The John Edwards campaign has issued a statement endorsing prizes as an “alternative to patent monopolies” for new drugs and other inventions. Details from the campaign are here. This is a good start. My comment in the Huffington Post is here: John Edwards: Prizes, Not Patent Monopolies.
We have heard that negotiations have finished on Cluster D and E were wrapped up last evening. Cluster C has one issue pending. As of 10 AM Geneva time, only the text of Cluster D was available. Particularly significant is the agreement on the text of having WIPO Member States exchange information on experiences on open collaborative projects such as the Human Genome Project. Also important was the agreement on language on impact assessment studies.
The OECD High Level Forum to be held in the Netherlands on June 20 and 21, proposes to discuss new policy strategies to stimulate innovation for and access to medicines for neglected diseases. The meeting has on its face very laudable goals. But while NGOs have been invited to the HLF, they have not been given sufficient opportunity to contribute to the discussion Only one NGO has been invited to speak. By contrast other actors from academia and industry have been given multiple opportunities to present their views.
The following Cluster B text came out of the informal green room negotiations which broke out around 7 PM Geneva time last evening. The only word that seems to have brackets is the word “competition”.
1. In its activities, including norm-setting, WIPO should take into account the flexibilities in international IP agreements, especially those which are of interest to developing countries and LDCs.
The negotiations on the development agenda text have progressed, and as of last evening, it appears as though the term “access to knowledge” is now without brackets. The relevant paragraph now reads as follows:
“To initiate discussions on how, within WIPO’s mandate, to further facilitate access to knowledge and technology for developing countries and LDCs to foster creativity and innovation and to strengthen such existing activities within WIPO.”
Why are there brackets on A2K?
Paragraph 3 of Cluster B reads:
3. To discuss possible new initatives and strengthen existing mechanisms within WIPO to facilitate [access to knowledge] and technology for developing countries and LDCs and to foster creativity and innovation within WIPO’s mandate.
I talked with Canada during to break, to see where they stood. I can report that Canada was completely negative about removing the brackets from [access to knowledge].
The Algerian coordinator of the African Group just outlined the state of play on the language concerning access to knowledge.
As reported previously, the language of paragraph 3 of Cluster B reads:
3. To discuss possible new initatives and strengthen existing mechanisms within WIPO to facilitate [access to knowledge] and technology for developing countries and LDCs and to foster creativity and innovation within WIPO’s mandate.
The draft text on issues related to norm-setting, flexibilities, public policy and the public domain (Cluster B) is out.
Paragraph 3 reads:
3. To discuss possible new initatives and strengthen existing mechanisms within WIPO to facilitate [access to knowledge] and technology for developing countries and LDCs and to foster creativity and innovation within WIPO’s mandate.