On April 26, the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on “International Patent Issues: Promoting a Level Playing Field for American Industry Abroad.” Witnesses from industry and academia participated, and each listed what…
(with research by Marcela Palacio Puerta) The latest example of a rushed copyright reform process to implement an unbalanced law while stifling public debate occurred in Colombia last week. Over a scant 18 days (including a break for holy week)…
Last week the Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a report on IP intensive industries in the U.S. “Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus” identifies 75 industries as…
Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IP Czar) Victoria Espinel has published the 2011 Annual Report on Intellectual Property Enforcement. The report describes enforcement activities by the Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Health and Human Services, as well as…
Last week, Carolina Rossini announced a new Open Educational Resources project website: “we aim to provide vast information on OER for Portuguese speakers. We have developed a large FAQ, pointed to reference documents, media, etc. We have also listed projects…
On Wednesday, the Indian Supreme Court will hear arguments in Novartis’ challenge to India’s patent law. In 2006, the Indian Patent Office rejected Novartis’ patent application for the cancer drug Glivec (imatinib mesylate), saying that the drug was a new…
Below is the Statement of the Grupo de Trabalho Sobre, Propriedade Intelectual on the Brazlian government’s decision to annul Abbott Laboratories’ patent on lopinavir+ritonavir, an important antiretroviral medicine for the treatment of HIV The statement was originally released on the…
Last December, participants at a meeting on Limitations and Exceptions to Copyright hosted by IViR and PIJIP were asked to answer three questions relating to copyright law in their country. We are publishing their answers as blogs, after giving the…
India has granted Natco Pharma Ltd. a compulsory license to produce generic sorafenib tosylate – a drug used to treat kidney and liver cancer that is patented by Bayer and sold under the brand name Nexaver. Under the terms of…
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk testified before the Senate Finance Committee today about the Obama Administration’s 2012 Trade Agenda. (Last week, USTR released its Annual Report outlining the 2012 Agenda in detail.) The Committee has a webcast available here, and…
On February 28, the Indian Supreme Court had been scheduled to hear arguments in Novartis’ challenge to the patentability criteria of the Indian Patents Act. On the 27th, PharmaBiz.com reported that the hearing may be delayed until some time in…
On February 22, EC Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht announced that the Commission has referred ACTA to the European Court of Justice. The court has been asked “to assess whether ACTA is incompatible – in any way – with the…