Equitable Access Initiative (EAI), 1st intervention

I am in a meeting of the Equitable Access Initiative (EAI), which is considering new ways of measuring development and/or health needs, in the context of the priority setting by donors. I am a member of the Expert Panel, and this was my intervention in the morning session:

The presentations by John McArthur and Dominik Zotti were excellent, and the work of the four expert groups is a very useful contribution for those struggling with the challenge of setting priorities for aid.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Xtandi 2016 March-In Request

Today Knowledge Ecology International and the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT) petitioned the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health, asking that they exercise either their royalty-free, non-exclusive license or federal “march-in” rights to end the monopoly on an expensive prostate cancer drug, enzalutamide, marketed as Xtandi by Astellas, a Japanese pharmaceutical company.

Xtandi was invented at UCLA on federal grants from the NIH and DoD.

Continue Reading

Knowledge Ecology International joins amicus brief on non-copyrightability of model laws and statutes

Washington, DC — On January 11, 2016, Knowledge Ecology International joined Public Knowledge and the American Library Association in an amicus curiae brief that argued that the contents of model laws, once enacted into statute, cannot be protected by copyright. The brief was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the case of ASTM International v. Public.Resource.Org.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

SCCR 31 Chair’s Conclusion

Chair’s Conclusions

conclusions.png
MICHELE WOODS: Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, 31st session, Geneva, December 7 to 11, 2015. Summary by the Chair.

Agenda item 1. Opening of the session. The 31st session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights SCCR or Committee was opened by Mr. Francis Gurry, Director General who welcomed the participants and opened agenda item 2.
Ms. Michele Woods, WIPO, acted as secretary.

Continue Reading