Crucial Moment for US-Israeli Intellectual Property Negotiations

The Israeli media report that US and Israeli negotiators are to take part in a video conference, aimed at thrashing out a solution to protracted negotiations on proposed changes to the country's intellectual property regime. The final form of the bill is due to be attached a rider to the country's latest government budget, which is expected in the Israeli legislature at the end of the month.

It appears that the conference call will mark the first direct communication between the two sides in some time, although diplomatic contacts are assumed to have been ongoing during the apparent frosty silence between the US trade representative and government officials. It is rumoured that the US side has, in any case, not yet completed its assessment of the data exclusivity proposals, and could seek to avoid placing the key US ally on its Priority Watch list of countries in violation of international patent norms.