Very Intellectual Properties

Managing Intellectual Property's jaarlijkse lijst van de 50  'most influential people in IP'  telt dit jaar drie Nederlanders. Een uitreksel van hun prestaties:

Erik Nooteboom, Europese Commisie: "Without his hard work in the past year, it remains doubtful how smoothly the linkage between the EU's OHIM-administered Community trade mark system and the WIPO-administered international trade mark system, the Madrid Protocol, would have been put in place. The link was a historical step in the IP field, allowing trade mark owners around the world to extend their existing registration to all 25 EU countries and CTM holders to extend their registration to all Madrid member countries. Nooteboom is also behind the discussions to abolish national searches as well as proposals to reduce CTM registration and renewal fees.

In the coming year Nooteboom will play an important role in the Commission's plans to improve the EU patent system and restart the Community patent discussions, which stalled in May 2004 after member states failed to come to an agreement on the system's scope. Nooteboom has clearly expressed his frustration about this and as long as he is around, IP owners should not give up their hopes for an EU-wide patent system."

Wubbo de Boer, OHIM: "De Boer was reappointed for a second five-year term as President of OHIM last year. Since starting the job in 2001, he has overhauled the internal organization of the office, reduced processing delays and promoted electronic business in every aspect of the Office's work. He has also seen OHIM's workload increase with the accession of 10 new EU member states and the launch of the Community design.

With his scholarly lieutenant Alexander von Mühlendahl due to retire in October, de Boer is already gaining a higher profile. He is an increasingly familiar figure on the conference circuit where he is often outspoken in promoting reform and criticizing those who stand in its way."

Ellen 't Hoen, Artsen Zonder Grenzen: "We have only just scratched the surface," says Ellen 't Hoen of Médecins sans Frontières' international campaign to ensure that IP rights do not restrict the availability and affordability of drugs in developing countries. With the sixth WTO ministerial conference being held in Hong Kong at the end of the year, 't Hoen says MSF, along with international NGOs such as Oxfam and national health advocacy groups, want far more to be done to put the relationship between IP rights and health back at the top of the international agenda.

MSF's campaign will also focus on getting more research and development funding channelled into finding treatments for developing country diseases, by sustained lobbying at the WHO, the European Parliament and individual governments to try and change the way that governments think about the way health care research should be managed. "TRIPs showed that increasing IP protection does nothing for R&D for neglected diseases. We need a different approach. We want to see TRIPs minus and R&D plus." Finally, 't Hoen and her team will work with local health activist groups in countries negotiating free trade agreements, particularly with the US, to help them influence the debate on IP."

Overigens kent de lijst van MIP geen volgorde van belangrijkheid. De opsomming is willekeurig. Bekijk de hele lijst hier (alleen voor abonnees).