US statement to SCP 18 on the United States proposal on Patents and Health
The following is the statement read today by USPTO during a meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patent, on the agenda item for patents and health. I’ll provide more commentary later, but in general, this was seen an aggressive attack on a proposal for work by the Development Agenda Group (DAG), and on the notion that countries should grant compulsory licenses on patents to address concerns over access or affordability of drugs.
[Update: KEI wrote to USPTO about the submission: /node/1420]
The USPTO statement follows:
KEI interventions on a possible WIPO legal instrument for the protection of traditional cultural expressions
As mentioned in a previous piece entitled WIPO expert committee deliberates on road map to protect traditional cultural expressions, WIPO has convened an intersessional working group (IWG) comprised of experts from countries and observer organizations to examine draft provisions of a document prepared by the WIPO secretariat on ‘The Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions/Expressions of Folklore: Revised Objectives and Principles‘. The IWG runs from July 19-23, 2010. Continue Reading