Report of the meeting ‘Time to rethink our patent laws: A public health perspective’ On 23 October 2012 the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hosted a meeting to examine intellectual property in South Africa from a public health perspective. The meeting explored the challenges posed by excessive pharmaceutical patenting in the […]
READ MOREThe below article was published online by the Medical Chronicle on 8 October. The article was prepared by TAC’s Catherine Tomlinson and Marcus Low in response to criticism by IMSA of the Fix the Patent Laws campaign. The IMSA article is also published below. SA Should Take Advantage of Key Flexibilities to Protect Health By […]
READ MORE2012-10-08 Johannesburg – A new online resource to help civil society and patient groups challenge unwarranted pharmaceutical patents, called the ‘Patent Opposition Database’, was launched last week by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). However, this tool will remain largely unusable in South Africa unless the country changes its restrictive patent laws, which don’t allow […]
READ MOREImage from Northeastern University School of Law Professor Brook K. Baker, Policy Analyst Health GAP September 26, 2012 In a stunning development, following an obscure vote of Heads of State at the Africa Union in 2007 (Assembly Council/AU/Dec. 138(VIII)), the AU Scientific, Technical, and Research Commission has proposed […]
READ MOREImage from MSF Access Campaign Last week, the Intellectual Property Appellate Board of India rejected an attempt by the pharmaceutical company Bayer to stop the generic company Natco from producing a generic version of Sorafenib, used to treat liver and kidney cancer, while a court case over the country’s first compulsory license is deliberated.
READ MOREThe medical journal The Lancet has published an insightful summery of current legal challenges to India’s patent law. The authors argue that “pending cases against India’s patent laws threaten public health and misinterpret international intellectual property agreements”. This is also our view.
READ MOREA tribute to the strength of sustained, global activism for affordable medicines Fire in the Blood trailer v3jul12 from Fire in the Blood on Vimeo. The 2012 film Fire in the Blood depicts the battle between HIV treatment activists (for access to affordable antiretroviral medicines) and the pharmaceutical industry (for the protection of their patents […]
READ MOREMinister Motsoaledi made the keynote speech at the 6th Annual Conference on Competition Laws. In the speech he pointed to the success of measures to protect competition in improving access to HIV treatment and prevention in the country. His full speech can be found here
READ MOREThis 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. […]
READ MOREA 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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