WIPO enriched by in-depth discussions of the public domain

The penultimate day of the WIPO development committee held in-depth discussions on recommendation 20 of the Development Agenda which states:

To promote norm-setting activities related to IP that support a robust public domain in WIPO’s Member States, including the possibility of preparing guidelines which could assist interested Member States in identifying subject matters that have fallen into the public domain within their respective jurisdictions.

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PhRMA comments on ACTA: ISP Liability, Parallel Trade and Generic APIs

These are a few quick points about the PhRMA submission.

1. PhRMA asks that ACTA “Establish liability for Internet Service Providers and Other Operators that Facilitate Trade in Counterfeit Medical Products.”

This is potentially quite an important and controversial recommendation. PhRMA wants to make telecommunications companies liable if one of their customers sells counterfeit products.
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WIPO Development Agenda committee: Interface between competition policy and intellectual property

On Wednesday (9 July 11, 2008) the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) steered away from the detailed financial and human resources discussions that characterized the first two days of discussion to more substantive discussions on competition policy.

The morning session considered recommendation 7 of the WIPO Development Agenda which calls upon WIPO to

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WIPO patent committee embarks on positive agenda

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

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Chilean official takes helm of WIPO patent committee

At 10:52 AM today, the United States of America (on behalf of Group B, the “rich country” group of WIPO) nominated Maximiliano Santa Cruz of Chile to be chair of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP). Singapore, on behalf of the Asian Group, seconded the nomination of Mr Santa Cruz and proposed candidates from China and Romania as Vice-Chairs. Brazil registered its support for this complement of candidates.

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