USTR New Exclusive Right for Copyright Holders: Importation Provision in the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)

At the recently completed Vietnam round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), once again, no official text of negotiation was released. Therefore, we still need to speculate about its status, relying in part on a three-month-ago leaked version of the intellectual property chapter proposed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

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EU Challenge for ACTA: Transferring Personal Data to Unsafe Countries

The European Union has a long tradition of protecting personal information. Since the 70’s, some European countries have adopted domestic law that regulates the processing of personal data. Starting in the 90’s, the European Union has approved several directives that provide a communitarian legal framework for processing personal data. Simultaneously, several countries in Europe have modified their constitutions in order to include provisions that guarantee the right to privacy and the right to protection of personal data. Continue Reading

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Derecho a la Vida Privada en las Negociaciones del TPP

La Oficina del Representante Comercial de los Estados Unidos (USTR) ha declarado su intención de tener completadas sus propuestas sobre protección de la propiedad intelectual a comienzos de la próxima ronda de negociaciones del TPP en Vietnam, del 20 al 24 de junio de 2011. En su rápida agenda, los negociadores del TPP han anunciado que ellos esperan concluir el acuerdo para el encuentro de los miembros del Foro de Cooperación Económica Asia-Pacífico, a realizarse en Hawaii del 8 al 13 de noviembre de 2011. Continue Reading

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Right to Privacy in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP ) Negotiations

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has declared an intention to have all its proposals on intellectual property protections by the commencement of the next round of TPP talks in Vietnam June 20-24, 2011. On a fast timetable, TPP negotiators have already announced that they want to finalize TPP by the summit meetings of the members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation on November 8-13, 2011 in Hawaii. The TPP will impact health, access to knowledge, and without the necessary safeguards, the right to privacy.

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Mexican Government (nonresponsive) responses to KEI’s concerns about ACTA

KEI has received a letter dated September 28, 2010, from Lic. Alfredo Rendón Algara – Director General Adjunto de Propiedad Industrial of Mexico (IMPI). The letter from the Mexican government is in response to KEI’s earlier letter to C. Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, Presidente Constitucional de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, regarding the position of the Mexican government in the ACTA negotiations. Continue Reading

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Mexico President writes KEI, asks Minister of Economy to respond to ACTA questions

On August 10, 2010, KEI sent a letter to the President of Mexico expressing our concerns in the position of the Mexican government in the ACTA negotiations. KEI noted that the proposed ACTA text, if adopted, would require the adoption of new legal provisions that would compromise the public interest of Mexico. KEI asked the Mexican government to change some positions it had taken earlier in the negotiation, and to support the inclusion in the ACTA text of of new flexibilities and protections of the fundamental rights of its citizens.

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How Much Time is Necessary to Negotiate the Text of a Multilateral Agreement on Intellectual Property?

There is a negotiation in the WIPO SCCR over the work program on copyright limitations and exceptions for persons with disabilities. Some countries favor a negotiation on a binding treaty. The US government is asking that the SCCR set aside work on the treaty, and focus instead on a non-binding recommendation to address a limited set of issues relating to the import and export of works created under an exception. The US government asserts that treaties would take a very long time to negotiate, ratify and implement. Continue Reading

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