Do we need an international treaty for reading disabled persons?
Yes, and today the World Blind Union is seeking international support for a proposed Treaty for Reading Disabled Persons at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The next meeting where this matter could be taken up is at the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights taking place in Geneva, May 25-29, 2009.
For more information, KEI general page on the Bayh Dole Act, or one of the mini Bayh-Dole timelines, such as the ones on transparency, march-in rights or royalty free uses. TIMELINE 1980 1980. October 21. Public Law 96-480. Stevenson-Wydler Technology… Continue Reading
On 3 February 2009 WIPO released the revised Report on the International Patent System (SCP/12/3 Rev.2) with three annexes. Continue Reading
There are plans for the next ACTA negotiation to take place in Rabat, Morocco. However, since none of the Obama trade people have been placed at USTR, this might be delayed.
The USTR is still maintaining secrecy over details of the negotiation, including the names of participants and all of the proposed texts for negotiations. Despite this, KEI has obtained some documents related to the negotiations. We can report the following:
Romulus
Although the founding of Rome is a mystery, the myths of its origin hold that Romulus and Remus, the sons of Mars and Rhea Silvia, abandoned by their parents on the banks of the river Tiber, were suckled by a she-wolf, Lupa. Upon reaching adulthood, Romulus and Remus vied for control of Rome. According to Wikipedia,
Roundtable on De-linking R&D Incentives from Prices: Designing Innovation Inducement Prizes for Diagnostics, New Drugs and Vaccines for Type II and III diseases and conditions, with a particular focus on TB and Chagas Disease
The meeting is going to be small with around 40 high level policy makers and technical participants, including industry, donors, civil society and government officials.
The 13th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) will take place from March 23, 2009 to March 27, 2009 in Geneva at WIPO headquarters. The WIPO Report on the International Patent System is the first substantive agenda item of the 13th session. Continue Reading
Who is advising Obama during the transition? An army of well connected people. Here are the team leaders for economics and international trade. Many have past public service and current charity work. For those now working in the for-profit sector, we have emphasized only the business ties.
Economics and International Trade Team Leads
Corporate, Investment, Law Firm and Consultant
Today I am at Harvard, attending a workshop titled: Unbranding Medicines: the politics, promise, and challenge of generic drugs. This is put on by the Harvard Interfaculty Initiative on Medicines and Society. The program in general is quite impressive, particularly as regards to the depth of experience and knowledge about the generic drug industry, including its early origins.
I was asked to speak about the use of prizes. The slides from my presentation are here:
6 December 2008
At the close of the final day of the 3rd Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, India, the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS) released an agreement entitled the “Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS) Agreement on Procurement in Support of Interoperability and Open Standards.”
Under the procurement agreement, governments, publicly funded and non-profit institutions agree to promote interoperability and accessibility through the use of open standards.