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
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
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
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?
Emmanuel Oke 