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Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 1d

@who.int

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Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 2d

Trump tariffs push up prices for Americans’ favourite seafood

Wholesale shrimp costs have jumped 21% since president imposed levies on India

www.ft.com

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 2d

Helen Clark named as new Chair of the Gavi Board

Gavi Board unanimously approves the selection of Rt Hon Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, as its new Chair.

www.gavi.org

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 2d

AI Infrastructure Interchange (AIII)

The AI Infrastructure Interchange is a WIPO initiative that facilitates global dialogue on the technical and operational aspects of copyright in the context of artificial intelligence.

www.wipo.int

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 2d

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 was awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”

www.nobelprize.org

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 2d

Marc Rowan helped draft the White House compact. The ideas echo his 2023 plan to reform Penn

According to The New York Times, Rowan was a chief architect of the compact — which builds directly on the ideas he first outlined in a 2023 message to Penn’s Board of Trustees.

www.thedp.com

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 2d

How Trump cornered Netanyahu into signing up for peace

Israel’s prime minister has encountered the first US president he cannot easily outmanoeuvre

www.ft.com

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 2d

French PM and government resign, pitching Macron into chaos

The new administration had been appointed less than 12 hours before resigning.

www.politico.eu

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 2d

The WHO Executive Board Room is now operational.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

WTO clings to signs Donald Trump still needs it — sometimes

US takes ‘à la carte’ approach to global trade body, suggesting it has not completely turned its back on rules-based order

www.ft.com

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

Leaked texts on Scott Bessent's phone suggest the White House got played bailing out Argentina—and U.S. soybean farmers are the casualties | Fortune

“This is highly unfortunate,” the text said. “Soy prices are dropping further because of it. This gives China more leverage on us.”

fortune.com

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

NYT (1982): "But Ludwig Baeumer, head of the Industrial Property Division of the intellectual property organization, says chemical and pharmaceutical companies are the most vulnerable because many of their patented products are relatively easy to make, once the formula is known." @wipo.int

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

NYT (1982): "No reliable estimate exists of the damage the proposed change in the Paris Convention might do to Western companies and the billions of research dollars they have invested in patented technology."

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

NYT (1982): "In addition, European diplomats emphasize that the conference on revising the Paris Convention is part of a wider diplomatic initiative known as the North-South dialogue that seeks to narrow the political rift between rich and poor."

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

NYT (1982): "The Europeans and Japanese argued that developing countries can always find ways to grant exclusive manufacturing licenses for a foreign company's patented invention if they want to." @wto.org

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

"At a conference in Nairobi, Kenya, last fall, West European countries and Japan supported the third-world proposals, leaving the United States isolated in its opposition."

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

"Israel and Canada have used this provision to gain access to technology that the original patent holder refused to develop in those countries, according to officials of the World Intellectual Property Organization, the U.N. body that administers the Paris Convention." @wipo.int

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

"The convention does allow member countries to give patented technology to a rival manufacturer if the original patent holder abuses his monopoly -for example, by neglecting to produce it."

Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

"Currently, under the Paris Convention, patent holders must publish details of their discoveries in the signatory countries for other scientists to study. But the invention may not be copied for profit."

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Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

''The revisions to the Paris treaty being considered at the U.N. would confer international respectability on the abrogation of patents,'' said Barry MacTaggart, chairman and president of Pfizer International, the pharmaceutical and chemical company. Publication Requirement."

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Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

''It's tantamount to expropriation, and it's bad for the developmental process,'' said Michael Kirk, head of the international division at the United States Office of Patents and Trademarks."

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Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

"The Reagan Administration, with backing from American, European and Japanese industry, strongly opposes such a change, saying it would give developing countries the right to expropriate inventors' private property."

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Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

"The United Nations conference will convene in Geneva for the next four weeks to consider revising the Paris Convention of 1883, which allows patent holders a commercial monopoly for their invention in the 92 signatory countries, subject to certain conditions."

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Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

"At issue is a proposal that would make it easier for developing countries to confiscate patented inventions and manufacture them themselves." @southcentre.bsky.social @jamielove.bsky.social

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Thiru Balasubramaniam @thirugeneva.bsky.social · 3d

43 years ago on 5 Oct 1982, the New York Times published this piece on this fun piece on WIPO negotiations: "An international patent conference opened today that pits the Reagan Administration against the third world and some Western allies." @profseanflynn.bsky.social @roneilll.bsky.social

U.S. AND THE THIRD WORLD AT ODDS OVER PATENTS (Published 1982)

www.nytimes.com

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