Senators Harkin and Sanders send Letter to USPTO Supporting the Treaty on Copyright Exceptions for Blind and Visually Impaired

harkin-sanders.jpgToday, on the eve of discussions on the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) at the WIPO General Assembly, Senators Harkin (D-IA) and Sanders (I-VT) submitted a letter to Director David Kappos of the US Patent and Trademark Office. This letter recommended USPTO’s support for the timely consideration of a treaty for the benefit of persons who are visually impaired or have other disabilities. Continue Reading

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2011 WIPO General Assembly begins week long meeting

The 49th WIPO General Assembly began today, in a packed hall of the CICG convention center. The agenda and other documents for the meeting is available here. The Director General, Francis Gurry, began his talk focusing on financial challenges, and, among other things, several references to the work of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). Gurry talked about progress on the AV treaty, and progress on an “instrument” for persons with disabilities. He talked about the new SCCR work program on the broadcast treaty. He did not mention the WIPO work on libraries, education or other copyright limitations and exceptions issues.

The meeting is webcast. Countries have been given 5 minutes for opening statements.
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DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala to Rep Jan Schakowsky in 2000, on WHO access to fed funded patent rights

In 2000, President Clinton asked Donna Shalala, then the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), to write to Representative Jan Schakowsky. Schakowky had asked President Clinton to provide the World Health Organization with royalty free rights to health care products, for which the United States holds rights.

Schakowsky was pressing President Clinton to share its rights, under 35 USC 202(c)(4) — a federal statute that reserves certain rights in patents where the federal government provided funding for the invention.

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Corporate funding of The NCD Alliance

The NCD Alliance is a formal alliance of the International Diabetes Federation, The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Union for International Cancer Control and the World Heart Federation established on 19 May 2009 “representing the four main NCDs outlined in the World Health Organization’s 2008-2013 Action Plan for NCDs – cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease”. Continue Reading

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