[by Philippe Aigrain (CC-BY-SA)(Link)] An endless stream of law proposals, soft-law initiatives and free-trade agreements keeps trying to eradicate or prevent the non-market sharing of digital works between individuals. New strategies are pushed using incentives and threats so that intermediaries will…
(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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
[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…
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…
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 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…
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…
Developed countries, particularly the United States and the European Union, have offered a poor and impractical deal of an incredibly short extension of 5 years with restrictive conditions to least developed countries that are entitled to be exempted from implementing…