Japan, China Start Group on Intellectual Property Rights

Bloomberg reported that Economic ministers from Japan and China will start a working group on protecting intellectual property rights as part of an effort to tighten economic ties during the global recession.
Asia’s two largest economies agreed to set up a working group to discuss intellectual property, implement economic measures pledged at the Group of 20 [...]

World IP Day 2009

As designated by the World Intellectual Property Organization, April 26th is World IP Day…  Each year, WIPO and its Member States celebrate World Intellectual Property Day with activities geared towards increasing public understanding of what IP really means, and to demonstrate how the IP system fosters not only music, arts and entertainments, but also all the [...]

China to strengthen protection of intellectual property rights

Protection of intellectual property rights is necessary not only for economic development and country-to-country exchanges, but is also a matter of respecting the value of people’s work, stated Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
Wen was speaking yesterday in a meeting with Francis Gurry, director-general of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).  Premier Wen also said his government [...]

TACD meeting on Patents, Copyright and Knowledge Governance

The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue recently hosted a meeting in Washington D.C. on Patents, Copyrights and Knowledge Governance.  Panellists were charged with making 2-3 concrete policy recommendations re IP for the incoming Obama administration.  While no consensus was reached, and in fact only a few of the presenters actually provided specific policy recommendations, there were some interesting presentations [...]

Backgrounder on compulsory licensing

The Council on Foreign Relations recently posted an interesting article which discusses global trade rules for intellectual property in the context of access to essential medicines.  The following is a brief overview of the article: 
In 1995, members of the WTO ascribed to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which established minimum levels [...]

New National Intellectual Property Strategy for Barbados

Experts from the public and private sectors participated yesterday in a National Consultation on the Formulation of a National Intellectual Property Strategy for Barbados, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and International Business.
Donville Inniss, the Minister of State in the Ministry of International Business said the strategy would assist in realizing the full potential [...]

Members of WHO Expert Working Group on R&D Financing announced

IP Watch reports that the World Health Organization has released a long-awaited list of high-level experts tasked with finding innovative funding mechanisms for needed medical research on neglected diseases. The list largely contains governmental and intergovernmental representatives.  The list of Expert Working Group members is available from the WHO website.
This group will examine current financing [...]

Strong IP system boosts knowledge economy development

Strong intellectual property protection is essential to the economic growth of developing countries, according to a senior official with the World Intellectual Property Association.   “It is a myth and complete misunderstanding to think that IP protection is not important. It is relevant to all countries wanting to build up their economy,” stated the WIPO official.
Ensuring strong intellectual [...]

Director of PAHO blogs about annual meeting, public health and innovation

The Director of the Pan-American Health Organization (Mirta Roses) stated in her blog that this year’s PAHO assembly would focus particularly on matters related to innovation and research.  ”Proposals for action to strengthen vital and health statistics, as well as the link between public health, innovation, and intellectual property, are part of our integral efforts to [...]

Pan-American stakeholders speak out on innovation and public health

As the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) meets this week in Washington D.C., so too did a group of key healthcare stakeholders from across the Americas.  As part of their meeting this week, PAHO delegates will be reviewing the World Health Organization’s draft strategy on improving access to medicines and healthcare in developing countries.  While patients, providers, [...]