress made in achieving the goals set forth 10 years ago at the Tunis World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) meeting. The aptly named WSIS+10 Review is a pivotal point in determining the fate of the open internet – discussions at the review can influence how the internet is governed for the next decade, as well as whether the internet will continue as a means of economic development and opportunity for the global economy. Alongside this week’s WSIS+10 stakeholder meetings at the UN, Intellectual Property Watch’s William New sat down with the Senior Director of Global Internet Policy at the Internet Society, Constance Bommelaer, to discuss what to expect in New York and the impact this meeting will have on the future of the internet.
Book Review: How ‘Dialogue Of The Deaf’ Produced A Sound Tool For Policy-Making 22/10/2015 by Peter Ungphakorn for Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments International trade agreements are sometimes demonised as the Grand Plan imposed by major powers in cahoots with multinational corporations. Intellectual property rights is a particular target, as is the case currently with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and previously with the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). “The Making of the TRIPS Agreement”, the insightful, unofficial collected memoirs of 17 of the agreement’s key authors, plus one editor, challenges that view in two ways, writes Peter Ungphakorn.
WIPO Re:Search Side Event – Realisations And Steps Forward 21/10/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Alongside the recent World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly, the WIPO Global Challenges Division presented WIPO Re:Search, a public-private consortium to facilitate research on neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis and malaria.
WTO IP Committee Suspended Over LDC Extension 17/10/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Informal negotiations at the World Trade Organization between least developed countries (LDCs) and some developed countries over a public health extension for LDCs could not be finalised in time to be taken to the intellectual property committee meeting today and led to a suspension of the meeting for an indeterminate time.
WIPO Assembly Extends Talks On Traditional Knowledge, Design; Sets Policy For New Offices 15/10/2015 by Catherine Saez and William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Near dawn today, World Intellectual Property Organization members agreed to continue working in committee toward an international agreement or agreements on the protection of traditional knowledge, genetic resources and folklore, rescuing the committee for another two years. Members also agreed to hold a final treaty negotiation on a design law treaty in early 2017, but left differences on inclusion of disclosure of origin to later.
Health Groups Urge EU Commission To Safeguard Access To Medicines In Developing Countries 14/10/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Health Action International (HAI) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF – Doctors without Borders) today issued a joint report on European Union commitments to safeguard access to medicines. Their report [pdf] comes in the context of the revision of the European Union’s trade and investment policy, released today.
Racing Against Time To Close On Difficult Issues At WIPO General Assembly 14/10/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment With hours to go before the end of the annual World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly, delegates are trying to find last resort solutions on a range of remaining issues. Keeping WIPO members busy are: the adoption of the budget and a new plan for financing the Lisbon appellations of origin treaty, fate of the WIPO committee on genetic resources and traditional knowledge, the work of the copyright committee, and whether to mandate the final negotiation of an industrial design treaty.
WIPO African Ministerial Should Embrace A Pro-Competitive And Pro-Development IP Vision 14/10/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment By Ahmed Abdel-Latif , Dick Kawooya, Chidi Oguamanam Note: this article first appeared as: WIPO African ministerial should embrace a pro-competitive and pro-development IP vision, 4 October 2015, BRIDGES AFRICA An African ministerial meeting, organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Japan Patent Office (JPO), to be held in Senegal next November […]