Agreement Out Of Reach In WIPO Patent Harmonisation Talks 03/06/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Governments’ failure to reach agreement on a way forward on patent harmonisation talks at the World Intellectual Property Organisation today has cast a pall on the future of the issue within the UN body, sources said. The meeting of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) at Geneva-based WIPO was scheduled for 1-2 […]
WIPO Working Group Recommends Consideration Of Audit Committee 26/05/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Editor’s Note: This article was modified on 6 June, 2005. A working group at the World Intellectual Property Organisation on Wednesday agreed to recommend the consideration of a new committee to conduct independent audits of the U.N. body. The effort in some ways reflects a wider trend across the United Nations toward greater financial accountability. […]
Pressure Rises On Drug Patents In Brazil 15/05/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Brazil, a developing country leader on international intellectual property issues, has come under pressure at home and abroad over whether to lift domestic patents on foreign pharmaceuticals for AIDS to allow cheaper generic versions to be produced. This week, nearly 200 non-governmental organisations from around the world signed onto a letter urging the Brazilian government […]
Academic Panel Profiles Benefits of IP for Economic Development 10/05/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment On the coattails of last week’s multi-sided seminar on intellectual property and development at the World Intellectual Property Organisation came a half-day Georgetown University forum on “intellectual property, technology diffusion and economic development.” The Georgetown forum, held in Geneva outside WIPO on the day after the seminar, was largely attended by WIPO personnel and industry […]
Reform Debate Trips Up WIPO Development Aid Meeting 15/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Members of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on Friday failed to agree on the proper role for a permanent committee on technical cooperation that could impact larger efforts by some to reform WIPO toward development issues. Debate focused on a proposal by developed countries (drafted by Canada) to broaden the scope of the existing […]
Non-Profits, Industry Offer Views On WIPO Development Agenda 14/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Non-governmental organisations from across the spectrum were elbow to elbow with members of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) this week as they wrestled with a proposal for an agenda to increase attention to the needs of developing countries. Private and non-profit sector representatives generally lined up on either side of debate between developed and […]
WIPO Development Agenda Talks Move Ahead 13/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment World Intellectual Property Organisation members late Wednesday night agreed to continue discussing a proposal to more deeply infuse developing country needs into the mission of the UN body. After three full days of closed-door meetings – much of them in private meetings of smaller groups — members reached a carefully crafted compromise: to hold two […]
Nations Clash On Future Of WIPO Development Agenda 11/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Developed and developing countries faced off Monday over whether and how the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organisation’s mission should be transformed to better address the needs of developing countries. The basis for the three-day discussion ending Wednesday at the Geneva-based WIPO is a developing country proposal to change WIPO into a more typical U.N. organisation […]
India Joins Opposition To Casablanca Patent Meeting Outcome 10/04/2005 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments India, a critical player in policy debates at the World Intellectual Property Organisation, has announced its opposition to a recommendation on global patent harmonisation backed by a select group of countries in a February consultation with WIPO Director General Kamil Idris. The recommendation was agreed to by all but one participant in an invite-only consultation […]
WIPO Development Agenda: Developing Countries Submit New Proposals 06/04/2005 by Carolyn Deere, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment On the eve of high-level meetings next week on development and intellectual property, the fourteen co-sponsors of the proposal for the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s new Development Agenda today submitted detailed elaborations of their proposals for incorporating development into WIPO’s work. The fourteen so-called Friends of Development asked the WIPO Secretariat to distribute the proposal […]