I have been asked to elaborate on the relationship between the Medical Innovation Prize Fund (S.2210, 110th Congress) and the WTO TRIPS Agreement.
For centuries, innovation inducement prizes have been suggested as a mechanism to stimulate investments in a wide range of topics. (See, for example, Selected Innovation Prizes and Reward Programs, KEI Research Note 2008:1). During most of this period, the patent system has also existed.
According to a note sent to KEI, CNIB in Canada considers the WBU proposal for a WIPO Treaty for the reading disabled to be “the most critical component of achieving true equality through the development of a ‘Global Library’!. This is a letter that Jim Sanders, the President and Chief Executive Officer of CNIB, sent to the Canada delegation to WIPO.
According to the WSJ today PhRMA is spending $13.2 million in an “ad buy to prop up 28 Congressional candidates, many of them vulnerable and all but three of them Democrats.” The Journal points out
After a hiatus of three years, the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) met for its 12th session on June 23, 2008 to June 27, 2008. Given the collapse of the talks to initiate a Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT) to harmonize patent law with respect to prior art, novelty, inventive step and grace period, even the most prescient of WIPO watchers were at a loss in prognosticating the outcome of the WIPO SCP. Continue Reading →
Following the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) which for much of its existence has endeavored to unsuccessfully hammer out a Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations has provided a window into the human condition replete with incidents of humor, frustration and hope. Continue Reading →
The WIPO Coordination Committee will meet in extraordinary session on May 13-14, 2008, to “nominate a person for appointment by the General Assembly as WIPO Director General. The nominations received from WIPO Member States in response to the Circular C.N. 2833 are now available.”
After a rather disappointing day 1 of the standing committee on copyright and related rights at WIPO, Day 2 is turning out to be a good constructive day.
