Journal of World Intellectual Property最新文献

The adoption by African countries of plant variety protection via the adherence to the union internationale pour la protection des obtentions végétales (UPOV) convention has received criticism because it may dispossess African farmers of their seeds. Little is known about the empirical workings of UPOV's plant breeders' rights (PBRs) regarding African food crops. I interviewed plant breeders and right holders in Kenya's maize seed sector. I found that few actors register maize PBRs because maize varieties are often hybrid and especially because alternative, more powerful forms of pseudo-intellectual property are available in Kenya. Accordingly, almost all of the few protected varieties have been developed by the same breeding team within the parastatal maize seed company. In short, the main problem I discovered with PBRs in the Kenyan maize seed sector is not that they dispossess farmers. It is rather that, although PBRs sometimes accrue to individual breeders, conservative employers like the parastatal do not regard breeders as creative innovators. They do not incentivise their employees and do not use PBRs to this effect. This is problematic in circumstances like Kenya's, where selected breeding teams and individuals are much more productive than others and where a quickly changing climate may require a higher varietal turnover of adapted, formally bred varieties.

The project to create innovation cities is part of the national innovation strategy developed since 2009, and of Law No. 01.00 on the organization of higher education which allowed to adopt judicious programs relating to the valorization of research and innovation within the universities. Therefore, to promote the valorization of research and to make society benefit from its results, various initiatives have been initiated. These initiatives gave birth to the Innovation Cities project. This project was designed around the axes of governance, regulatory framework, infrastructure, financing, support, and talent mobilization. Nevertheless, despite the results obtained, in terms of innovation and valorization of scientific research and also in terms of development of the entrepreneurial culture, difficulties hinder the management and governance of these complex ecosystems. As a result, the expected objectives could not be reached. The problematic posed is to question the difficulties encountered which are more related to the lack of adequate governance mode for this kind of structures allowing them to be able to release energies and promote innovation. In which, we will, in the first step, identify the difficulties due to the lack of efficient governance, and in the second step, show the different possible scenarios, proposed within the framework of the European Erasmus+ INSITES project “Institutionalization of Innovation and Knowledge Transfer Structures,” in view of the requirement of the missions of the cities of innovation and of the regulation in force, to implement an enlightened, transparent and quality governance.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has an important role in digital transformation worldwide, including in Indonesia. AI itself is a simulation of human intelligence that is modeled in machines and programmed to think like humans. At the time AI and the Internet of Things are connected, it can, in principle, act on data without the need for human intervention. AI was originally created by humans as a consequence of the massive digital revolution. Recently, AI has also developed rapidly to perform functions like humans and even produce works of intellectual property like humans, such as creating songs, making new inventions, making industrial designs, and so on. Thus, it is a question whether AI can be qualified as a legal subject of creator, inventor or designer and then register as intellectual property. This research answers this question from the perspective of Indonesian law based on Copyright Law, Patent Law, Industrial Design Law, as well as Trademark Law, and Geographical Indications as the existing Indonesian laws.

The need for protecting traditional knowledge (TK) has been long established, and as a result, international negotiations are being conducted to protect TK internationally. Many international authorities appreciate India's efforts to create unique ways to protect TK. For instance, India was the first nation to set up Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, which helps scrutinise Patent applications on TK. Recently, Dr Shashi Tharror MP brought a private bill titled ‘Protection of TK’. Even though it's a bill, it still needs to be analysed because it serves as a reference point while formulating legislation by the union government or any state government. Hence, the paper aims to critically analyse the bill to point out its shortcomings of the bill. The bill gives TK holders hope since it asserts that it will protect TK from misappropriation. This bill can aid in commercialising TK. However, it is doubtful that the TK holders would gain from such commercialisation as specific provisions in the bill tend to favour outsiders more than the tribal or indigenous communities. It is identified that many crucial concepts about TK, such as ‘dynamic or changing’ or ‘traditional context’, which are necessary for stakeholders, authorities, and the judiciary to properly appreciate the nature of TK, have gone undefined. Also, it begs the question of why such a significant, essential component of TK is missing when the word ‘community’ is excluded from the definition of the term "knowledge society." In essence, it is possible to argue that the bill has been inadequately written without enough weight on the philosophy of TK and its jurisprudential comprehension.

There are conflicting regulations affecting subscribers' property in telephone numbers in Nigeria. This article conceptualises telephone number as property capable of ownership in the jural sense and in the prism of bundle of rights theory of property. It analyses developments in advanced jurisdictions to highlight possibilities for reform. The analogy of treatment of property in domain name is used to demonstrate that contract can beget property rights. Some property concepts and theories are espoused to support the intellectual property in telephone number for the subscriber including privacy, trademark, acquisition theory, rule of capture, bundle of rights, goodwill, and so on. These are all used to demonstrate and advocate that there is property in telephone number vested in the subscriber in Nigeria, not only from a statutory perspective but also from some legal theories and approaches to property and any reform should approach it from those perspectives.

This paper reviews the experience with access to vaccines during the pandemic. Its inquiry is the extent to which pharmaceutical patents have hindered or enhanced access when compared to other factors or conditions like health spending, manufacturing capacity, and regulatory competence. To conduct the review, the paper queries the regulatory governance perspective when it suggests a decentralised field of legal pluralism will maximise access. It recalls the pre-COVID-19 experience with antiretrovirals to provide pointers to the present situation. It then examines the experience with COVID vaccines under the headings of invention, production, procurement, and distribution. The review finds while patents may hinder access to vaccines, other, essential conditions for access, like independent manufacturing capacity and commitment to procurement, are not established. Regulatory governance must now adopt a much more concerted, coordinated approach, mobilising both patent regulation and other key conditions to further access. The review is an opportunity to gather some of the copious commentary on this issue.

During the COVID 2019 pandemic, the healthcare sector faced major jurisprudential questions about the intellectual property system. During this period, the world was in the midst of a healthcare crisis, wherein the debate between the reward for innovation versus accessibility to all at equitable rates have become intense. In a such challenging scenario, the scientific community were dedicated toward the research while the healthcare industry was indulging in arguments over the incentives on creation. In this paper, the authors, as IP researchers, argue that in a scenario where there is an intense dispute over innovation versus accessibility, probably patent pool can serve as a mechanism to handle the tussle. The authors have analyzed a few patent pool models that were chosen on the basis of the types of patents in the pool. Additionally, an attempt is made to scrutinize the laws governing patent pools in developed countries and developing countries. In doing so, the authors draw the benefits and limitations of the patent pools in healthcare. We follow a qualitative research methodology. The research is based on secondary data and has some limitations because of this.

Farming communities have played a vital role in making plant genetic resources available to commercial plant breeders for development of new varieties of plants. They are instrumental in ensuring sustainability of agriculture, which is a must to meet the demands of an increasing world's population. Despite the above the contributions of farming communities are undervalued. Agriculture-based economies cannot do justice with these communities by treating them as steward of biological resources only. Attempts have been made in different jurisdictions to protect commercial plant breeders as well as farmers using different options available under the TRIPs Agreement. But, in no jurisdiction, farming communities have affirmative rights equal to or better than commercial plant breeders due to the demands of privatization of seed industries and technological developments in agriculture sector. An attempt has been made by the Government of India under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001 to recognize the enormous contributions of farming communities and give them protection at par with commercial plant breeders. In fact, the Act recognizes the long-due customary claims of farming communities. The paper examines the rights of farmers as customary rights particularly in light of the UNDROP, 2018. It critically examines the recent decision of PPV&FR  Authority in Kavitha Kuruganti case to understand PepsiCo's concerns and its contradictions with customary rights of farmers in India.

Based on the enormous growth of financial technology (FinTech) and digital assets in banking financial transactions, this research has been conducted in an Islamic banking sector. It aims to discuss and elaborate the Islamic/sharia banking, the adoption of Islamic FinTech, the legal protection of digital assets, and their role in economic development in Indonesia. To achieve the study objectives, researchers applied a comparative and normative judicial approach along with perspective and descriptive analysis methods. The results revealed the significant adoption of FinTech by the Islamic banking sector. In contrast, the findings also showed that, regardless of the availability of laws and regulations regarding FinTech in the conventional banking system, no general regulations and laws are available regarding Islamic FinTech and the protection of digital assets under the Central Bank of Indonesia and Financial Services Authority. However, there are some important guidelines regarding the legal protection for Islamic FinTech and digital assets as per the Fatwa issued by the National Shariah Board of Indonesian Ulama. Furthermore, considering the utmost importance of financial technologies, Islamic banks should embrace the innovations linked with such technologies to cater to customers' needs based on an interest-free system.

This paper discusses how African organisations and countries construct their geographical indication (GI) systems. It makes three primary arguments. First, that the nascent GI agenda in Africa is driven by the European Union (EU) to principally promote European interests. Nonetheless, African countries can benefit from GI regimes by crafting laws that promote African interests. Second, that simply embracing the introduction of GI laws will not result in the EU's promised socioeconomic development in Africa. This is because multifarious factors including infrastructure, investment, branding, marketing and security are required to realise successful GI regimes. Third, that African countries must leverage contextually customised GI regimes to maximise the potentials they present. Contextually customised GI regimes can engender socioeconomic development. Beyond the EU's agenda-setting technologies, international affiliations and treaty boundaries shape GI laws in Africa, which inform the marked variation in its GI systems. This variation reflects the dissonance in international treaties for GIs. While African countries align with demandeurs that espouse stronger GIs laws at the international level, the only regional instrument on GIs in Africa is its Continental Strategy for GIs. In examining examples from the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, this timely paper maintains that although GIs present promises of socioeconomic development, policymakers, lawmakers and relevant African stakeholders must caution against their often-overlooked pitfalls. As ultimately, it is the responsibility of Africans, not foreigners, to guarantee the generation of thriving GI ecosystems for African products.