WIPO General Assembly 2016: Opening Statement of Knowledge Ecology International
On October 4th, 2016, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) delivered this opening statement on the occasion of the Fifty-Sixth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
KEI General Statement – WIPO General Assembly – 2016October 4th, 2016
Thank you Chair for providing Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) the opportunity to speak today.
General Assembly 2016 – Opening Statement of Bangladesh on behalf of the LDC Group
On Monday, 3 October 2016, Bangladesh delivered the following opening statement on behalf of the LDC Group at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) General Assembly.
General Statement on behalf of the LDC Group at the 56th Session of the Assemblies of the Member states of WIPO
[3 October 2016]
Delivered by Ambassador H.E. Mr. M Shameem Ahsan,
Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations
( Suggested time: 5 minutes)Mr. President,
Director General,
Distinguished representatives,
Good morning.WIPO General Assembly 2016: Opening statement of Chile on behalf of the Group of Latin and the Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
On Monday, 3 October 2016, Chile delivered the following opening statement on behalf of the Group of Latin and the Caribbean Group (GRULAC) at the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) General Assembly.
In relation to copyright limitations and exceptions, GRULAC noted:
USPTO publishes new estimates of “IP-Intensive” industries, spin results
USPTO has just published its new estimates of “IP-intensive” jobs for the US economy. The report is titled: Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: 2016 Update, and is available as a PDF file here. USPTO press release here:
I took a quick look at the report, and below are some initial bullet points:
Differences between the march-in, royalty free right, and government use options
I wanted to post a brief note about three separate mechanism to overcome patent monopolies in current US law. All are useful, in the right context, and all have some limits.
1. The Bayh-Dole March-In rights under 35 U.S.C. 203, as defined by 35 U.S.C. 201(f).
National Association of Manufacturers told USTR the EU position on LDC extension made a mockery of international trading system
On September 10, 2015, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), wrote to USTR expressing alarm at the European Union support of an indefinite extension of a WTO waiver of obligations to grant patents on pharmaceuticals for UN defined least developed countries (LDCs). In 2015, there were 954 million persons living in LDCs, with a per capita income of $964, according to the World Bank. The EU had aligned itself with health advocates trying to protect the bottom billion access to life saving medicines.
500+ Pages of Documents on NFL Attempts to Influence NIH Funding of Concussion Studies
Knowledge Ecology International recently obtained extensive email correspondence between officials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), and the National Football League (NFL), which shed light on accusations of NFL attempts to control the NIH research agenda related to repeat concussion injuries in football players.
The records, which we received through FOIA, are available here:
NIH Waivers for U.S. Manufacturing Requirements for Federally-Funded Drugs, 2011 to May 2015
The National Institutes of Health, from 2011 through May of 2015, appears to have granted all requests for waivers of a requirement under federal law that patent holders who benefit from U.S. taxpayer-funding ensure that their patented inventions are manufactured in the United States.
The Bayh-Dole Act imposes various requirements on the grant of exclusive licenses by the patent holders of federally-funded inventions. In particular, the act generally requires that exclusive licensees “substantially” manufacture the invention in the United States.
The Act, however, also allows for the patent holder to obtain a waiver on the U.S. manufacturing requirement from the Federal agency that provided for the funding of the invention. According to a FOIA response recently obtained by Knowledge Ecology International, the NIH seems to grant every manufacturing waiver request that comes its way. Continue Reading
Summary of Report of United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines
On September 14, 2016, the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines released its report, in which they had a mandate to “review and assess proposals and recommend solutions for remedying the policy incoherence between the justifiable rights of inventors, international human rights law, trade rules and public health in the context of health technologies.”[1]
KEI Statement on United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines Report
On September 14, 2016, the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines issued its long-awaited report, which addressed the policy incoherencies between intellectual property, trade, human rights, innovation, and public health.
The report is available here: http://www.unsgaccessmeds.org/final-report/
Continue Reading