As you may have guessed from the site, I am interested in intellectual property (IP) in the international context. For those who do not know, IP is comprised of things like patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.
My hope for this site is to provide tribe members a forum in which questions, ideas, and observations can be voiced...with maybe a few problems solved along the way. This site is not just for the established business owner, it is also where people can learn about a shaping force for their country’s economy and national policies. Barring a major turn in the tide, multilateral trade is going to rest, in part, on IP agreements and legal harmonization.
The discussion and material presented on this site is intended to be member driven. On that note, what questions do you have about the international framework (WTO, WIPO, etc.) in relation to outsourcing and IP (or even in general)? Are you part of a business that has considered (or is) selling products and/or services overseas? What problems have you had to face, and what solutions did you find worked? If you a student working on a project, this is a great place to ask for resources.
I look forward to some great discussions.
All the best! Tom
My hope for this site is to provide tribe members a forum in which questions, ideas, and observations can be voiced...with maybe a few problems solved along the way. This site is not just for the established business owner, it is also where people can learn about a shaping force for their country’s economy and national policies. Barring a major turn in the tide, multilateral trade is going to rest, in part, on IP agreements and legal harmonization.
The discussion and material presented on this site is intended to be member driven. On that note, what questions do you have about the international framework (WTO, WIPO, etc.) in relation to outsourcing and IP (or even in general)? Are you part of a business that has considered (or is) selling products and/or services overseas? What problems have you had to face, and what solutions did you find worked? If you a student working on a project, this is a great place to ask for resources.
I look forward to some great discussions.
All the best! Tom
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Connecticut
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Re: INTRODUCTION
Thu, March 11, 2004 - 11:46 AMWhy did I join this tribe?
Well, I joined Tribes.net for personal, fun reasons, but my day j-o-b is doing internet research and legal analysis for a company called Global I.P Net. We make a calculation software for, well, you Thomas. Attorneys who work in the field of international IP. Global IP Estimator. Have you heard of it?
I guess I'm here to see a different, more human side of the subject I'm immersed in from 9-5 weekdays. -
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Re: INTRODUCTION
Thu, March 11, 2004 - 1:08 PM
The human side...that is definitely something that is appropriate here. I recently saw a cartoon in Barron’s. The caption read something like “don’t worry about hurting my feelings, I’m an attorney”. Outsourcing and IP both have a tremendous impact on the human side of the equation, and it is easy to lose sight of that fact in our every day work. In fact, this human aspect to IP is truly overwhelming. I am still sorting out the ongoing discussions about the Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health that was adopted by the WTO Ministerial
Conference at Doha on 14th November 2001. It was intended to facilitate production of generic drugs required for HIV/AIDS and other endemic diseases. In operation, and under certain circumstances, forced licensing of patents covering key technologies can take place. The declaration expressed that the world is: “Deeply concerned that the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, through its devastating scale and impact,constitutes a global emergency and one of the most formidable challenges to human life and dignity, as well as to the effective enjoyment of human rights, which undermines social and economic development throughout the world and affects all levels of society – national, community, family and individual; and “needs urgent and exceptional national, regional and international action”.
The U.S. response to the declaration can be found at usinfo.state.gov/journals/...gj07b.htm.
This is just one topic, other interesting issues on the human side of things can be found on the Policy, Biodiversity & International Agreements website www.iucn.org/themes/pbia...ade/abs.htm. Some interesting background papers can be found there.
This is definitely a side of things to be explored more fully. By the way I have heard of Global IP Estimator, it is supposed to be a good system.
All the best! Tom -
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Re: INTRODUCTION
Thu, March 11, 2004 - 5:17 PMThose links don't seem to be working. But boy that was just what I was thinking. I spend my day crunching numbers and searching the internet for more numbers. I get an e-newsletter from Patnews, Greg Aharonian and breeze through it when I have the time so that I at least have an inkling of how my field of work is impacting the world.
Global I.P. clients love the product. Many say that can't live without it. It's a really great company to work for. Very supportive enviroment. -
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Re: INTRODUCTION
Fri, March 12, 2004 - 5:07 AMYea... they don't!? This should work in a paste to the address bar: www.iucn.org/themes/pbia
You might also be interested in traditional knowledge. When I was at Pfizer, some work was being done with Beijing University in the field of Chinese medicine. Most of the scientists could not wrap their mind around the fact that it might not be just “one” chemical molecule that treats the disease (very Western tendency.. along with “if some is good, a lot is better”). I have not heard too much about traditional knowledge prospectors lately. The concern was that they would be essentially stealing, for profit, intellectual property from native peoples throughout the world. This would be true in countries where the traditional knowledge was not well protected by IP laws. It seems to me that some of the rewards, health and financial, should flow back to the traditional innovators. It was a heated debate for a while. WIPO and the WTO have some newsletters on the topic, and others, that you can sign up for. It takes a while to figure out what exactly are on their web sites, since they cover a lot of territory. In 1999 Mr. Shozo Uemura, Deputy Director General of WIPO, spoke on the topic of traditional knowledge:
“From the beginning of WIPO's work in this field, which began less than two years ago, our approach to the subject of traditional knowledge has been to learn. We have sought to learn about the needs and expectations of holders of traditional knowledge in regard to the intellectual property system. We have attempted to learn about how traditional knowledge is conserved, used, and transmitted according to customary law. We have sought to learn the views and approaches of our Member States, particularly officials from the intellectual property administrations, concerning the protection of traditional knowledge. We have also learned from the work of our sister UN organizations who are active in this field within their respective areas of competence. In seeking to learn about traditional knowledge, we have had a single, clear objective: to identify ways that WIPO, in furtherance of its mandate as the UN specialized agency for intellectual property, may promote the protection of tradition based creativity and innovation throughout the world.”
Also Harvard has a pretty good resource with news links at www.cid.harvard.edu/cidtrade. Take a look at the BRIDGES newsletter.
All the best! Tom
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