South Centre Statement to the WIPO Assemblies 2016
The statement highlights that the greatest challenge for developing countries and LDCs in the area of intellectual property (IP) is the proliferation of regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements that impose IP obligations, together with the coercive external political and economic pressure to restrain from making use of the flexibilities in the IP system.
Title: Patents and Public Health: Exploring Options for Future Work in the WIPO
Date: 29 June 2016, 13:00-14:45
Venue: WIPO, Room B
Organizer: South Centre (more…)
Title of Book: Investment Treaties: Views and Experiences from Developing Countries
Title of Event: REFORM OF THE INVESTMENT PROTECTION REGIME
VIEWS AND EXPERIENCES FROM DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Date: Wednesday, 18 May 2016, 13:30-15:00
Venue: Library Events Room (B-135), Palais des Nations, Geneva
Organizer: South Centre and UNOG Library
About the book: The purpose of this book is to facilitate the elaboration of national health policies and strategies to improve access to medicines, using fully the flexibilities allowed by the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement. It includes documents of the WHO written by Professor Carlos Correa and published between 1997 and 2009. As consultant to WHO, Professor Correa helped to initiate and formulate WHO policy perspectives and to provide advice to Member States on intellectual property issues relating to the production, distribution and use of medicines. The content of this book illustrates the pioneer role that WHO played in identifying the public health implications of the binding rules introduced by the TRIPS Agreement.
Author: Carlos M. Correa is Special Advisor on Intellectual Property and Trade of the South Centre.
Transition Period for TRIPS Implementation for LDCs: Implications for Local Production of Medicines in the East African Community
Article 66.1 of the WTO TRIPS Agreement grants the least developed countries (LDCs) a transition period during which they do not have to provide intellectual property rights protection according to the minimum requirements of the TRIPS Agreement. This transition period has been granted to LDCs to ensure that LDCs are not constrained by the existence of IP rights from taking suitable measures to develop a sound and viable technological base in different industrial sectors. (more…)
Transition Period for Providing Patent Protection for Pharmaceutical Products by LDCs: The Need for Extension
How can Least Developed Countries (LDCs) make effective use of the transition period for the purposes stated in Article 66.1 of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and in particular to promote access to affordable medicines and promote local manufacturing of generic medicines? Should LDCs seek a further extension of the transition period for pharmaceutical products beyond 1 January 2016?
The African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) Protocol on Patents: Implications for Access to Medicines
This paper was commissioned to better understand the workings of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (commonly known as “ARIPO”) with regard to its Protocol on Patents and Industrial Designs and to examine the effect of implementation of the Protocol (Section on Patents) on the promotion of access to affordable medicines. (more…)
Climate Change, Technology And Intellectual Property Rights: Context And Recent Negotiations.
This Research Paper discusses on contexts and recent negotiations in Technology Transfer, Sustainable Development and Climate Change. In terms of proprietary rights, the author categories technologies and related products into three domains: the Public Technologies; Patented Technologies and Future Technologies. (more…)
Pharmaceutical Innovation, Incremental Patenting and Compulsory Licensing.
Despite the decline in the discovery of new chemical entities for pharmaceutical use, there is a significant proliferation of patents on products and processes that cover minor, incremental innovations. A study conducted in five developing countries – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, India and South Africa – evidenced a significant proliferation of ‘evergreening’ pharmaceutical patents that can block generic competition and thereby limit access to medicines. (more…)
Comments on the 3rd high level forum on aid effectiveness. Final Draft of the Accra Agenda for Action.
This South Centre Analytical Note looks at the 25 July 2008 final draft text of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) that is being proposed for adoption by participants at the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra, Ghana, in September 2008. (more…)
Buying power: aid, governance and public procurement.
This South Centre Analytical Note looks at the donor-driven agenda in the reform of public procurement – the rules that guide government purchasing of goods, works and services – as one of major components in the good governance agenda being incorporated by donors into their aid programmes. (more…)
Comments to the Draft Modalities for WTO NAMA Negotiations dated 17 July 2007.
This note contains preliminary comments on the Draft NAMA Modalities submitted by the Chairman of the WTO Negotiating Group on Market Access (Job (07)/126). While the text will need to be discussed, amended and, if agreed, adopted at a later stage, (more…)
