ISRAEL IN IP DISPUTE

The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Ehud Olmert will be meeting US trade representative Robert Zoellick today. At the same time, Ministry officials will be meeting with EU representatives. The subject of discussion is Israel’s upcoming new intellectual property legislation. The US and EU are calling for Israel to introduce data exclusivity, which protects the confidentiality of proprietary tests and clinical trial data used by a pharmaceutical firm while registering a drug. This protection prevents generic drug companies from using this data to develop the same drug for a specified period. The US provides a 5 year protection period, while the EU grants 10 years. However, Israel is proposing to only grant market exclusivity, which protects pharmaceutical products but not data.



The IPKat notes that while TRIPS Art.39(3) requires Member States to protect data disclosed in clinical or other trials, it does not specify the term of protection that is necessary.



More on data exclusivity here

The IPKat reveals more clinical secrets here, here and here