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…)
Patent Examination and Legal Fictions: How Rights are Created on Feet of Clay
Patents are often presented as an absolute property, comparable to property over land. This simplification overlooks that patent rights are conferred without a solid determination of the factual conditions required for such rights to arise out. The examination process of patent applications faces substantial limitations, even in the case of large patent offices, to determine whether a claimed invention actually meets the patentability standards, however defined. (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?
Climate Change, Technology and Intellectual Property Rights: Context and Recent Negotiations
I. Technology Transfer, Sustainable Development and Climate Change
In order to meet their objectives for mitigation and adaptation in climate change, and move more towards a sustainable development pathway, developing countries need access to environmentally-sound technology at affordable prices. (more…)
South Centre Statement at the Fifty-Fourth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO
The following statement was presented by Nirmalya Syam on behalf of the South Centre at the Fifty-Fourth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO held on 22-30 September 2014 at Geneva, Switzerland. (more…)
The Information Technology Agreement (ITA); Considerations from a Development Perspective
This note discusses the contents of the Information Technology Agreement (ITA), including the scheduling approach under the ITA, the experiences of ITA members thus far, and the propositions for expansion of the ITA product coverage. (more…)
This overview outlines in summary form the main results of the negotiations during the 18th Conference of the Parties (COP18) and the 8th COP Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP8) that took place in Doha, Qatar, from 27 November to 8 December 2012.
Statement at the UN Framework Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC) Ad-hoc working group on long-term cooperation (AWG-LCA), Workshop on Equity, Bonn
In the quest for an international climate agreement on actions to address the climate change crisis, three aspects have to be the basis simultaneously: the environmental imperative, the developmental imperative, and the equity imperative. This EDE formula requires that the different pieces of the climate negotiations be seen and addressed as a whole, in a holistic way. (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…)
Mechanisms for International Cooperation in Research and Development: Lessons for the Context of Climate Change.
This Research Paper examines possible modalities of collaboration for research and development (R&D), understood as comprehensive of scientific studies and of activities for the generation of new processes and products and the improvement of existing ones . It briefly discusses, first, the various sources of technology for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. (more…)
Proposals on the Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development (IFSD).
Twenty years after the Rio Summit 1992, the global sustainable development situation has deteriorated. The environment crisis has worsened. After a period of good development performances in some developing countries, the prospects for the global economy have worsened, with the financial-economic crisis now affecting Europe and the US, which has implications for developing countries. (more…)
The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health Ten Years Later: The State of Implementation.
The Declaration on the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Public Health was adopted on 14 November 2001 by the 4th World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Meeting at Doha, Qatar. (more…)
