August 29, 2012
This week Afro-IP wrote that new regulations on Botswana’s Industrial Property Act will go into force on 1 September 2012. The Afro-IP blog, which outlines some of the key amendments with regards to the protection of intellectual property, is posted below. One key amendment is that Botswana will now allow for pre-grant oppositions of patents. […]
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August 21, 2012
A discussion piece by Katie Kirk and Marcus Low The Fix the Patent Laws campaign is aimed at promoting the public interest through reform of South Africa’s intellectual property laws. It is focused on better utilising flexibilities in the existing international intellectual property landscape – and not on rethinking the patent model itself. Yet, even […]
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This article has been republished from Intellectual Property Watch where it was originally published on 20 August 2012. By Linda Daniels for Intellectual Property Watch CAPE TOWN – South African health activists and pharmaceutical industry stakeholders are keeping close watch over the government’s attempts to amend patent laws, which activists claim compromise the ability of […]
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August 6, 2012
Read media coverage of the Docetaxel case and Cipla’s plans to take the case to the Constitutional Court below: http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=177438 http://www.businessday.co.za/Articles/Content.aspx?id=177355
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July 31, 2012
On 26 July 2012, the Supreme Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the matter between the Aventis group of pharmaceutical companies and Cipla’s group of generic pharmaceutical companies. This is the first judgment to decisively say that public interest considerations must be taken into account when balancing the interests […]
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July 20, 2012
An important United Nations commission has made a number of recommendations for law reform relating to intellectual property and access to medicines. Notably, the commission recognises that the current international patent regime does not serve the interests of the poor. The report, entitled “HIV and the Law: Risks, Rights & Health” was published this month […]
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July 11, 2012
By Mara Kardas-Nelson, Access & Innovation Officer, MSF South Africa The Indian government is being taken to court. After the country’s patent office rejected a patent application filed for imatinib mesylate, branded Gleevec or Glivec, the drug company Novartis filed for legal action against the government of India over the country’s strict patentability criteria as […]
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TODAY at 13:00 South African health activists, academics, medical doctors, government representatives, and lawyers will gather in Cape Town to rally against the legal case by the drug company Novartis against the government of India. The outcome of the case will have far-reaching impacts and activists from India and South Africa speaking at the rally […]
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June 27, 2012
When: 14:30 – 16:30, Sunday 8 July 2012 Where: Peoples Health Assembly, The University of the Western Cape (UWC), Room TBA Attendance open to all registered participants of the PHA During the 3rd Peoples Health Assembly, to be hosted in Cape Town from 6 – 11 July, the Treatment Action Campaign and Médecins Sans Frontières […]
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