Global Forum on Intellectual Property, Access to Medicines and Innovation*
A Global Forum on Intellectual Property, Access to Medicines and Innovation will be held on 9-10 December 2019 in Munich, Germany. This Global Forum is a joint effort of the South Centre and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition. The Global Forum will bring together policy makers and leading academic figures to examine how intellectual property policy and law are evolving to incorporate public health considerations. Discussions will centre on recent national experiences and policy choices available to governments. The Forum will serve to support evidence-based policy making and building intellectual property regimes in developing countries that are supportive of the goals of public health, in particular to promote access to health for all.
South Centre Quarterly Report, 1 July to 30 September 2019
This Quarterly Report summarizes the activities undertaken by the South Centre during the period 1st July to 30 September 2019. It is intended to provide information, organized by themes, about recent developments in the areas covered by the Centre’s Work Program, meetings organized or co-organized by the Centre to examine particular issues or provide analytical support for negotiations taking place in various international fora, and conferences and other meetings where the Centre has participated. It also informs about publications made and publication/websites/social media metrics.
Call for Papers – TRIPS Flexibilities and Public Health (Deadline: 20 October)
The South Centre and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition are organizing a Global Forum on Intellectual Property, Access to Medicines and Innovation, in Munich, on 9-10 December 2019. The Forum is designed to bring together policymakers from developing countries with established scholars, early career academics and PhD students across multiple disciplines, allowing cross-fertilization of ideas that advance both scholarship and practice in the field.
This call for papers will receive innovative ongoing and/or unpublished research from early career scholars and PhD students on substantive flexibilities in the IP system afforded by the TRIPS Agreement that are relevant to pursue public health goals. Case studies, comparative analyses, empirical and statistical studies, as well as legal reflections with a policy perspective will be considered.
The worldwide problem of the rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious threat to global public health. The loss of efficacy of antibiotics and other antimicrobials affects everyone. Yet the threat is greater in developing countries, due to the higher incidence of infectious diseases. Developing countries will be unequivocally affected by AMR, deteriorating the health of the population, reducing economic growth and exacerbating poverty and inequalities. The blueprint for addressing AMR as a global problem is advanced. Countries are progressing in developing and implementing national action plans and overall the public awareness of AMR is increasing.
However, we are at the tip of the iceberg of response. AMR is not yet a key priority of most governments, and global coordination and resource mobilization to enable all countries to do their part are lagging. The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) in the upcoming 74th UN General Assembly (UNGA) will be reporting on the implementation of the UN resolution on AMR of 2016, including the recommendations of the Interagency Coordination Group (IACG) on Antimicrobial Resistance. The UNGA will also host a High-Level Meeting to build support for advancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC), that is essential for AMR response. Expanding primary health care services, strengthening the health work force, improving infection prevention and control and measures to secure access to essential medicines and others to reduce health inequities can help contain AMR in developing countries. Developing countries need to be actively involved in shaping the global agenda on antimicrobial resistance, including the new global governance mechanisms that are being set up for AMR.
Intellectual Property under the Scrutiny of Investor-State Tribunals
Legitimacy and New Challenges
By Clara Ducimetière
In 2009, C.S. Gibson was suggesting that: “With this early coverage of intellectual property in BITs, it is perhaps surprising that there has yet to be a publicly reported decision concerning an IPR-centered investment dispute. Given the trajectory of the modern economy, however, in which foreign investments reflect an increasing concentration of intellectual capital invested in knowledge goods protected by IPRs, this could soon change”. A couple of years later, the first investment cases dealing with IP issues were made public.
In this context, this paper first addresses the conditions that have to be fulfilled in order to bring intellectual property claims in investment arbitration, by touching upon the question of the definition of an investment in theory and in practice. It also tries to shed light on some of the implications of recent arbitral awards touching upon this interaction between intellectual property and investment protection, from a legal and regulatory perspective.
On the other hand, the specific situation of the European Union is scrutinized, and in particular the project put forward by the European Commission to adapt the dispute settlement system for the protection of investments.
Antivirales de acción directa para la Hepatitis C: evolución de los criterios de patentabilidad y su impacto en la salud pública en Colombia
Por Francisco A. Rossi B. y Claudia M. Vargas P.
La hepatitis C en el siglo XXI y el VIH en el final del siglo XX han representado los más relevantes retos de salud pública para la comunidad internacional. No solamente por ser enfermedades infecciosas y transmisibles (razón de ser de la salud pública) sino por su carácter mortal si no se recibe tratamiento de manera oportuna. En Octubre de 2015, la fundación IFARMA solicitó que todos los medicamentos antivirales para la hepatitis C, utilizables para curar una infección crónica transmisible potencialmente mortal, fueran declarados de interés público, dado que su precio amenazaba la sostenibilidad financiera del sistema de salud. Una declaración de interés público para estos medicamentos sería el primer paso para la emisión de licencias obligatorias. Este trabajo se ha llevado a cabo para identificar las patentes existentes en Colombia para estos productos, su alcance y sus consecuencias, en el marco de una discusión sobre la transparencia del sistema de patentes y la evolución del rigor con que se evalúan las solicitudes y se conceden las patentes.
Inequality is one of the greatest challenges that the world needs to face. Inequality is intimately linked with poverty. Although there has been progress in reducing poverty, a large part of the global population (overwhelmingly living in developing countries) is still denied access to a dignified life. While no poverty and reduced inequality are two of the outstanding Sustainable Development Goals, these and other goals are unlikely to be achieved by 2030. In fact, inequality is on the rise. Changing this situation will certainly require significant efforts at the national and regional level. But it also requires an international architecture that supports those efforts by respecting the policy space that countries need and coordinating constructive actions within the multilateral system. The current initiatives to ‘reform’ this system will only be legitimate if they recognize the gaps in the levels of development and contribute to effectively address them under a fair, pro-development system of rules. Please see last month’s SouthViews on “Understanding global inequality in the 21st century” by Jayati Ghosh, development economist and Professor of Economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
South Centre Quarterly Report, 1 April to 30 June 2019
This report summarizes the programmatic activities of the South Centre during the period 1st April to 30th June 2019. It is intended to provide information, organized by themes, about recent developments in the areas covered by the South Centre’s Work Program and publications made and meetings organized or co-organized by the Centre to examine particular issues or to provide analytical support for international negotiations taking place in various fora. It also informs about external conferences and other meetings where the Centre has participated.
Time for a Collective Response to the United States Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property
By Viviana Muñoz-Tellez, Nirmalya Syam and Thamara Romero
This policy brief discusses the annual Special 301 report issued by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The report is a unilateral tool of the US to pursue its foreign intellectual property (IP) policy by exerting pressure on countries to reform their IP laws and practices. Developing countries are particularly susceptible to this threat. The report identifies countries that are considered by the US as not providing adequate and effective protection of IP of rights holders from the US. The selection of countries is biased to the concerns raised by segments of the US industry. The report targets balanced provisions in countries’ legislations to ensure that IP rights do not hinder the ability of the government to adopt measures for promoting development priorities, particularly in the area of public health. A uniform and collective international response by the affected countries is long overdue. The way forward is to continue dialogue in appropriate multilateral fora, recognizing the need for all countries to maintain policy space to use IP as a domestic policy tool.
Title: Regional training for patent office representatives
Date: 4 June, 2019
Venue: Kyiv, Ukraine
Organizers: The South Centre, International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC Global), Scientific Research Institute of Intellectual Property (National Academy of Law Sciences of Ukraine) and All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV
