Knowledge Ecology International

The “commercial availability” issue looked like a mess this evening, as delegates emerged from closed* negotiations to provide two pages of proposals for text for Article D(3), which was intended to be a single sentence. I am attaching the text here. Hard to say how this will end up. Now there is some bracketed text that “reasonable terms” will include “interoperability, time and other terms” which I assume also includes prices. Continue Reading →

Today NGOs were given 3 minutes for an opening statement. This is the text I used. Jamie

——-
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) is a non-profit organization concerned with human rights. KEI wishes the delegates luck on a successful outcome. We are grateful for the work by the Secretariat on this issue, from top to bottom.

We will discuss our concerns about the negotiations.

There is a disparity between the lofty language in this hall, and the efforts to narrow user rights taking place downstairs, in the closed meeting.

Continue Reading →

Opening Remarks WIPO DIP Com 18 June 2013
By: Maryanne Diamond on behalf of the WBU

Thank you Mr Chairman for the opportunity to speak at this most important Diplomatic conference.

Continue Reading →

The Holy See delivered this statement on 18 June 2013 at the Marrakesh Diplomatic Conference on a WIPO Treaty for the Blind.

Statement by His Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi

Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN and Other International Organizations in Geneva at World Intellectual Property Organization Diplomatic Conference to Conclude a Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works by Visually Impaired Persons and Persons with Print Disabilities Marrakech (Morocco)

18 June 2013

Mr. President,
Continue Reading →

On Monday, 17 June 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States released its opinion in Federal Trade Comm’n v. Actavis (formerly captioned as FTC v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). The decision, with a 5-3 split, found that pay-for-delay settlement agreements are unusual, raising concerns of anticompetitive behavior, and are not immune from antitrust scrutiny. Continue Reading →

On 13 June 2013, Ambassador Eileen Donahoe delivered the following intervention on resolution L.10/Rev.1 on Access to medicines in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of physical and mental health explaining why the United States called for a vote on this resolution and would abstain.

Explanation of vote, on the resolution entitled “Access to medicines in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”

Continue Reading →

On 13 June 2013, the long awaited opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case on whether human DNA is patentable was issued and, the last line of the opinion summarizes, “We merely hold that genes and the information they encode are not patent eligible under §101 simply because they have been isolated from the surrounding genetic material.”
Continue Reading →

On Thursday, 13 June 2013, at the Twenty-third session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Brazil delivered the following intervention introducing draft resolution L.10/Rev.1 on Access to medicines in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of physical and mental health on behalf of India, Brazil, South Africa (IBSA), Egypt, Indonesia, Senegal and Thailand and 27 original cosponsors including Gabon, on behalf of the 54 countries of the African Group.

Mr. President,

Continue Reading →

On April 19, 2013, the US Chamber of Commerce wrote a letter to the USPTO to “express concerns about the ongoing meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) regarding visually impaired persons (VIPs).

David Hirschmann, CEO of the Chamber’s GIPC, signed the letter

Continue Reading →

In their introduction to Realizing the Right to Health, Andrew Clapham and Mary Robinson provide the following anecdote.

The run up to the 2008 election in the United States focused at one point on the nature of health care in America. During the second presidential debate, the candidates were asked the following question: “Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?” Senator Obama (as he then was) replied as follows:

Continue Reading →