On Wednesday February 24, 2015, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Special 301 Committee held its annual public meeting following written comments sent earlier by trade associations, corporations and a few public interest groups that follow trade and intellectual property.
At the Hearing, the Special 301 committee was composed of 8 US goverments agencies: Labor, Agriculture, State, Copyright Office, Commerce, DHHS, Justice and USTR. There were 2 men and 5 women. The first 3 speakers were countries’ attaches (not intellectual property specialists) from Bulgaria, Greece and Ukraine[1]. All three men were there to plead with the Committee not to be put on the priority watch list or to explain progress made in their respective countries regarding intellectual property norms and enforcement. One of the most common questions posed to them was about what their respective goverments/police/customs/judges were doing regarding online piracy…which they often argued is taking place elsewhere. The process of listing countries (grading them according to the industries wishes?) is of course mostly political. However, seeing Bulgaria, Greece and particulary Ukraine at this time, asking the US for leniency sounding a bit rehearsed and really about other possible demands and issues.
The 12 following speakers were (for 10 of them) lobbyists representing trade associations. It was more about big international corporations than about US or small or medium US exporters. Andy Goldman represented KEI and his excellent testimony is here. I represented the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatments (and was the only woman testifying at the hearing).
The room was full but the hearing was less attended than last year (when we had to stand in the lobby since the room was full). This year it was a large group of well dressed K Street lawyers lobbyists mostly men, they all fit in.
To summarize the problems described by the industry:
For the copyright/software/publishers representatives, the complaints focused as usual on governement use of infringing software, bad enforcement of technological protection measures, not good protection of software patents nor trade secrets and the need for better judicial remedies. Again they claimed to have 32 million employees as stated in the “report” (that includes the guy selling popcorn at the theater, or the Safeway checkers as creative industry jobs!). The IIPA included Switzerland, Indonesia and China in its special list of IP villains.
The trademark issues were presented by Bridgestone (not an American firm by the way)[2]. They just lost a court case in Panama[3] and is asking USTR for help. Putting Panama on a list of villain, trade pressures…there must be a way?
The pharmaceutical industry lobbyist is still complaining about India (asking for another out-of-cycle review!), about compulsory licences and the destruction of the patent system at WIPO and WHO according to the IPO representative). They continue to pretend that compulsory licences under TRIPS have to be done only when there is an emergency. In addition to India, Canada and Ecuador[4] seem to be problematic for PhRma which, if true, is good news for the citizens of theses countries. It could mean that they actually have some access to medicines.
Which brings me to my statement on behalf of the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatments here
(I added at the last minute a reading of the WTO.org paragraph about “the common misunderstanding regarding Compulsory licences“:
quote:
Does there have to be an emergency?
Not necessarily. This is a common misunderstanding. The TRIPS Agreement does not specifically list the reasons that might be used to justify compulsory licensing. However, the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health confirms that countries are free to determine the grounds for granting compulsory licences.
end of quote
[1] According to the World Bank data for 2013, the GNI per capita of Bulgaria is $7,360, for Greece, $22,690, for Ukraine $3,960 (and for the US $53,470).
[2] Wikipedia: “The Bridgestone Corporation (?????????? Kabushiki-gaisha Burijisuton?) (TYO: 5108, OTC Pink: BRDCY) is a multinational auto and truck parts manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (????? Ishibashi Sh?jir??) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of ishibashi, meaning “stone bridge” in Japanese.”
[3] GNI per capita for Panama is $10,700
[4] GNI per capita for Ecuador is $5,760