Joint Letter to the 132nd WHO Executive Board: Follow-up of the report of the CEWG

Joint Letter to the 132nd WHO Executive Board: Follow-up of the report of the CEWG

Distinguished Delegate,

We are writing to express our deep concern at the lack of ambition and apparent inaction of the WHO and Member States in taking forward the work of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG). This inaction is costing lives.

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LESI to convene Global Technology Impact Forum (20-22 January 2013) at WIPO with a dinner reception at the Mandarin Oriental

The Licensing Executives Society International, Inc. (LESI) is convening its second Global Technology Impact Forum (GTIF) at the headquarters of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) from 20 January 2013 to 22 January 2013. Although this international forum is hosted at WIPO headquarters, this event does not appear on the calendar of WIPO events for January 2013. It should be noted that this Forum just precedes the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting In Davos from 23 January 2013 to 27 January 2013.

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Video Interviews, statements, blogs, and news reports from the December 17-18, 2012 WIPO Extraordinary General Assembly

KEI collection of various interviews, statements and news clips from the December 17-18, 2012 WIPO Extraordinary General Assembly that approved a June 2013 diplomatic conference to negotiate a treaty on copyright exceptions for persons with certain disabilities.

Video Interviews

Video interviews from the WIPO Extraordinary General Assembly, after reaching a landmark decision to:

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Proposed Extraordinary WIPO General Assembly Decision Text: 9:20 PM-17 December 2012

After a tense day of negotiation with all sorts of threats to block progress, it seems as though World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is poised to approve a diplomatic conference “to negotiate and adopt a treaty on limitations and exceptions for visually impaired persons/persons with print disabilities.” The USA had come into the meeting trying to downgrade the agreement from a treaty to an agreement of ambiguous non-treaty status, and both the US and the EU wanted today’s decision to be subject to a later approval — dubbed either the kill switch or the safety Continue Reading

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WIPO Extraordinary General Assembly: Statement of Venezuela (references European Union’s Nobel Peace Prize)

Venezuela delivered the following statement on 17 December 2012 at the WIPO Extraordinary General Assembly.

VENEZUELA: Thank you, Chairman.

Likewise, we, too, wish to extend thanks to the Director General and the Secretariat and the ambassador of Zambia for his successful leading work in the SCCR. We support the holding of a Diplomatic Conference on this subject. It will be a very significant political signal if we were to convene this conference which has very major human rights over tones.

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WIPO Extraordinary General Assembly: Statement of Egypt on behalf of the Africa Group in favor of Treaty for the Blind

This was the statement delivered today (17 December 2012) by Egypt on behalf of the African Group at the Forty-Second (22nd Extraordinary) Session of the WIPO General Assembly.

African Group. The African Group would like to welcome the significant progress achieved on advancing the draft text of WIPO Treaty on limitations and exceptions for visually impaired persons, person with print disabilities, which was adopted in November 2012 by the Standing Committee to Copyright and Related Rights, in its 25th session.

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WIPO Extraordinary General Assembly: Statement of Benin on behalf of Least-Developed Countries in favor of Treaty for the Blind

This was the statement delivered by Benin on behalf of least-developed countries at the Forty-Second (22nd Extraordinary) Session of the WIPO General Assembly on 17 December 2012.

BENIN: Thank, Chairman. I do thank you for giving me the floor. I would like to begin here by apologizing on behalf of my ambassador. He would have loved to be with us this morning, but unfortunately he had other commitments and he was unable to attend this meeting.

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Wellcome Trust tells WHO it opposes R&D Treaty and the de-linkage of R&D costs from drug prices

At WHO deliberations (26 November 2012 to 28 November 2012) on charting a path forward following the recommendations of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG), Bolivia, Colombia and Thailand reiterated their political commitment supporting a binding R&D treaty. Continue Reading