WHA 68: Experts Discuss Delinking R&D Costs From Pricing To Make Medicines Affordable 25/05/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment The problem of drug prices eating up national health budgets has been coming up at the annual World Health Assembly. Last week, a panel of experts discussed the merits of lowering those prices by delinking research and development costs from pricing.
WHO Advances R&D Financing Effort; Global R&D Observatory To Launch In January 24/05/2015 by Catherine Saez and William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments World Health Organization members in committee this week took note of a report by the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG), which was set up to find ways to fund research on diseases afflicting poor populations which have little market incentive for the private sector. The report included a proposal for a voluntary pooled fund that would focus on the development of effective and affordable health technologies for such neglected diseases.
Two UN Agencies Come Out In Support Of Extension Of TRIPS LDC Waiver 22/05/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 5 Comments The United Nations Development Programme and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS have issued a joint statement supporting a request by least-developed countries to extend a waiver allowing them to abstain from enforcing patents on pharmaceutical products.
At WIPO, 11 Members Sign New Act Protecting GIs, More To Follow 21/05/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Today, the signing ceremony of the new World Intellectual Property Organization agreement to protect geographical indications was held. On the first day, 11 members, mostly current Lisbon members, signed the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications.
Drafting Exercise For WIPO Delegates As Lisbon Members Advance On New Act of Treaty 15/05/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Members of a World Intellectual Property Organization-managed treaty protecting appellations of origin this week are working to add geographical indications to the treaty. They are addressing issues not yet agreed upon, including the sustainability of the system, and how to address prior use of such geographical indications by trademark owners.
US Ponders New Trademark Rights For Racial Slurs 14/05/2015 by Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Some words are too offensive to be registered trademarks. Racial slurs, derogatory names for ethnic groups, and other terms that disparage people can be denied registration, according to the vast majority of countries. The US, however, might soon back away from this anti-bigotry stance. The nation’s courts may be on the verge of ruling that the registration of derogatory terms is protected by the Constitution’s guarantee of free speech.
Polish Government Drafts IP Law Reform 13/05/2015 by Jaroslaw Adamowski for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment WARSAW — More than twenty years after Poland’s parliament passed the Authors’ and Related Rights law of 1994, the Polish government is drafting three bills to modify the country’s intellectual property legislation. The first of the drafts prepared by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National heritage was submitted to the Parliament in March, and is currently being deliberated, while the ministry is finishing work on the remaining two drafts.
In ‘Huge’ Move, WHO Adds Key Hepatitis C, Cancer, TB Drugs To Essential Medicines List 08/05/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 2 Comments The World Health Organization today published its updated Model List of Essential Medicines, including high-priced new treatments for hepatitis C, cancers and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) that were quickly applauded by the public health advocacy community.
Positive Note For WIPO Committee On IP And Development, Some Issues Remain 28/04/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments At the close of the session of the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) last week, delegates left on a positive note. Despite not achieving concrete results on several issues, the meeting was described as encouraging by some participants. Technical assistance remained one of the prickly issues, as well as the mechanism for WIPO committees to report on their implementation of the Development Agenda.
Divide And Conquer: The New US Strategy To Disentangle The TPP Negotiations 23/04/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments Burcu Kilic & Pablo Viollier write: Political leaders in Washington and other Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiating countries have set the end of May as the latest deadline for completion of the talks. The negotiations have already missed several such deadlines, so who really knows? No one. But there is something we all know: TPP raises significant concerns because negotiations are being held behind closed doors with details kept secret even from the legislatures in TPP countries.