Johannesburg, 21 July – The Fix the Patent Laws campaign calls on the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (dtic) to urgently release the Patent Bill for public comment. Despite repeated promises the long-awaited Bill – that could pave the way for a new era in access to medicines in South Africa – remains unpublished. “The dtic […]
READ MOREThe Fix the Patent Laws campaign wrote to Minister Ebrahim Patel on 5 October 2020 requesting an update on the status of the draft legislation implementing the Intellectual Property Policy. Dear Minister Patel,Re: Status of the draft legislation implementing the Intellectual Property Policy The above refers. Fix the Patent Laws (FTPL) is a coalition of […]
READ MOREThe letter reproduced below was sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa on 19 May 2020 by more than 80 leading academics, researchers and teachers in South Africa. They urge the President to urgently reform South Africa’s patent laws and take further steps to ensure access to COVID-19 related health products. The original letter can be accessed […]
READ MOREJohannesburg, 18th May — In a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa published today, the Fix the Patent Laws (FTPL) coalition outlined major concerns about South Africa’s ability to access future treatments or vaccines for COVID-19. They point out that the country’s outdated patent laws ensure that when effective treatments become available, they will likely be too […]
READ MOREThis article was originally published in Spotlight here. 20th April 2020 | Prof Yousuf Vawda and Prof Brook K. Baker The path to patent law reform in South Africa has been long and arduous. But the need for finalisation of legislation is now even more urgent given the COVID-19 pandemic and the expected rush to […]
READ MOREThis article was originally published on Spotlight here. 15th April 2020 | Catherine Tomlinson Around the turn of the century developing countries, led by African countries, dramatically fought for and won safeguards to promote access to medicines in international trade law. These safeguards are now being heralded by lawmakers around the world as critical legal […]
READ MOREJohannesburg (9 July 2019) — It was announced today that lenalidomide, a lifesaving medicine to treat multiple myeloma, has been included on the latest edition of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Essential Medicines List (EML). Welcoming the inclusion of lenalidomide on the list, among 5 new cancer medicines, the Fix the Patent Laws campaign (a […]
READ MOREJohannesburg, 24 October 2018 – This week South Africa is hosting a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) conference titled “Respect for IP – Growing from the Tip of Africa. Amongst others this conference will discuss “how intellectual property crime can be treated with higher priority by police authorities to ensure the safety of the public.” […]
READ MOREIntellectual property policy welcomed after nine years of development JOHANNESBURG, 31 MAY 2018 – Yesterday, after nine years of development, the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) finally published the Intellectual Property Policy of the Republic of South Africa, Phase I. The policy has been adopted by cabinet and as such represents official government policy, […]
READ MOREThe Fix the Patent Laws Coalition (FTPL) welcomes the news today that the Cabinet of the Government of South Africa has approved the new Intellectual Property (IP) Policy. After nine years of policy development, two different draft policies and various rounds of public consultation, we now finally have an agreed-upon government policy that can […]
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