On Thursday, 16 August 2012, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued its opinion in the case Association for Molecular Pathology v. US Patent and Trademark Office, again rejecting the plaintiffs’ contentions that isolated DNA is not eligible for patent protection. This case surrounds the patent eligibility of isolated DNA, particularly the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes known to be associated with an individual’s susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer.
As Geneva awakes from its summer slumber post-Jeûne genevois (6 September 2012), the following conferences and negotiations are expected to shape the knowledge governance landscape in the second semester of 2012 at WHO, WIPO and WTO.
World Health Organization
Here are upcoming meetings of the WHO in 2012 of relevance to public heath, innovation and access.
The Berne Convention revisions for limitations and exceptions to copyright 2012:1 KEI Research Note August 2012. Revised June 18, 2017. This research note reports on the evolution of each copyright exception found in the Berne Convention for the Protection of… Continue Reading →
Kista Cox on a provision in the TPP trade negotiation that would restore right to sue surgeons and other medical professionals for patent infringement. The US law (35 USC 287(c)) was changed after lawsuits were filed against surgeons performing certain procedures in eye surgery. USTR and USPTO have been asked to protect this exception in the TPP Intellectual Property Chapter, but have not done so.
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.
At a session on the AIDS Financial Crisis, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) presented on the bill he introduced last year, S.1138, a Prize Fund for HIV/AIDS. Continue Reading →
At the International AIDS Conference 2012, on July 25, 2012, former Senator Frist (R-TN) moderated a panel of four members of Congress on “The U.S. Congress and the Global AIDS Epidemic.” The four members of Congress included Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) and Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY).
From left to right: Congresswoman Lee, Senator Rubio, former Senator Frist, Senator Coons and Senator Enzi
Government’s interventions (excerpts) on the libraries and archives and how to continue work on possible 11 topics (or only 2 or 3?) that should be prioritized
Here are the topics:
Preservation of library and archival materials
Reproduction and Distribution of Copies by Libraries and Archives
Legal deposit
Supply of works/Library lending
Right to Parallel Importation
Right to Cross-Border Uses
Orphaned works
Limitation on Liability for Libraries and Archives
Obligations Concerning Technological Protection Measures
Relationship with contracts
Right to Translate Works
