Friday firm up

Nigeria: Brand Nigeria - Do We Really Need a Re-Branding? A fascinating opinion by Jideofor Adibe on Nigeria's efforts to change a perception and why, perhaps, it is not necessary.

Having needled through needletime rights, Nokia Music Store is coming to South Africa in April and promises to deliver millions of digital tracks from global hits to local artists.(News24)

Right: Afro-Leo catching some shut eye in the long wait for the Servier v Cipla Medpro judgment

New Denel chief speaks on the impact of economic turbulence, sustaining its restructuring plan, prospects for further State aid and forging new alliances, including leveraging SA owned IP and attracting inward investment. (Engineering News)

The ICTSD reports that Developing countries ramped up their criticisms of the EU last week, saying that its recent seizure of a shipment of generic drugs en route from India to Brazil violated trade rules on intellectual property and had significant implications for the availability of affordable medicines in poor countries. The criticisms were made at a meeting of the WTO’s Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Council) in Geneva on 3 and 4 March. Participants at the gathering also broached long-standing disagreements on three issues: extending to all products the strong protection currently accorded to geographical indications of wines and spirits (GI extension); making it mandatory for patent applicants to disclose the origin of any genetic resources and/or associated traditional knowledge involved in their inventions; and the establishment of a register for geographical indications (GIs) of wines and spirits.

South Africa is planning to invest R80-million over the next three years in the acquisition of a high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). to ensure that the country will be interna- tionally competitive in the fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology. (Engineeering News).

Durban-based light aircraft engine manufacturer Adept Airmotive has been named 2008 Autodesk Inventor of the Year for its development of a revolutionary aviation engine with the help of digital prototyping technology. Runner-up positions in the Inventor of the Year poll went to US-based company Sound Devices LLC and British Antarctica Survey (BAS).