Copyright issues impinge on democracy

Siva Vaidhyanathan says he holds a debt to copyright regimes. Studying these systems, allowed him to explore cultural interactions in Afro-…

Break the Deadlock

In 1995, many in India were outraged to learn that a university in the US was granted a patent to make and sell haldi (turmeric) for its wound …

Software freedom

On Richard Stallman's personal homepage it says, "America means civil liberties. Patriotism is protecting them." Words that sum up the …

EU legislation - The wrong note

The music industry is crying out loud against eu legislation for protecting intellectual property, complaining that it falls short of what is …

What's the fuss about Bt brinjal?

Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Mondal, director-general of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), is among the handful of people who have …

Fig leaf for the business world

That is what the Montreal Protocol, meant to do away with ozone depleting substances, has become. India's phase out programme under the protocol …

Non-profit diseases

There is a logic to the idea of neglected diseases. Historically the diseases poor people get--largely in the poorer parts of the world--haven't …

A treaty too many

India is learning that there is a heavy price to be paid for the large number of bilateral investment treaties, or BITs, it has signed in the …

Future compromised

The Earth Summit was a historical opportunity to set the world on the correct development trajectory. Negotiators from 191 countries came …

The hunt for benefits

India is hailed as a pioneer in implementing the third objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity—fair and equitable sharing of …

US trading on thin ice

As Trump escalates the trade war with China, the key question is what constitutes theft of intellectual property

A rice by another name

Thailand threatens to take the US to the WTO for allowing a Texas-based company to use "jasmati" as a trademark for a variety of rice

Effect of Brexit on unitary patents

The UK’s divorce from Europe will reduce IP protection and may result in an increase in the cost of protection of IP rights on the continent

How to evade a tricky patent call

Five government departments tossed the ball to each other to avoid a decision on revoking a Novartis patent

Limiting HFCs should not be a burden on the developing world

Developing countries should guard against a weak phase-down of the super-warming hydrofluorocarbons in the ongoing Montreal Protocol

Tribal rights to the fore

The veryfirst scheme to recognise the intellectual property rights of the Kani tribals in Kerala, ran into rough weather, only to bounce back …

Undercover bio-patenting

A recentforum on patenting life-forms in Munich chose to remain a hush-hush affair leaving out people's groups

Research rights

An intellectual property rights policy has been cleared for the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

At their mercy

Biotech companies and the World Trade Organisation took centrestage at the fourth conference on biological diversity, leaving traditional …

Bizarre patent tussles over a COVID-19 jab

Moderna’s many intellectual property disputes over its vaccine highlight the need for a patent-free regime to fight the pandemic

"We need a revolution in global trade"

Walden Bello is professor of Sociology and Public Administration at the University of the Philippines, and executive director of the Bangkok-…

Navara rice controversy: Plant Variety Act doesn’t protect farmers’ interests, say experts

A farmer’s plea to register a traditional rice variety has once again raised concerns about loopholes in the Protection of Plant …

Farmers' rights are a hot potato

The fallout between US major PepsiCo and Gujarat’s potato growers underlines the looming threat to farmers’ rights in India over …

Now, isabgol

In the wake of growing demand in the West, multinational companies are attempting to patent isabgol

Debt trap

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka under pressure to let the US play a decisive role in conserving its tropical forests