Author: Thiru

The following WTO airgram WTO/AIR/4020 (12 October 2012) contains the agenda for the upcoming WTO Council for TRIPS meeting to be held in Geneva from Tuesday, 6 November 2012 to Wednesday, 7 November 2012. The airgram notes that Brazil and the United States have made a written request for an agenda item on “Intellectual Property and Innovation (agenda item M). Agenda item F covers the “Review under Paragraph 8 of the Decision on the Implementation of Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health”.

Here below is the WTO airgram in full.

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After lengthy informal negotiations on 7 October 2012, the plenary of the WIPO General Assembly (GA) 2012 resumed after 18:00 to present the consensus language on the decision point concerning agenda item 28 (ii) on the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT). In particular, the GA agreed to expedite the work of the basic proposals for a Design Law Treaty. In 2013, the GA would “take stock of and consider the text, progress made, and decide on convening a diplomatic conference”. Continue Reading →

Fernando Schmidt, Subsecretario de Relaciones Exteriores de Chile (Vice-Minister of External Relations, Chile), delivered the following general statement on 1 October 2012. Chile acknowledged that while a favorable environment in WIPO proved conducive to the successful passage of the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, major challenges remained. Of great import was the convening of a diplomatic conference in 2013 to conclude a Treaty for the Blind which would be a milestone in the multilateral intellectual property system. Continue Reading →

The general statement of the Development Agenda Group (DAG) was delivered by H.E. Ambassador Roberto Azevêdo (Brazil) on 1 October 2012.

On the pressing issue of a treaty for copyright exceptions for the blind, the Development Agenda Group noted that,

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The following statement was delivered by Shri Saurabh Chandra, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi on Monday, 1 October 2012 at the WIPO General Assembly.

In her statement, India stressed that intellectual property norms must not create “monopoly situations which may hinder competition and access to technology”.

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The fiftieth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is meeting on Geneva from 1 October 2012 to 9 October 2012. Agenda item 26 is the “Report on the Work of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)” which according to the provisional agenda, is scheduled for discussion on Thursday, 4 October 2012. Continue Reading →

KEI has recently learned that 6 of 9 countries ignored a UN Special Rapporteur request to respond to the March 22, 2011 complaint regarding the TPP. We are also disappointed in the comments from the three that did respond. The UN process for dealing with such complaints is somewhat bureaucratic and secretive. Among the three countries that did respond, Australia, Chile and New Zealand, all defended the secrecy of the TPP negotiating text and asserted that the TPP would not violate the right to health. Continue Reading →

On 12 March 2012 the Controller General of Patents,Designs & Trademarks of India issued an order granting a compulsory license under Section 84 of the Patents Act (1970) to Natco in patent number 215758 granted to Bayer covering the anti-drug sorafenib toslyate. KEI filed an affidavit in this compulsory licensing dispute involving Natco and Bayer. Following the issuance of a compulsory license, Bayer requested the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) to issue a stay on the compulsory license.

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Attached is a PDF of KEI’s 31 August 2012 written submission to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ national consultation on financing and coordination of research and development for the health needs of developing countries. Continue Reading →