This is a brief follow-up to my previous post on the dispute between the EU and China concerning standard essential patents (SEPs). In that post, I discussed how the dispute regarding anti-suit injunctions (ASI) was resolved by Arbitrators at the WTO. In this post, I will be focusing on another aspect of the dispute between… Continue reading EU vs. China (Part 2): Worldwide Licensing Terms for SEPs
Introduction: What does it mean to ‘give effect’ to the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement? What does it mean to ‘give effect to’ the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement? That is the key question at the centre of the dispute between the EU and China at the WTO regarding anti-suit injunctions in standard essential patents… Continue reading EU vs. China: SEPs, FRAND, and the Territoriality of IP Rights at the WTO
On the 22nd of November 2024, WIPO Members adopted a new treaty on industrial designs i.e. the Riyadh Design Law Treaty (DLT). This is the second treaty that WIPO Members have adopted this year. The first treaty, i.e the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Associated Traditional Knowledge, was adopted in May and… Continue reading The Riyadh Design Law Treaty
On the 24th of May 2024, after 25 years of negotiations, WIPO Members finally reached an agreement on a Treaty on ‘Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, and Associated Traditional Knowledge‘ (WIPO Treaty on IP and Genetic Resources/new WIPO treaty). In essence, the Treaty requires patent applicants to disclose the country of origin or source of genetic… Continue reading The WIPO Treaty on IP and Genetic Resources: Implications for DSI and the BBNJ Agreement
Now that the WTO members have finally been able to agree on a TRIPS ‘waiver’ for covid-19 at the 12th Ministerial Conference, it is time to critically evaluate this waiver decision. To start with, the only key waiver in this decision is in its paragraph 3(b) which permits an eligible member to waive Article 31(f)… Continue reading The TRIPS COVID ‘Waiver’ Decision: Rhetorical Action or Realistic Solution?
The official draft text of the proposed TRIPS Waiver for covid-19 has now been released. It was circulated to members of the TRIPS Council on the 3rd of May 2022. The official draft text was accompanied with a cover letter from the Director-General of the WTO who noted that the text was the outcome of… Continue reading The Official Text of the Proposed TRIPS Waiver for Covid-19
In July 2020, I blogged about Saudi Arabia’s appeal of the panel report in the Saudi Arabia – Measures Concerning the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights dispute. There is now an update regarding this dispute. The parties to the dispute, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have both agreed to suspend the appellate proceedings and any proceedings… Continue reading Saudi Arabia and Qatar Mutually Agree to Suspend IP Dispute at the WTO
Earlier this month, on the 3rd of November 2021, Ghana deposited its instrument of accession to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications (Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement) of 2015. The Geneva Act will thus enter into force, with respect to Ghana, 3 months after its accession… Continue reading Ghana’s Accession to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement [Updated*]
Hi everyone, This is just a quick announcement about my first monograph titled the Interface between Intellectual Property and Investment Law which has just been published by Edward Elgar. The book critically examines how investment tribunals (should) engage with the rules of international intellectual property law when resolving investment disputes involving intellectual property rights. If… Continue reading The Interface between Intellectual Property and Investment Law
Happy new year to you, dear reader. So, I have had the chance to quickly look through the intellectual property provisions of the EU-UK Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA). I read the version of the TCA that is available on the UK government’s website here dated 24 December 2020. The analysis below is based on… Continue reading Intellectual Property in the EU-UK (Brexit) Trade and Cooperation Agreement
Emmanuel Oke 