In a stunning 633 to 13 vote, the EU Parliament voted for a resolution on ACTA that addresses a wide range of criticisms that civil society groups have made of the process and substance.

The KEI statement on the EU vote follows:

On July 28, 2006, Jeffrey Kindler replaced Hank McKinnell as CEO of Pfizer. That day the Pfizer stock price closed at $26.11. With the stock trading today at a little more than $17, it would seem that shareholders have lost a significant amount of their investment. Nonetheless, Kindler is doing well.

In 2007, Thailand was involved in a dispute over the granting of compulsory licenses on medicines, including the patents used for Kaletra, an Abbott drug used in the treatment of AIDS. Kaletra is the brand name for a fixed dose combination of lopinavir and ritonavir (LPV/r) -- two drugs invented at Abbott on an NIH grant. In 2007, LPV/r was the preferred combination for protease inhibitor regimes used to treat AIDS.

This from USTR's 2010 Trade Policy Agenda and 2009 Annual Report:

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a joint program with Pfizer to fund and manage seminars in India on "misconceptions of evergreening" and "the importance of regulatory data protection and patent linkage." KEI has submitted a FOIA request to USPTO on this topic, and received a small installment of documents on Friday. Attached to this blog are 4 pages of documents that we received from two meetings held in Mumbai, India on September 9, 2009. Ten journalists and 15 NGOs attended the meetings.

Next week (March 8-12) delegates from various developing countries will gather in Washington, DC for a week long "INTERNATIONAL TRAINING FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND COUNTRIES IN TRANSITION ON EMERGING ISSUES IN COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS AND ISSUES PERTAINING TO BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS" co-organised by the US Copyright Office and WIPO. We hope that at least 6 Myths about the treaty for people with disabilities proposed by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay will be clearly debunked once and for all during the training.

On March 4, 2010, the Senate Judiciary Committee released its new "compromise bill" on patent reform. Senator Leahy described the objectives of the bill as follows:*

"we wanted to improve patent quality and the operations at the [Patent and Trademark Office], and address runaway damage awards that were harming innovation. We are close to a compromise that will address these issues."

The ties between Universities and businesses are often complex and blurred. Private companies or trade associations fund research and seminars, and have consulting relationships with faculty members, trying to shape public policy and judicial decisions on a wide range of issues. A particularly interesting industry/university connection concerns something called the "India Project," that is associated with the George Washington University (GWU) Law School.

On January 6, 2010, Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter to the USTR asking a number of questions about the U.S. negotiating objectives in ACTA. On February 28, 2010, USTR responded. The USTR response focused mostly on the official U.S. "asks," rather than the state of the negotiating text, which also reflects also the views of other parties. For this reason, the USTR letter to Wyden only tells part of the story about what ACTA may do.

Ambassador Ron Kirk has issued a response to Senator Wyden's letter dated January 6, 2010. The official press release from Senator Wyden's office follows:

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jennifer Hoelzer (Wyden): (202) 224-3789
March 2, 2010

Wyden Gets Some Answers on ACTA Negotiations

USTR Responds on Range of Issues, including Internet Access and Drug Sales