Earlier this month, I blogged about the proposal submitted to the WTO’s TRIPS Council by India and South Africa. The proposal requests for the waiver of the obligations in the TRIPS Agreement on copyright, industrial designs, patents, and undisclosed information in relation to the prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19. This post is a follow-up… Continue reading Suspending TRIPS to Fight COVID-19? Part 2
The final award in Bridgestone v. Panama (dated 14 August 2020) is the latest instalment in a line of cases where corporate actors have challenged intellectual property measures and court decisions affecting intellectual property rights before investment tribunals. Bridgestone involved the latter i.e. a court decision involving intellectual property rights. The facts of the case… Continue reading Bridgestone v. Panama: Investment Tribunals are not Appellate Courts
One of the companies at the fore-front of developing a vaccine for COVID-19, Moderna, has pledged not to enforce its COVID-19 related patents during the pandemic. This is commendable. While recognising that ‘intellectual property rights play an important role in encouraging investment in research’, Moderna stated that: …there are other COVID-19 vaccines in development that… Continue reading Moderna Pledges Not to Enforce COVID-19 related Patents during Pandemic
India and South Africa have now submitted a proposal (dated 2 October 2020) to the WTO’s TRIPS Council requesting for the waiver of Sections 1 (Copyright), 4 (Industrial Designs), 5 (patents), and 7 (undisclosed information) of Part II of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to the prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19. The waiver would… Continue reading Suspending TRIPS to Fight COVID-19?
The recent panel report in Saudi Arabia – Measures Concerning the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, the first intellectual property dispute where a WTO panel examined the security exception in Article 73 of the TRIPS Agreement, has now been appealed by Saudi Arabia ‘into the void‘. This means that the WTO’s dispute settlement body cannot adopt… Continue reading Saudi Arabia’s appeal ‘into the void’ at the WTO
In this post, the last of a series on the recent decision of the WTO’s Appellate Body in the Australia – Plain Packaging case, I want to focus on how both the panel and the Appellate Body approached the issue of the legal status of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health of 2001. … Continue reading The Legal Status of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health
This week, I continue with my analysis of the Appellate Body’s decision on the trademark issues in the Australia – Plain Packaging case. (For previous posts in this regard, see here and here). In this post, the focus will be on whether it is necessary to consider alternative measures when deciding whether an encumbrance is justifiable pursuant… Continue reading Is it Necessary to Consider Alternative Measures under Article 20 of the TRIPS Agreement?
Last week, I blogged about the recent decision of the WTO’s Appellate Body that upheld Australia’s tobacco plain packaging measures. While the Appellate Body largely agreed with the earlier interpretation of both Articles 16(1) and 20 of the TRIPS Agreement by a dispute settlement panel (hereinafter, panel), there are some notable differences in the way… Continue reading Does Article 20 of TRIPS require a Rigid & Exact Set of Factors to Determine Whether an Encumbrance is Unjustifiable?
This is a quick update regarding the Australia – Plain Packaging case. I have commented on the earlier decision of the WTO’s dispute settlement panel in a short piece available here. In its report, the panel upheld Australia’s tobacco plain packaging measures (TPP measures) as compatible with the TRIPS Agreement. However, two of the complainants… Continue reading NEWSFLASH: WTO’S Appellate Body Upholds Australia’s Tobacco Plain Packaging Measures
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) recently released the ‘Draft version 2’ of its General Comment on Article 15(1)(b) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). This draft version is dated 2 January 2020. Article 15(1)(b) of the ICESCR recognises the right of everyone to ‘enjoy the… Continue reading The Draft General Comment on Science and Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
Emmanuel Oke 