WIPO Members Aim For Single Text On Genetic Resources Protection 15/02/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization, in the company of indigenous groups from around the world, have entered into eight days of intensive negotiations to try to agree on a draft text for an instrument on the protection of genetic resources.
In 2012: Are Biotech, Ethics And Biodiversity Friends or Foes? 08/02/2012 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment With food demand and prices rising as the world crosses the threshold of 7 billion people, the need to find new medicines, concerns about the shrinking biodiversity and the effects of climate change may designate biotechnologies as the main response. Opinions differ on the way to address those issues, in particular about intellectual property rights attached to biotechnologies. Legislative questions are being discussed on both sides of the Atlantic around the scope of patentability, and intellectual property rights on plants, seeds, molecules or methods, as well as exemptions that some think should be applied. The year ahead will see some decisions that might impact the biotechnology industry both in the United States and in Europe.
Geographical Indications Register Gains Ground Outside WTO 30/01/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A private sector-led effort to compile a global register of geographical indications is gaining support, topped by a sizeable donation from the Italian government. The effort is being undertaken outside the World Trade Organization in spite of an agreed – but long stalled – mandate at WTO to create a register.
Most-Read IP-Watch Posts Of 2011 Tell Story Of International IP Policymaking 03/01/2012 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The most-read Intellectual Property Watch stories of 2011 demonstrated the versatility and range of our readers from around the globe, from an intense focus on international and national copyright issues to bilateral and plurilateral free trade agreements, to issues in India and Brazil, patent laws, patents in agriculture, scientific knowledge, and of course, policies emerging in Geneva at the World Intellectual Property Organization, World Trade Organization, World Health Organization and elsewhere at the multilateral level. Most of all, they tell the story of the year gone by, with clear signals of what’s to come in 2012.
GIs A Candidate For The Exclusive Club Of Appellations Of Origin At WIPO 19/12/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment World Intellectual Property Organization members last week debated a possible new instrument to protect products with specific origins and characteristics.
The Mad Hatter In Wonderland: South Africa’s New TK Bill 08/11/2011 by Intellectual Property Watch 9 Comments So, the Department of Trade and Industry (“DTI”) has finally gone ahead and done it. It has caused the South African Government to pass the Intellectual Property Laws Amendment Bill (the so-called “Traditional Knowledge Bill”) despite vociferous objections from all quarters. It has rushed headlong into terrain where no angel would venture through acute trepidation. It has entered Wonderland and assumed the role of the Mad Hatter, writes Professor Owen Dean.
Revised EPO Patent For Conventional Broccoli Has Public Interest Ramifications 27/10/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments A patent for a conventionally bred form of the common household vegetable broccoli appears to be on its way to acceptance by the European Patent Office following a change to the patent by the company filing it, according to sources. The decision not to revoke the patent, which has been the subject of protests and now calls for action in national courts, could clear the way for hundreds of other vegetable patents to follow, a source said.
WTO IP Committee Addresses Medicines Access, Plain-Packaged Tobacco, ACTA 23/10/2011 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The World Trade Organization committee responsible for intellectual property rights issues is meeting this week and will address several items of potential debate, including a nearly unused 2003 provision for compulsory-licensed medicines exports to poor countries, a WTO member’s attempt to discourage smoking through unlabelled tobacco packaging, and IP enforcement raised by a small but potent group of WTO members who negotiated the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
UPOV Sprouts A New Public Face – As Farmers Protest 20/10/2011 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) is trying to dispel its image as a non-transparent organisation and is working on a new user-friendly website with public access to a number of formerly reserved documents. Meanwhile, for the first time farmers protested outside the UPOV building in Geneva, as they seek to preserve the ancient practice of saving seeds from their harvests to use the next year.
Trading Knowledge As A Public Good: A Proposal For The WTO 14/10/2011 by Rachel Marusak Hermann, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments Years of deadlock in the Doha Round of trade negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) has prompted some to question the institution’s effectiveness, and even, its relevance. But for others, the stalemate seems to be favourable for new ideas and new ways to think about global trade.