Thursday 26 November 2015

Jeremy

Bye!

Just posting a quick note to say “bye-bye!”  A lot has happened in the world of IP, in Africa and beyond, since I posted our first blogpost back in December 2007.  And now I’m retiring and just wanted to say a big “thank you” to Afro Leo and all the blog team for their wonderful efforts over the past years.  A big “thank you” is due to our readers too, for their support, their comments and their patience!


It’s a difficult world right now, and I have no instant suggestions for putting it right. But what I can say is that IP can help, if it’s properly protected, developed and where necessary shared around. Let’s hope that Afro-IP will help this process.
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Friday 20 November 2015

Caroline B Ncube

African IP in November

We are only three weeks into November, but what a month it has been for IP. It began with an 'IP for an Emerging Africa' three-day conference held on November 3 – 5, 2015 in Dakar, Senegal (see Kingsley's post here and the WIPO conference page here which includes the program and technical documents). As noted by Darren (here) WIPO published a special edition of its magazine, with a focus on Africa, to coincide with the conference. Nicola Searle commented on the conference on the IPKat blog ('African Ministerial Conference in IP: The Dakar Rally' and 'Talk Talk Fashion Baby').  The twittersphere was also abuzz with commentary, some of which is curated under  the hashtag #AfricaInnovates.  There was a clear call for the conference to embrace a developmental approach to IP in close alignment with WIPO's Development Agenda. (see Ahmed Abdel-Latif , Dick Kawooya, Chidi Oguamanam 'WIPO African ministerial should embrace a pro-competitive and pro-development IP vision'). No doubt further commentary will soon be published on how the conference unfolded and whether or not it lived up to this call. WIPO's own summation of the conference and its significance and outcomes is available as a four-minute video-clip on YouTube here.


A key conference theme was innovation. The relationship between IP and innovation is one worthy of sustained study and has significant implications for how IP is regulated on the continent. It was the focus of a recently completed  research project by the Open African Innovation Research network (Open AIR) ( see publications here).  The network has recently released a call for African case studies for a further stage of its work that will seek to shed light on the following two overarching research questions:

  1. How can open collaborative innovation help businesses scale up and seize the new opportunities of a global knowledge economy?
  2. Which knowledge governance systems will best ensure that the social and economic benefits of innovation are shared inclusively across society as a whole?
Proposals (submitted on this template) will be accepted through to 10 December 2015. It is hoped that this further research will be useful for African governments, IP policy-makers and entrepreneurs. (Disclosure: the author of this post is a member of the OpenAIR network).


Another major development this month was the WTO TRIPS Council recommendation to extend the LDC pharmaceutical patents waiver to 2033 (see the WTO's press release here and an IPWatch report here). This recommendation is expected to be endorsed by the General Council when it meets later this month. 
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Wednesday 11 November 2015

Afro Leo

Pfizer/Biovac deal potentially good for everyone

This month Pfizer announced a deal with Biovac that would see it transfer skills and technology and license the manufacture of its Prevnar 13 vaccine in South Africa for ultimate distribution throughout Africa. In this play Pfizer is the well known global pharmaceutical and lesser known Biovac is a South African company set up to boost local pharma capability to address severe local needs. Also important is that South Africa’s government has a major stake in the ownership of Biovac and that Naledi Pandor (the Minister of Science and Technology) has been vocal in commenting on the deal.

On the face of it, this deal seems to be a very good one.

For South Africa it has real potential for positive outcomes; it will create jobs, it will upskill workers, it has the potential to reduce the cost of the vaccine and give greater access to it, it could enable Biovac to become the access point for those vaccines into Africa, it is sustainable in the sense that the need is great and competitive drugs appear to be few, it has the potential to reinforce a positive message to other pharmaceuticals that South Africa is a viable destination for trials and drug manufacturing (not that the likes Adcock Ingram or Aspen have done a bad job) despite the restrictions on IP developed locally through public funds and exchange control, and it is welcome news (politically and economically) in contrast to South Africa’s recent woes reflected by the continuing fall in the rand over the past few years.

So what’s in it for Pfizer? Why would Pfizer transfer manufacturing skills, risk the fact that any IP it helped developed locally may never be able to leave RSA, help reduce the cost of a drug that it has spent the R&D developing (and still appears to be under patent) and therefore possibly reduce potential revenue streams and help create another drug manufacturer which could potentially produce generics in competition to it? Afro Leo suggests that there is quite a lot in it for Pfizer.

This blog has reported for some time on the pressure that has come to bear on big pharma to provide solutions for developing and least developed countries which account for a considerable percentage of the need for critical drugs. This pressure has also spilled over to the patent system per se and has called to question the very idea behind intellectual property (upon which big pharma rely) and its place in developing countries. Added to that is the idea of integrated reporting for sustainable businesses where value is not just measured on bottom line profits but in the concept of value to society and corporate responsibility, and an increasing general awareness by the consumer in supporting companies and brands who do so, and are seen to do so. This deal creates material for Pfizer to use to address these issues.

There are bottom line reasons too though. A decline in the rand makes imports expensive which will affect current demand for the drug based on affordability. Creating a manufacturing partner in South Africa therefore starts to make sense. Not only does the initial $ investment go much further but it creates potential for drugs to be exported into Africa more cheaply. In addition the deal creates options for Pfizer once the drug goes off patent. The potential cheap production of off patent drugs under a locally known brand name that would have captured market share, should be a shrewd move to ensure longer term demand, not only for Prevnar 13 but potentially others.

Admittedly, one would have to consider the close detail of the deal especially on the extent and effectiveness of the technology transfer and any competition restraints. Is Biovac likely to be beholden to license to use the name and a supply of the active ingredient even post the technology transfer, for example? There are other risks too such as labour unions, quality and supply but overall, the deal does seem encouraging.
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Thursday 5 November 2015

Afro Leo

#Africainnovates - WIPO gets awesome

In the week that celebrates the Ministerial Conference for IP in Africa which is co-organised by the Government of Senegal and WIPO in collaboration with the African Union and Japan, in Dakar (you can find more about that here), WIPO have published a special edition WIPO Magazine dedicated to Africa, and it's jam packed:
Check it out by downloading the PDF here and follow the conversation on twitter through the hashtag #africainnovates.


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Jeremy

Trade mark certificates in Libya: an update

We have learned that the Libyan Trade Mark Office has started issuing trade mark registration certificates and has also been accepting renewal applications, as of 1 October 2015.

Accordingly, for any applications that have matured to registration (ie which have been published and where no oppositions have been raised) and that are still valid, a registration certificate will issue once payment of the official fees of LYD 151 (approximately US$ 111) has been made.

As for expired applications, it is possible to issue renewal certificates after paying the normal renewal fee of LYD 181 (approximately US$ 133) per application.

Source: newsletter of NJQ & Associates, from whom further information can be obtained by emailing libya@qumsieh.com
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Wednesday 4 November 2015

Jeremy

Zimbabwe follows Gambia down the Madrid Protocol 18-month route

Yesterday this weblog conveyed the news that Gambia, a recent adherent to the Madrid Protocol, was to extend the period within which it must reject international trade mark oppositions if they are not to be automatically allowed from 12 to 18 months under Article 5(2) of the Protocol. WIPO has also announced that Zimbabwe is doing the exact same thing, only with effect from 7 January 2016. You can check out the WIPO announcement here.
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Tuesday 3 November 2015

Jeremy

Gambia fine-tunes its Madrid Protocol arrangements

A week and a half ago, Afro Leo noted that Gambia had signed up for the Madrid Protocol -- the smart way to save money and gain efficiency when seeking trade mark protection internationally. Well, there has been a sequel. By a further notification, WIPO has indicated that Gambia is replacing the basic period of 12 months within which it may refuse an international application under the Protocol with an 18-month period, as it is entitled to do under Article 5(2)(b) of the Protocol.

This takes effect from 6 January 2016 -- which rather suggests that the period remains 12 months for international applications received between 18 December (when the Protocol takes effect in Gambia) and 5 January.
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