Multilateral Fora » infojustice

To What Extent Can Global IP Rules Be Responsive To Public Interest Demands? The Case Of The Treaty For The Visually Impaired

Posted by Ahmed Abdel Latif on June 17, 2013 No Responses »

Jun 172013

[Ahmed Abdel Latif and Pedro Roffe, ICTSD; IP-Watch (CC-BY-NC-ND)]

To what extent can global intellectual property rules address in an effective manner the needs of the most vulnerable members of society? This is the key question facing member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) as they prepare to meet next week for a diplomatic conference, in Marrakesh, that might result in the adoption of a treaty to facilitate access to copyrighted works by visually impaired persons and persons with print disabilities. Continue reading »

A Balancing Act for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Posted by Sara Bannerman on June 13, 2013 No Responses »

Jun 132013

On Monday June 17, a diplomatic conference will be held to negotiate a treaty/international instrument that would allow accessible-format works to be exported from country to country. Intended to address the problem that currently only 5% of copyright works are currently available in accessible format. Copyright law in many countries currently prohibits the export of copyright works, including accessible-format works. This creates a situation where works must be separately converted to accessible formats in each country, or where separate permissions must be requested for each country to create or export the works, inhibiting the flow of accessible-format works around the world. Continue reading »

South to Introduce Resolution on Access to Medicines

Posted by KM Gopakumar on June 7, 2013 No Responses »

Jun 072013

(Reposted with permission from the TWN Info Service) Developing countries are set to introduce a resolution on access to medicines at the current session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The 23rd regular session of the Human Rights Council is taking place from 27 May to 14 June in Geneva and the draft resolution is expected to come up for consideration next week. Continue reading »

Technical Note: The LDC TRIPS Transition Extension and the Question of Rollback

Posted by ICTSD Staff on May 31, 2013 No Responses »

May 312013

When the WTO agreements entered into force in 1995, least developed countries (LDCs) were given until 1 January 2006 to implement the obligations contained in the then-newly adopted TRIPS Agreement. In 2002, the LDC transition period was extended until 2016 for pharmaceutical patents, with a later decision in 2005 extending the period for all intellectual property rights until July 2013. The 2005 decision also had a “no roll back provision” providing that LDCs should not implement policies during the transition period with a “lesser degree of consistency with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.” Continue reading »

PETITION: Side with the blind over obstructionist companies to secure a Treaty for the Blind that makes books accessible globally.

Posted by REPOST on May 24, 2013 No Responses »

May 242013

The following petition has been posted on the White House’s ‘We the People’ site:

Less than 1% of printed works globally are accessible to the blind. This is because laws around the world bar printed material from being turned into formats useable by the blind and visually impaired, or for such material to be shared across borders. That’s why 186 countries will soon convene in Morocco to finalize a Treaty that would empower the world’s nearly 300 million blind citizens with the same rights to read, learn, and earn that the sighted enjoy. However, huge and powerful corporations – many wholly unaffected by the proposed Treaty – are working to fatally weaken it or block its adoption. Ask the President to compel US negotiators to fight for a strong Treaty that gives blind people equal access to books and doesn’t burden those who want to provide them.

Click here to sign the petition.

House Democrats Urge Obama Administration to Give Poorest Countries More Time to Adhere to WTO Intellectual Property Rules

Posted by Mike Palmedo on May 22, 2013 No Responses »

May 222013

Representatives Waxman, Lee, DeLauro, Schakowsky, and Bass have sent a letter to Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis supporting a proposal by Haiti to allow poor countries extra time to enact stronger rules on patent, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property.

The issue involves the implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which requires countries to adopt certain intellectual property standards. For instance, the TRIPS Agreement requires 20 year patents on all inventions (including medicines) and long copyrights on most works (including textbooks). TRIPS rules give IP owners the ability to set monopoly prices for goods, which can be unaffordable for many, especially in poor countries. Therefore, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) were granted extra time to implement TRIPS when the WTO was established, and this transition period was subsequently extended. Continue reading »

LDC Watch and OWINFS on the TRIPS Council Chair to Stop the Ongoing Unfair Informal Negotiations on the LDC TRIPS Waiver Extension

Posted by REPOST on May 21, 2013 No Responses »

May 212013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Arjun Karki, akarki@ldcwatch.org , +977 9851023254
Prerna Bomzan, prerna@ldcwatch.org , +977 9841209336
Deborah James, djames@cepr.net , +1 (202) 441 6917

On 20 May, global civil society networks LDC Watch and the Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) wrote an open letter of protest to the Ambassador of Panama, Alfredo Suescum who is the current Chair of the Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The ongoing informal negotiations between the least developed countries (LDCs) and the developed countries, on the extension period of TRIPS waiver granted to LDCs which expires by the end of June, is marred by unjust and unethical treatment by the United States, European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, in particular, including the Council Chair. Continue reading »

Bracing for Another Delay: Open Innovation At the WHO?

Posted by Sophie Bloeman on May 21, 2013 No Responses »

May 212013

[HAI Europe] Open innovation, open access, crowd-sourcing innovation, innovation prizes…. All buzzwords we often hear in the media, employed by entrepreneurs, government officials or science journalists. The terms have become part of the discourse on innovation and science: companies crowd source their data and innovation, governments are opening up their data to allow for civic participation in innovation, open access publishing is gaining major ground, the US government now mandates it where government grants are involved. Various ideas and arguments play a role here. Moral arguments about social justice and public goods are certainly important, but so are ideas on effectiveness and models of innovation. Although many people have been working on open innovation initiatives for many years, the familiarity of these terms is a pretty recent phenomenon. Continue reading »

Open Letter to the Chair of the TRIPS Council, Alfredo Suescum, Ambassador of Panama to the WTO

Posted by REPOST on May 20, 2013 No Responses »

May 202013

Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS) Network and LDC Watch.

Dear Ambassador Suescum,

We are outraged with the manner in which informal consultations are being conducted on the issue of extension of the LDC’s transition period. We find the current process to be unfair and prejudicial to the interests of the LDCs, the poorest and most vulnerable segment of the international community.

The LDC’s request has obtained extensive support from the developing world but the supporters of the LDC’s request have not been invited to participate in the current on-going consultations. Instead, the consultations have been limited to developed countries (that are opposed to the LDCs request) and to the LDC Group. It is outrageous that developing countries that have supported the LDC request (which together with the LDCs form the vast majority of actual members of the WTO), are being prevented from participating in the consultations. As a result you are depriving LDCs of their allies, while attempting to overwhelm the negotiating capacity of the poorest members of the WTO by placing them in an unfair position where they have to face the united might of the developed countries. Clearly the consultations have been designed so that the outcome will fail the LDCs. Continue reading »

WIPO Treaty for the Visually Impaired Flounders

Posted by Sara Bannerman on May 14, 2013 No Responses »

May 142013

As negotiators at WIPO prepare for a June 17-22 diplomatic conference in Marrakesh to create a new international instrument/treaty for the benefit of the visually impaired. The treaty is intended, by its proponents, to make copyright works more accessible to the visually impaired. It is currently estimated that only 5% of works are available in a accessible format. Stevie Wonder and other key activists have been proponents of the treaty. Continue reading »

The Interaction of the Proposed LDC Extension Request and the 2016 Pharmaceutical Product Extension

Posted by Brook Baker on May 13, 2013 No Responses »

May 132013

The current request of WTO LDC Members for an unconditional extension of the time period within which they must become compliant with the TRIPS Agreement covers all forms of intellectual property protection under TRIPS. Even though it is true that some LDCs have signed other treaties that might impose some IP obligations, e.g., the Paris Convention on Industrial Property or the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, freeing themselves from the broader and stronger spectrum of IP mandates in TRIPS will enable their access to broad classes of essential public goods, including all medical commodities, educational and informational resources, agricultural resources, and green/climate control technologies. Continue reading »

Incoming WTO Director General Urged to Make Access to Medicines a Priority

Posted by REPOST on May 8, 2013 No Responses »

May 082013

Least-developed countries fighting for TRIPS exemption extension

[MSF Press Release] On the appointment of Roberto Azevedo as Director General of the World Trade Organization, international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned the WTO and incoming DG that access to medicines must become a priority. This includes allowing least-developed countries to remain exempt from introducing intellectual property rules, and maintaining the right of countries to use all flexibilities at their disposal to ensure access to affordable generic medicines. Continue reading »

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