Knowledge Ecology International

As mentioned in a previous piece, the trilateral report by the secretariats of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation: Intersections between public health, intellectual property and trade, covers a lot of ground including but not limited to: 1) the global burden of disease and global health risks, 2) health and human rights, 3) access to essential medicines: an indicator for the fulfillment of the right to Continue Reading →

On Friday, 8 February 2013, KEI filed comments to USTR on the 2013 Special 301 Review. The comments request support for an extension of the transition period for least-developed countries, issues regarding compulsory licenses, patent linkage, exclusive rights over test data, and standards of patentability. With regard to copyright, KEI submitted comments covering issues of technological protection measures and DMCA-style legislation on notice-and-takedown procedures. KEI also made comments regarding the enforcement of intellectual property rights.

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On 13 April 2011, Senator Orrin Hatch (Republican-Utah) wrote a letter to then-Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton complaining about Global Fund’s policy on generic procurement and compulsory licensing. With respect to procurement, Sen. Hatch asserted that Global Fund monies were used to procure generic drugs “at unnecessary costs in recipient countries” while branded drugs (all Abbott products) were were available at a lower cost. Continue Reading →

On Tuesday, 5 February 2013, the Secretariats of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) released their joint publication, Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation: Intersections between public health, intellectual property and trade. This 251-page report covers a lot of ground.

In the words of the secretariats,

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On Thursday, 31 January 2013, KEI filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case Association for Molecular Pathology, et. al. v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., et. al. Our full brief is available for download here.

Background
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On Monday, 28 January 2013, KEI filed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case Federal Trade Commission v. Watson Pharmaceuticals**. The case involves a question of whether pay-for-delay settlement agreements, also known as reverse payments (where a branded pharmaceutical company will pay a generic firm to stay off the market for a certain period of time), are per se legal or whether they are presumptively anticompetitive. Continue Reading →

* The author thanks Belinda Townsend, Katy Athersuch, Judit Rius Sanjuan and Alice Fabbri for their comprehensive notes during the WHO Executive Board discussion of the CEWG agenda item.

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Joint Letter to the 132nd WHO Executive Board: Follow-up of the report of the CEWG

Distinguished Delegate,

We are writing to express our deep concern at the lack of ambition and apparent inaction of the WHO and Member States in taking forward the work of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG). This inaction is costing lives.

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On Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013, the Department of State will convene a meeting to discuss a proposal by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (“Hague Conference”) to developing a new “instrument” on the recognition and enforcement of judgments, including “new jurisdictional filters.”

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