The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will host a “Conference on Open Innovation: Collaborative Projects and the Future of Knowledge” on 22-23 January 2014 at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
The origins of this conference on open collaborative development models is predicated upon Recommendation 36 of the WIPO Development Agenda which states:
In a 6 December 2013 letter, Representative Henry Waxman wrote to USTR Ambassador Michael Froman opposing USTR’s proposal of a term of 12 years of exclusivity for biologics in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The letter notes,
[w]hile I have worked closely with Senator Hatch on important health issues, including the generic drug law that we co-authored in 1984, I strongly disagreed that the United States should be proposing twelve years of exclusivity.
On 18 December 2012 and 20 December 2012, the World Trade Organization (WTO) undertook a trade policy review of the United States of America. All members of the WTO are subject to review under the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). The questions raised by WTO Members during the US TPR touched upon on compulsory licensing (including cases of judicial compulsory licensing following eBay v. MercExchange), copyright (Golan v. Holder), the Special 301 report and the Medicines Patent Pool. On 30 April 2013, the WTO released the records of the meeting including WT/TPR/M/275. Continue Reading
On January 16, the India Intellectual Property Appeals Board (IPAB) began a hearing on the merits of Bayer’s appeal of India’s first compulsory license.
The outcome of this trial, which focuses on the cancer drug Nexavar, is a matter of first impression for the IPAB, and is expected to set precedents on a wide range of issues, including the permissible grounds for granting compulsory licenses, the relationship between the India patent law and the TRIPS Agreement, and the setting of terms and conditions for the compulsory license, including the royalty rates.
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
UPDATE: On 3 December 2012, the secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) released the minutes of Israel’s Trade Policy Review (WT/TPR/M/272) held on 30 October 2012 and 1 November 2012. According to the chair, Eduardo Munoz Gomez (Colombia), innovation was one of the salient points identified in the TPR noting that:
On 14 September 2011 and 16 September 2011, the World Trade Organization (WTO) undertook a trade policy review of India. All members of the WTO are subject to review under the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). The TPRM takes place in the “Trade Policy Review Body which is actually the WTO General Council — comprising the WTO’s full membership — operating under special rules and procedures” (Source: WTO, Trade Policy Reviews: Brief Introduction). Continue Reading
The 1980 Bayh-Dole Act is named after two former US Senators, Birch Bayh and Bob Dole. In 2002 both claimed the Bayh-Dole Act march-in provisions were not intended to address cases where prices for inventions are unreasonable, and Senator Bayh repeated this view during a 2004 march-in case involving Abbott patents on ritonavir.
Among the provisions of the Act that suggest otherwise are the following:
The XIX International AIDS Conference, which saw over 24,000 participants, came to a close on Friday, July 27, 2012. A number of people living with HIV/AIDS, activists, the immediate past president and current president of the International AIDS Society (and 2008 Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and former President Bill Clinton were among the speakers.
Teresa Stanek Rea, Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), testifying at a June 27, 2012 hearing on: “International IP Enforcement: Protecting Patents, Trade Secrets and Market… Continue Reading