Statement, 6 October 2015

South Centre at the WIPO 2015 Assemblies

The South Centre calls on WIPO Member States to guide the work of the organization towards shaping a more inclusive and balanced international intellectual property system.

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Policy Brief 22, September 2015

The WIPO Negotiations on IP, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge: Can It Deliver?   

There has been much expectation on what the Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) can deliver on intellectual property aspects of the protection of genetic resources (GRs), traditional knowledge (TK) and related traditional cultural expressions (TCEs). Results from fourteen years of extensive study, analysis and discussion have been distilled into three negotiating texts. But in July 2014, negotiations suffered a reversal. (more…)

Policy Brief 21, September 2015

Lack of Progress at the Twenty-Second Session of the WIPO SCP for a Balanced and Development-Oriented Work Programme on Patent Law Related Issues

The twenty-second session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) was held in Geneva from 27 to 31 July 2015. About seven years since the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) had reconvened in June 2008 with a focus on developing a balanced work programme on issues relating to the law of patents that would also address development and public policy issues that arise in the context of the patent system, the SCP has been unable to agree on a work programme on any issue related to patents and development. (more…)

South Centre Side Event to the WIPO Assemblies, 8 October 2015

Title:       The Adoption of the UN Post 2015 Development Agenda: What Does it Mean for WIPO?

Date:       8 October, 13h00-15h00

Venue:   WIPO Room NB 0.107 (more…)

IP Negotiations Monitor 14, August 2015

The IP Negotiations Monitor summarizes the latest developments in multilateral and regional fora where intellectual property negotiations are taking place, and informs on upcoming meetings and events.

(Covering period: April – June 2015) (more…)

Policy Brief 17, March 2015

Towards a More Coherent International Legal System on Farmers’ Rights: The Relationship of the FAO ITPGRFA, UPOV and WIPO

This Policy Brief outlines some key areas of interrelation among the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). (more…)

Research Paper 56, November 2014

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…)

Statement, 13-17 October 2014

South Centre Statement on Coming into Force of Nagoya Protocol

The following is a Statement by the South Centre on the coming into force of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization. (more…)

Statement, 22-30 September 2014

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…)

Research Paper 52, August 2014

Tackling the Proliferation of Patents: How to Avoid Undue Limitations to Competition and the Public Domain

The steady increase in patent applications and grants that is taking place in developed and some developing countries (notably in China) is sometimes hailed as evidence of the strength of global innovation and of the role of the patent system in encouraging it. However, such an increase does not correspond to a genuine augmentation in innovation. (more…)

Research Paper 49, January 2014

Public-private Partnerships in Global Health: Putting Business before Health?

Public and private sector interaction in health has always existed at the national level; in the United Nations (UN) system, public-private partnerships (PPPs) started at the end of the 1990s with the reform of the UN system launched by Kofi Annan. (more…)

SouthViews No. 61, 6 June 2013

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