WIPO publishes scoping study scoping study on the impact of the digital environment on copyright legislation

On Thursday, 26 October 2017, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published a scoping study (SCCR/35/4) on the impact of the digital environment on copyright legislation adopted between 2006 and 2016; the author of this study is Guilda Rostama, Ph.D. The mandate for this study emanates from a proposal of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (GRULAC) first tabled at the 31st session of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) in December 2015. At SCCR33 in November 2016, WIPO Member States agreed to the following:

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WTO TRIPS Council (October 2017): India asks EU, Malaysia to share details of their respective compulsory licenses

On Friday, 20 October 2017, India delivered the following intervention on compulsory licensing. India briefly recounted the experiences of Brazil, South Africa, and Thailand in using compulsory licensing to secure access to ARVs.

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WTO TRIPS Council (October 2017): South Africa highlights examples of compulsory licensing in Germany, Malaysia, and the US

On 20 October 2017, South Africa delivered the following statement on behalf of Brazil, China, India, and South Africa during the WTO TRIPS Council’s discussions on compulsory licensing. On 31 May 2017, these delegations (along with Fiji) submitted a proposal to the TRIPS Council on “Intellectual Property and the Public Interest” which would serve as an overarching theme for the Council to address issues including access to knowledge and access to medicines. Continue Reading

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center often fails to disclose federal funding of inventions on initial patent

Summary:

  • A review of the “certificate of correction” to patents assigned to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center finds frequent failures to disclose federal funding on initial patent applications.
  • When Fred Hutchinson reported no federal funding on patent applications, it was wrong 45 percent of the time, according to corrections later filed with the USPTO.

On October 19, 2017, I ran a query of the USPTO database of granted patents to identify patents granted to the Seattle based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center.

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Following KEI request for investigation, Cold Spring Harbor Labs says 7 patents require correction to disclose federal funding

Summary:

  • After KEI filed a complaint with the NIH, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) corrected a failure to disclose funding of at least 7 patented inventions, including one patent for the drug Sprinraza.
  • Since 2012, when federal funding was relevant to an invention, CSHL failed to make a disclosure on a filed patent more than half the time.

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Penn “Certificates of Correction” on Federal Funding for 5 CAR T Patents

On October 17, 2017, KEI sent a letter to the NIH regarding the failure of the University of Pennsylvania to disclose federal funding of five patented inventions for CAR T.

Today (October 18, 2017), we received this statement from the University:

“We have reviewed the letter and have confirmed that each of these patents was reported to the government as having NIH funding.

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KEI Comments on the Draft Concept Note Concerning the WHO General Programme of Work

On October 13, 2017, KEI submitted comments to the WHO regarding the Draft Concept Note towards the WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work. The Draft Concept Note is available here: http://www.who.int/about/draft-concept-note_13th-programme-work.pdf

The text of KEI’s comments follow below, and a PDF is available here.


Friday, 13 October 2017

Dear Dr. Tedros,

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