Joint Letter by Over 70 Civil Society Groups: WTO Is Obliged Under TRIPS Art. 66.1 to Grant LDC Request for TRIPS Extension
[Letter to WTO Members] As civil society organizations concerned with ensuring prompt availability of affordable medicines in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) we call on WTO Members to unconditionally accord the LDC Group an extension of the transition period with respect to pharmaceutical products and waivers from obligations under Article 70.8 (mailbox obligation) and Article 70.9 (exclusive marketing rights) as requested in their duly motivated request to the TRIPs Council (IP/C/W/605). Click here for more.
1201 Exemption Hearings, Day 2 – Note from the Front Lines
[Brandon Butler] Wednesday was day two of the Washington, D.C. portion of the triennial rulemaking to determine whether breaking digital locks that block copying from DVDs, Blu-ray, and other digital media should be allowed in a series of defined cases. There was also a series of hearings in Los Angeles, CA, last week to address some of the proposals with mostly West Coast-based proponents and opponents. There were some intriguing rays of hope in Wednesday’s hearing in DC. Click here for more.
The Grounds for Opposing Patents on Sofosbuvir in Argentina, Brazil, China, Ukraine and Russia
[Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge] Worldwide 150 million people are living with Hepatitis C. In countries like Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Ukraine and Russia 59 million people have Hepatitis C, and worldwide 700,000 people are dying preventable deaths from liver cancer and liver disease. Pharmaceutical corporation Gilead Sciences is seeking illegitimate patents for the hepatitis C medicine sofosbuvir, blocking millions of people around the world from getting the treatment they need to get well. If Gilead is awarded unjustified patents in Argentina, Brazil, China, Ukraine and Russia, based on the likely prices that will be set for these countries, they could be faced with an overspend of US$270 billion to treat all people with Hepatitis C. Click here for more.
Is Europe Falling Behind in Data Mining? Copyright’s Impact on Data Mining in Academic
[Christian Handke, Lucie Guibault and Joan-Josep Vallbé] Abstract: This empirical paper discusses how copyright affects data mining (DM) by academic researchers. With the diffusion of digital information technology, DM is widely expected to increase the productivity of all kinds of research activities. Based on bibliometric data, we demonstrate that the share of DM-related research articles in all published academic papers has increased substantially over the last two decades. We develop an ordinal categorization of countries according to essential aspects of the copyright system that affect the costs and benefits of DM research. We show that countries in which data mining for academic research requires the express consent of rights holders, data mining makes up a significantly lower share of total research output. Click here for more.
World Health Assembly Concludes With Actions On Range Of Issues
[Catherine Saez] The 68th World Health Assembly (WHA), which took place from 18-26 May, was characterised as one of the most successful annual assemblies ever by Margaret Chan, World Health Organization director general. From the standpoint of intellectual property, access and innovation, this may be debatable. Below is a guide to the main accomplishments highlighted by Intellectual Property Watch. Click here for more on ip-watch.org.
