Negotiations

TRIPS Council March 2016: India reiterates support for de-linkage and references UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines

Posted on by Thiru

In early March 2016, the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) TRIPS Council discussed “Intellectual Property and Innovation: Education and Diffusion”. The following delegations co-sponsored discussion of this item on Education and Diffusion – Australia, European Union, Switzerland, United States, Japan, Singapore, Peru, Russian Federation, Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong China.

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11 February 2016: 5 groups express concerns over WIPO statements relating to UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines

Posted on by Thiru

On Thursday, 11 February 2016, five groups including Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Oxfam, Stop AIDS, Third World Network (TWN) and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) sent a letter to Dr. Francis Gurry, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) highlighting our concerns with statements expressed by WIPO relating to the United Nations Secretary ­General’s High-­Level Panel on Access to Medicines (HLP). To date, we have yet to hear any formal response from WIPO. Continue Reading →

KEI submissions to the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Access to Medicine

Posted on by James Love

Attached below are the four submissions for which KEI was the lead author to the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel (HLP) on Access to Medicine.

  1. “The Need for Global Negotiations on Agreements to Fund R&D within the Context of a Progressive De-linking of R&D Costs from Product Prices”. Supported by 12 organizations; 1 individual; 3 Members of European Parliament.
  2. “Increasing the Transparency of Markets for Drugs, Vaccines, Diagnostics and other Medical Technologies”. Supported by 17 organizations; 2 individuals; 3 Members of European Parliament.

    3. Continue Reading →

SCCR 31 Chair’s Conclusion

Posted on by Manon Ress

Chair’s Conclusions

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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.

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SCCR 31 KEI Statement on Droit de Suite/Resale Rights

Posted on by Manon Ress

Day 5 of SCCR 31, December 11, 2015

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Thank you Mr Chair.

We welcome the proposal tabled by Senegal and the Congo to include the droit de suite, the artist resale right, in this Committee’s agenda for future work.

I would like to refer to the Directive mentioned by the Commission, Directive 2001/84/EC which came into force on 1 January 2006:

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SCCR 31 KEI Statements on Legal Deposit and on Lending

Posted on by Manon Ress

Topic 3 is Legal Deposit.

KEI ‘s question is the following: should these designated deposit systems –national archives or libraries– be mandated or encouraged as I believe it is described in the US principles)?

We’re not even sure this is a copyright issue and to what extent this is essential for libraries.

However, as the IFLA Statement underlined, Legal deposit was the original limitation on copyright, embedded in the Statute of Anne and we believe it could be discussed in the form of a model law intended to ensure the preservation of works at a national level.

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