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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Non paper distributed at SCCR 22 at 1pm on Friday, on disabilities

In a major breakthrough on the WIPO negotiations on copyright exceptions for persons with disabilities, at around 1pm today, a non-paper “resulting from informal discussions among Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, the European Union and its Member States, Mexico, Paraguay and the United States of America” was distributed at the WIPO SCCR 22.

A copy of the document is available here:

/wp-content/uploads/text_distributed_friday_1pm.doc

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Report from SCCR 22 discussions of WIPO treaty for persons who are blind or have other disabilities

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Members of the WBU delegation at WIPO SCCR 22

June 16, 10 am: There are good news and less good news to report from Geneva. While overall, things have moved in positive directions, with the US and the EU engaged in very constructive negotiations with Brazil and other treaty sponsors, there are still many frustrations. Continue Reading

Senator Wyden releases redacted version of October 29, 2010 CRS report on ACTA

On April 26, 2011, Senator Wyden released a redacted version of the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on ACTA that has been the subject to an ongoing Freedom of Information ACT (FOIA) dispute with USTR.

(More context here, here and here).

This is a link to the report that USTR claimed they could not release because of restrictions on its use by Senator Wyden.

/wp-content/uploads/RedactedACTACRSMemotoSenWyden.pdf

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Ambassador Kirk’s responses to Senate Finance Committee suggests enforcement of TRIPS-plus data exclusivity measures

Recently, Ambassador Ron Kirk, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) responded to follow up questions from the U.S. Senate Finance Committee regarding the 2011 Trade Agenda. In addition to asserting that the U.S. Congress is not bound by ACTA, the responses suggest USTR desire to establish requirements for the implementation of data exclusivity provisions.

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Homeland Security’s 2008 letter to USTR: ACTA is a threat to national security

On August 7, 2008, Stewart Baker, the Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security, sent a one page letter and a three page “Policy Position on Border Measures of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.”

Stewart Baker was the General Counsel of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1994, and was appointed the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by George W Bush.

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US Congress is not bound by ACTA, according to White House answers to Senate Finance on ACTA and TPP negotiations

Ambassador Ron Kirk holds the office of United States Trade Representative (USTR) in the White House. On March 9, 2011, he testified before the US Senate Finance Committee on the 2011 Trade Agenda. Several members of the Committee provided follow up questions, and Ambassador Kirk has answered them. A full copy of the responses are available here:

/wp-content/uploads/RonKirk_SFC_9Mar2011.pdf

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