IP and Public Interest
Intellectual Property For Development Group – Side Event:
30 Years of Trips: Expectations and Concerns of Developing Countries
Date: 19th March 2025, 1 PM
Venue: Room SI, World Trade Organization
Hybrid event
Application de l’Exception Bolar: Différentes approches dans le droit de l’UE
Par Dmytro Doubinsky
Ce Document de recherche aborde le problème toujours plus aigu de l’accès aux médicaments essentiels, en se concentrant sur le rôle des droits de propriété intellectuelle, en particulier les droits de brevet, qui restreignent l’accès en permettant des monopoles sur le marché pharmaceutique qui maintiennent les prix des médicaments à un niveau élevé. Le document explore l’exception Bolar, un mécanisme juridique conçu pour permettre aux fabricants de médicaments génériques de demander l’approbation réglementaire avant l’expiration d’un brevet, empêchant ainsi l’extension de facto des monopoles de brevets. L’étude examine la transformation de l’exception Bolar d’un cas juridique spécifique en un instrument important en matière de droit de la propriété intellectuelle, de droit commercial et de droit pharmaceutique. Elle analyse les principaux cadres juridiques internationaux et les directives européennes relatifs à l’exception Bolar et met en évidence les interprétations divergentes de l’exception dans les jurisprudences allemande et polonaise. Grâce à cette analyse comparative, le document encourage une mise en œuvre plus large des exceptions Bolar afin d’améliorer l’accès à des médicaments abordables et de réduire les coûts des soins de santé.
South Centre Annual Report 2024
The South Centre carries out multiple activities to support developing countries with policy-oriented research, inputs and advice for negotiations and capacity building. The Report summarizes the South Centre’s activities in 2024 and highlights the contexts in which they were conducted as well as the objectives that were pursued with their implementation.
Knowledge and Global Inequality
By Dev Nathan
This paper argues that the global capitalist economy has been and is built on the monopolization of advanced technological knowledge through trade secrets and intellectual property rights protection, controlled by companies and countries of the Global North. Companies and countries in the Global South use commoditized knowledge or knowledge in the commons. In the colonial period this was largely confined to the production of agricultural commodities and now to carry out the bulk of production functions. This division of knowledge and the difference in returns to monopolized knowledge and knowledge in the commons drives global inequality. The paper points out that countries of the Global South that moved out of the middle-income trap did so by advancing from just using knowledge to also creating knowledge. Finally, it argues that there is a need to reform the system of intellectual property rights in order to promote inclusion and not exclusion.
South Centre Workshop with Like-Minded Countries on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions
Date: 11th – 14th February, 2025
Location: Varembé Conference Centre, Geneva
Time: 1-3 pm
Statement in Support of Discussions on Counterfeiting in the Biotechnology Sector and the Prevention of Biopiracy
WIPO Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE)
Today at the 17th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE), the South Centre delivered its statement, emphasizing the need to prevent biopiracy while addressing counterfeiting in the biotechnology sector. A balanced IP enforcement approach is key to protecting biodiversity & traditional knowledge.
Copyright & the Public Interest: Africa and the Global South
International Conference co-organized by South Centre
Dates: 3rd February 2025, 5th February 2025, 6th February 2025
Locations: Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa
The WIPO Development Agenda: Progress and Challenges in 2025
By Nirmalya Syam
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Development Agenda (DA), adopted in 2007, seeks to align intellectual property (IP) policies with the development priorities of member States. Enduring challenges persist despite some progress including the adoption of treaties to facilitate access to copyright protected works for visually impaired and print disabled persons, and the recent treaty on IP, genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, and the adoption of several projects for implementing different DA recommendations. DA projects, however, have had limited impact on mainstreaming a development orientation in WIPO, there is limited promotion of use of IP flexibilities for development, and WIPO’s technical assistance continues to lack a development orientation. There is also a sustained absence of consideration and reporting of development related issues across WIPO bodies. Divergent interpretations of “development”, weak coordination and monitoring systems, and governance inequities have hindered the DA’s transformative potential. This brief examines these issues and advances recommendations to address the challenges to establish an effective DA.
Application of the Bolar Exception: Different Approaches in the EU
By Dmytro Doubinsky
This Research Paper addresses the growing problem of access to essential medicines, focusing on the role of intellectual property rights, particularly patent rights, in restricting access by enabling pharmaceutical market monopolies that keep drug prices high. The paper explores the Bolar exception, a legal mechanism designed to allow generic drug manufacturers to seek regulatory approval before a patent expires, thus preventing the de facto extension of patent monopolies. The study examines the transformation of the Bolar exception from a specific legal case into a significant tool of intellectual property, commercial, and pharmaceutical law. The paper analyzes key international legal frameworks and European directives related to the Bolar exception and highlights divergent interpretations of the Exception in German and Polish case law. Through this comparative analysis, the paper argues for the broader implementation of Bolar exceptions to improve access to affordable medicines and reduce healthcare costs.
International Regulation of Industrial Designs: The TRIPS Agreement in the Light of European Union Law
By Adèle Sicot
This paper analyzes the provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) on industrial designs, and the manner in which the narrow aspects dealt with by the Agreement have been addressed by European Union (EU) legislation. The paper highlights the absence of a definition of protectable subject matter, and the considerable flexibility left to the member countries of the World Trade Organization to determine the framework of protection, notably on the basis of copyright. The paper also notes certain areas in which European legislation is more elaborate, and others which could be considered incompatible with the TRIPS Agreement.
Navigating the WTO’s Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology: A Critical Analysis from the Perspective of Developing Countries
By Nirmalya Syam
This paper critically analyzes the operations and effectiveness of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Working Group on Trade and Transfer of Technology (WGTTT). Despite the establishment of the WGTTT in 2001 with a mandate to enhance technology flows to developing countries, the Group has struggled to produce meaningful outcomes due to divergent priorities between developed and developing countries. This paper finds that the WGTTT remains an exploratory discussion forum rather than a negotiation platform with the capacity to generate new initiatives that address the technology transfer needs of developing countries. Key reforms are proposed, including transitioning to a negotiation-oriented approach, improving the balance of member priorities, and focusing on actionable themes to enhance the WGTTT effectiveness in fostering technology transfer to developing countries.
South Centre Statement to the 49th WIPO IGC Session
2 December 2024
We support the work by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) to contribute to a more inclusive and just international intellectual property system and sustainable development.
