The following excerpts are from an exchange of messages on ip-health about a recent recent petition regarding the patent pool that has been posted to several public health email lists. Among the leaders in the petition are apparently ITPC and the New York based I-MAK. ITPC has a long history of advocating for the interests of persons living with HIV, and I-MAK has for many years sought to overcome patent barriers for access to medicines. A copy of the petition is here http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/mppunitaid.
On 4-5 October 2011, UNITAID held its third Consultative Forum giving stakeholders the opportunity to view UNITAID’s achievements to date as well as provide input on UNITAID’s activities moving forward. Attendees at the forum included civil society, NGOs, implementing partners, representatives from the pharmaceutical industry and private foundations, and governmental officials. Several of the presentations from the IP workshop as well as the recommendations from the IP workshop are attached below.
Ted is a Public Service Institute Research Fellow at Knowledge Ecology International. He is a recent graduate of the University of Notre Dame Law School. During his law school career, he interned at a variety of public service and public policy organizations, including the United States Navy JAG, the Department of Justice, and Opportunity Maine, a grassroot advocacy organization.
Two areas where ACTA is inconsistent with US law, injunctions and damages KEI Policy Brief, 2011:2
30 September 2011, revised 3 October 2011
James Love and Krista Cox
As the U.S. is reportedly about to sign ACTA, we wanted to point out two important areas where ACTA is not consistent with U.S. law. These are the sections of ACTA dealing with injunctions and damages. Below we have included the text from ACTA and the WTO TRIPS agreement on these two topics.
On Thursday, 29 September 2011, Ecuador made the following intervention at the WIPO General Assembly (GA) during the consideration of a Report on the Work of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) which called for the WIPO GA to convene a diplomatic conference in 2012 on a treaty on copyright exceptions for persons with reading disabilities provided that SCCR23 reached agreement on a negotiating text for the TVI.
Brazil’s general statement to the WIPO General Assembly in 2011 was delivered on Monday, 26 September 2011 by HE Roberto Azevedo, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the WTO and other Economic Organizations in Geneva. With respect to a disabilities treaty, Brazil stated,
The following intervention was delivered today by H.E. Alfredo Suescum, Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Panama to the WTO on behalf of of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC). With respect to a disabilities treaty, GRULAC noted:
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. Continue Reading →
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.
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 →