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Posted on Categories Featured, General News, News 129 Comments on Application process for 2013 fellowships now open

Application process for 2013 fellowships now open

CEHURD (Center for Health, Human Rights and Development) invites journalists to apply for the 2013 intellectual property and human rights reporting fellowships. The fellowship is a one-year mentoring and capacity-building program for Ugandan journalists to report on issues cutting across intellectual property and human rights.

Purpose of the Fellowship Program

The CEHURD IP and Human Rights Media Fellowship Program aims to enhance the capacity of journalists in the mainstream media to appreciate the links between IP protection and social welfare, and the implications of the on going developments in the protection of IP rights at the different levels, and their implications for public health, access to educational materials, the right to food, and other human rights.

In 2013, the fellowship program will focus on:

  • The on going commercial law reform processes in Uganda and the East African region;
  • The on going dialogue around a possible extension to the transition period granted to LDCs to comply with the TRIPS Agreement; and
  • Alternative models for balancing the rights of IP owners and users, taking the case of the Creative Commons licenses and how it works for journalists and other information users;

Methodology

Successful applicants will attend a- two-day residential orientation training, and will be supported to identify and undertake follow-up activities. Selected candidates will be paired with a supervisor at the media house they are attached to, and linked with experts in the fields of IP and human rights who will provide technical guidance to the candidate to investigate story ideas they identify. The successful candidates will also participate in field visits to key organizations involved in IP work. The follow-up activities will not require full time work and will be supported through small grants.

Eligibility

Interested applicants should:

  • be journalists working with or attached to mainstream mass media in Uganda, including national (or East Africa level) newspapers, radio, or television;
  • commit to be available for the training, field trips and other follow-up activities between February 2013- December 2013;
  • Journalists reporting on policy issues (e.g. covering Parliament), and those with editing roles will have added advantage.

Application process

Interested candidates should express their interest in writing to CEHURD by email to info@cehurd.org with a copy to Primah on kwagala@cehurd.org

Applications should be sent by

Thursday 28th February 2013 and should be accompanied by the following:

  • A personal CV clearly showing qualifications, expertise and experience
  • brief information on the institution that they are attached to; their employment status and position; and any work they have done themselves related to trade, health, education or agriculture;
  • Confirmation that they are available for both the training workshop and the follow-up work.
  • Endorsement by the immediate supervisor/editor

Successful candidates will be notified by Thursday 7th March 2013. For details of this call please check here

Posted on Categories Featured, General News, News 102 Comments on Intellectual Property and Human Rights Media Fellowships

Intellectual Property and Human Rights Media Fellowships

Application process for 2013 fellowships now open

CEHURD (Center for Health, Human Rights and Development) invites journalists to apply for the 2013 intellectual property and human rights reporting fellowships. The fellowship is a one-year mentoring and capacity-building program for Ugandan journalists to report on issues cutting across intellectual property and human rights.

Introduction

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, which include inventions, literary and artistic works, symbols, names, images, and designs used in trade. IP rights are, therefore, the entitlements given to owners of IP, in form of patents, copyrights and others. These rights give the creator or inventor (holder of IP right) the legal right to prevent others from benefiting from their idea except with their permission. This protection aims, in principle, to promote innovation and creativity.

On the other hand, human rights principles and mechanisms require that IP rules do not stifle access to essential goods for the welfare of society, particularly in least developing countries (LDCs) with relatively lower levels of innovation. LDCs such as Uganda, are struggling to conform to new global standards of IP protection as prescribed by the multilateral Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement).

Like other LDCs, Uganda is in the process of reforming the different commercial laws to align them with the TRIPS Agreement. As a result, the Copyright and Neighboring Rights Act, and the Trademark Act were enacted in 2006 and 2010, respectively. IP-related laws still in draft form include Industrial Properties Bill; Plant Variety Protection Bill; Trade Secrets Bill; Geographical Indications Bill; Competition Bill; and Counterfeit Goods Bill. Each of these laws and draft laws has serious implications for human rights in LDCs, including the very existence of their people.

At the same time, the coming of digital technology is increasingly making it difficult for owners of IP rights to restrict access to their ideas and innovations, and complicating the enforcement of IP laws. CEHURD and partners recently launched an initiative for open access to IP-protected work for public use. These “Creative Commons Licenses” are a unique scheme that balances the underlying principles of copyright laws with the reality of the Internet.

Purpose of the Fellowship Program

The CEHURD IP and Human Rights Media Fellowship Program aims to enhance the capacity of journalists in the mainstream media to appreciate the links between IP protection and social welfare, and the implications of the on going developments in the protection of IP rights at the different levels, and their implications for public health, access to educational materials, the right to food, and other human rights.

In 2013, the fellowship program will focus on:

  • The on going commercial law reform processes in Uganda and the East African region;
  • The on going dialogue around a possible extension to the transition period granted to LDCs to comply with the TRIPS Agreement; and
  • Alternative models for balancing the rights of IP owners and users, taking the case of the Creative Commons licenses and how it works for journalists and other information users;

Methodology

Successful applicants will attend a- two-day residential orientation training, and will be supported to identify and undertake follow-up activities. Selected candidates will be paired with a supervisor at the media house they are attached to, and linked with experts in the fields of IP and human rights who will provide technical guidance to the candidate to investigate story ideas they identify. The successful candidates will also participate in field visits to key organizations involved in IP work. The follow-up activities will not require full time work and will be supported through small grants.

Eligibility

Interested applicants should:

  • be journalists working with or attached to mainstream mass media in Uganda, including national (or East Africa level) newspapers, radio, or television;
  • commit to be available for the training, field trips and other follow-up activities between February 2013- December 2013;
  • Journalists reporting on policy issues (e.g. covering Parliament), and those with editing roles will have added advantage.

Application process

Interested candidates should express their interest in writing to CEHURD by email to info@cehurd.org with a copy to Primah on kwagala@cehurd.org

Applications should be sent by Thursday 28THFebruary 2013 and should be accompanied by the following:

  • A personal CV clearly showing qualifications, expertise and experience
  • brief information on the institution that they are attached to; their employment status and position; and any work they have done themselves related to trade, health, education or agriculture;
  • Confirmation that they are available for both the training workshop and the follow-up work.
  • Endorsement by the immediate supervisor/editor

Successful candidates will be notified by Thursday 7THMarch 2013. –Click here to down the call for applications poster

Posted on Categories News

Landmark India IP Board Decision Against Hepatitis C Drug Patent

By Patralekha Chatterjee for Intellectual Property Watch

India last week saw a landmark public health decision on the evolving role of intellectual property rights in the context of the public interest.

The country’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) revoked a patent granted in India to F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG (Roche) for pegylated interferon alfa-2a (Pegasys), a medicine used to treat Hepatitis C.

The IPAB decision is here

The case has generated significant interest because it breaks ground in two ways: the patent granted to Roche in 2006 was the first product patent on a medicine in India after the country switched to a product patent regime for medicines as mandated by the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). It is also India’s first successful post-grant opposition case.

While welcoming the IPAB’s decision, Eldred Tellis, director of Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust, a nongovernmental organisation which had challenged the patent, told Intellectual Property Watch: “In short term, we will have to look for those interested in producing a biosimilar which will be available at for possibly 8 to 10 times less than Pegasys.” In the long-term, Tellis said he hopes the Indian government will wake up to the seriousness of the problem of Hepatitis C in the country. “There is a need to produce it cheaply, and give it free to those who need it,” he added.

Sankalp works with injecting drug users who often suffer from Hepatitis C. It had filed for a post-grant opposition challenging the patent with help from India’s Lawyers’ Collective HIV and AIDS Unit. India’s Patent Law allows pre-grant and post-grant opposition. In 2009, Sankalp’s post-grant opposition was rejected by the Patent Office. Undeterred, Sankalp filed an appeal before the IPAB challenging the decision.

Whether the IPAB decision will trigger more post-grant oppositions remains to be seen.

Source: http://www.ip-watch.org/2012/11/04/landmark-india-ip-board-decision-against-hepatitis-c-drug-patent/

Posted on Categories Featured, News 252 Comments on Pfizer says to appeal over India drug patent refusal

Pfizer says to appeal over India drug patent refusal

US drug giant Pfizer said Friday it will appeal against an Indian ruling overturning a patent for a cancer drug, saying the decision raises questions about intellectual property protection in India.

 

Indian generics heavyweight Cipla opposed the granting of the domestic patent for Prizer’s Sutent, which is used to combat liver and kidney cancer.

The patent office’s decision went to the heart of India’s patent act, which says a patent cannot be granted for a drug unless changes make it significantly more effective and innovative.

“The patentee (Pfizer) has miserably failed to demonstrate any improved activity” warranting a patent, the patent office said in its decision.

“The invention that is claimed in the patent does not involve any inventive step… and hence (is) not patentable,” Nilanjana Mukherjee, senior patent officer, said.

A spokesman for Cipla, which revolutionized AIDS treatment by supplying cut-price drugs to the world’s poor and which has been campaigning to be able offer other low-cost generic medicines, had no immediate comment.

But Pfizer managing director Jazz Tobaccowalla said the company believes the ruling “undermines intellectual property rights in India”.

“We will vigorously defend our basic Sutent patent,” the Pfizer executive said in a statement, adding the company would appeal against the ruling to India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board.

The patent decision marked another win by Cipla against a global pharmaceutical company.

In September, a court threw out a patent infringement case launched against Cipla by Swiss drug maker F. Hoffmann-La Roche over the Mumbai firm’s version of a lung-cancer drug, ruling it had a different molecular makeup.

The cases have been watched worldwide as they involve interpretation of stricter drug patent protection rules introduced by India in 2005 to comply with World Trade Organization regulations.

India has some of the toughest criteria for drug companies to obtain patents, said D.G. Shah, secretary general of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, an industry body.

“These rulings show (foreign) companies need to take into account that India will not permit tweaking of formulations for getting a patent. If they had those expectations, they were unrealistic,” Shah told AFP.

Medical charities have expressed concern compliance with WTO rules could reduce the country’s role as a supplier of low-cost medicines. India is the world’s leading exporter and manufacturer of non-branded medicines.

But Western firms — looking to countries such as India for sales growth — have voiced criticism of brand protection in India.

Earlier this year, an Indian ruling allowed a local firm to produce a vastly cheaper copy of German pharmaceutical giant Bayer’s patented drug Nexavar for liver and kidney cancer.

India’s patents chief ruled the price Bayer charged was “exorbitant” and told the firm to give a “compulsory license” — permitted under WTO rules for public health reasons — to Indian firm Natco Pharma to make a less costly version.

Experts say that ruling could pave the way for a rush of other “compulsory license” applications in India and other poor nations, allowing access to patented life-saving drugs at a fraction of the cost.

Read more: http://india.nydailynews.com/business/678d561f1bf06eab53965176d7bfd4cf/pfizer-to-appeal-over-india-drug-patent-refusal#ixzz28ZbSjQ00

Posted on Categories Featured, General News, News 209 Comments on Doctors’ pay raise okay but we need to do more to boost sector service delivery

Doctors’ pay raise okay but we need to do more to boost sector service delivery

Media report that the government is to double the salaries of doctors is a positive response to the demand that has taken years. Previously, we had between 10 and 20 per cent increments after strikes by health workers. Therefore, the doubling of doctors’ pay should be the beginning of a wider response in the quest for effective healthcare services.

However, there is need to look beyond the salaries as some factors may still hinder effective service delivery. I have visited some health facilities in Kamwenge District where a health centre IV is the main health facility. Rukunyu Health Centre IV did not have a functional theatre until recently, courtesy of funding by PEPFAR. As a partner, PEPFAR operationalised the theatre by providing equipment. It also supports health workers in the district.

However, the health facility still lacks electricity despite the fact that the power lines cross the compound of the facility. Whatever salary doctors will be paid, a health facility such as Rukunyu, which lacks power, will still struggle to offer effective services. Without electricity, it is not possible to use the ultra sound machines used to ascertain the condition of the baby in the womb. Yet such investigation is necessary for a doctor to make critical decisions regarding the lives of the mother and the unborn baby. Even children born premature cannot receive adequate care because the incubators cannot work.

Refrigerators for storing essential medicines will not be operational hence medicines will rot and sterilizing theatre equipment, a must-do, cannot happen. We have heard stories of health workers improvising lamps or mobile phone to provide light in labour wards as they help mothers to deliver. But such a situation is neither desirable nor sustainable. Fears that the power bills may be high for the health facility to afford cannot be reason enough for not connecting power to it.

However, the bills may not compare with the amount of fuel for ambulance and associated costs that may be required to transport a mother to Ibanda or Fort Portal for emergencies. Beyond, the salaries, urgent steps must be taken to address some of these issues as they have a direct bearing on service delivery.

Even a well-remunerated health worker at a facility that lacks the necessary tools, theatre, gloves, medicines, etc, may find themselves unable to offer effective services.

Paul Mayende Nicodemus, pmayende@baylor-uganda.org

Source: http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Letters/Doctors++pay+raise+okay+but+we+need+to+do+more+to+boost+sector/-/806314/1520826/-/151y64fz/-/index.html

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