11 February 2016: 5 groups express concerns over WIPO statements relating to UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines

On Thursday, 11 February 2016, five groups including Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Oxfam, Stop AIDS, Third World Network (TWN) and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) sent a letter to Dr. Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) highlighting our concerns with statements expressed by WIPO relating to the United Nations Secretary ­General’s High-­Level Panel on Access to Medicines (HLP). To date, we have yet to hear any formal response from WIPO. Continue Reading

KEI intervention: TTIP Round 12 – Stakeholder events , Brussels (24 February 2016)

KEI intervention: TTIP Stakeholder events Round 12, Brussels (24 February 2016)

A Positive Agenda for TTIP – What we would like to see in the TTIP that would expand access to knowledge?

1) Marrakesh Treaty ratification

The TTIP should include an obligation to ratify and to implement the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty for Persons Who Are Blind for Otherwise Disabled, in order to expand access to accessible works to persons with disabilities in the European Union and the United States, as well as in other countries.

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WTO TRIPS Council (March 2016) to discuss Intellectual Property and Innovation: Education and Diffusion

The World Trade Organization (WTO) will convene its Council for TRIPS (TRIPS Council) from Tuesday, 1 March 2016 to Wednesday, 2 March 2016. Australia, the European Union, Switzerland and the United States of America have submitted a written request for the item “Intellectual Property and Innovation: Education and Diffusion” to be placed on the proposed agenda.

WTO/AIR/IP/6
5 FEBRUARY 2016

SUBJECT: COUNCIL FOR TRIPS

THE NEXT MEETING OF THE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS WILL BE HELD IN THE CENTRE WILLIAM RAPPARD ON 1-2 MARCH 2016. THE MEETING WILL START AT
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Feasibility study on a TDR pooled fund for R&D to be released on 20 February 2016

In May 2014, the 67th World Health Assembly (WHA) of the World Health Organization (WHO) passed Decision WHA67(15) providing WHO the mandate to explore the feasibility of creating a voluntary pooled fund fund on R&D hosted by the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR). The Decision outlined three principles guiding the consideration of the pooled fund:

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SAVE THE DATE – 16 December 2015 – KEI workshop on a WTO Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and the copyright 3-step test

On Wednesday, 16 December 2015, at the Fourth Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (National Law University, Delhi, India), Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) will convene a workshop entitled a “WTO Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and the Three-Step Test for Copyright and Related Rights.”

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