Negotiations over a treaty on limitations and exceptions to copyright for the visually impaired are concluding at the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. The proposed treaty would reduce copyright barriers to reading materials in formats for the…
This was the statement read out by Pranesh Prakash at the 24th meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee for Copyright and Related Rights in Geneva, on Monday, July 23, 2012, specifically on the Chair’s Non Paper on the Protection of…
CLICK HERE FOR A PRINTABLE PDF. Joint Statement signed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Knowledge Ecology International, Grupo de Pesquisa em Políticas Públicas para o Acesso à Informação-USP, Public Knowledge, the International Federation of Library Associations, Electronic Information for Libraries,…
Earlier this month, the 2012 Global Innovation Index (GII) was jointly published by WIPO and INSEAD. The GII profiles 141 countries according to 84 indicators, which fit into the following categories: institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business…
Last week’s meeting of the WTO’s Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) saw talks proceed on a host of issues, including counterfeit goods, exceptions and limitations to copyright, and a long-running dispute over a Cuban rum trademark.…
Without ever mentioning the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement negotiations directly, a new issue brief by UNDP and UNAIDS strongly criticizes all of the major proposals on medicines issues included in the U.S. proposal that was leaked last year. [Click here for…
The UN Development Programme and UNAIDS released a joint policy brief this week at workshop on the “Use of TRIPS Flexibilities and Access to Affordable ARVs in Asia.” The paper notes that the use of TRIPS flexibilities has expanded the…
Last, week, the 65th World Health Assembly debated the report on the Consultative Expert Working Group (CEWG) on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination. The report noted the failure of the current international IP system to incentivize research into diseases…
The World Bank today announced a new Open Access policy for research conducted in-house or supported by its grants. Beginning July 1, the bank will “require open access under copyright licensing from Creative Commons—a non-profit organization whose copyright licenses are…
Last year, the United Nation’s Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organizagtion (UNESCO) announced the creation of the Global Open Access Portal, a project that aims to map the landscape of open access to scholarly and scientific information around the world. Funded…
PIJIP Research Paper no. 2012-03 Author: Mohammed El Said Abstract: Leaked diplomatic cables related to the United States’ foreign policy implementing and enforcing intellectual property in developing countries draw a bleak picture. U.S. interest groups and local agents collaborate to…
The “Africa IP Forum,” originally cosponsored by WIPO, numerous intellectual property rightholders, and a handfull of governments, has been postponed. Civil society groups objected to the conference’s corporate sponsorship and IP-maximalist agenda, and had pushed for the cancellation of the…