Lucia Helena Salgado, from Coordinator of Regulatory and Market Studies, institute of Research on Applied Economics (IPEA) is presenting her study on Anti-Competitive Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (Sham Litigation) at the 7th session of the WIPO Advisory Committee on Enforcement.
The report can be found here:
http://wipo.int/export/sites/www/meetings/en/2011/wipo_ip_ge_11/docs/study.pdf
According to OpenSecrets.Org, the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector has reported $115,571,832 in lobbying for 2011, a number that will grow considerably when all quarterly reports are filed. The top lobbying outlays were reported by PhRMA, the trade association, followed by Pfizer, Amgen, Merck, Lilly, Novartis, Bayer and GSK. The top generic company was Teva, which ranked 12th overall. As reported by OpenSecrets, some firms are listed more than once, for lobbying outlays by different subsidiaries. Continue Reading
Next week, the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR 23) will meet beginning on 21 November and continue through 2 December 2011. One issue that will be discussed is a possible treaty for copyright limitations and exceptions for persons who are visually impaired or have other disabilities. A treaty is necessary to provide minimum standards for limitations and exceptions to permit the creation of accessible format works and also to facilitate cross-border sharing of these works. Continue Reading
On November 13, 2011, the Los Angeles Times published a story by David Willman on a no-bid contract with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to supply the government with a drug for smallpox. The LA Times story begins with this:
Over the last year, the Obama administration has aggressively pushed a $433-million plan to buy an experimental smallpox drug, despite uncertainty over whether it is needed or will work.
On October 26, 2011, a bipartisan group of members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced HR 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, known as SOPA. While much of the bill deals with “online” piracy,” some sections of the bill appear to have nothing to do with the Internet. The bill also creates a new bureaucracy to deal with very broadly defined trade related intellectual property rights issues, including those identified in the annual USTR Special 301 report.
On 25 October 2011, the WTO TRIPS Council held its annual review of the Paragraph 6 System under Item G. Under the sub-heading of alternatives to the Paragraph 6 system, Ecuador asked the European Union (EU) about the issuance of three compulsory licenses in Italy between 2005 to 2007. In its intervention, Ecuador asked the EU for more detail regarding the Italian Competition Authority’s issuance of compulsory licenses for export to Spain and other EU members in cases involving Glaxo and Merck including, but not limited to, administrative procedures, decision-making processes, and rationale. Continue Reading
The ninth round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) took place in Lima, Peru from 19-28 October 2011. Stakeholders were given the opportunity to present at the stakeholder platform on 23 October, attend the stakeholder briefing on 25 October and the reception on 25 October.
Intellectual Property
Register of Copyrights Maria A. Pallante has made public the “priorities and special projects” of the US Copyright Office from October 2011 to October 2013. The ambitious work plan sets 17 priorities in the areas of copyright policy and administrative practices, and 10 special projects “to improve the quality and efficiency of the U.S. Copyright Office’s services.”
The 16 page document is available here
Comments should be sent to registerofcopyrights@copyright.gov
Here’s a quick outline:
3 Studies
On 25 October 2011, India delivered the following intervention at the WTO TRIPS Council raising concerns on ACTA and the TPPA during discussions of “Trends in the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights”. On ACTA, India voiced concerns on the scope of ACTA’s civil enforcement measures, border measures potential role in the seizure of generic medicines, third party liability, damages and also raised systemic issues such as how WTO MFN obligations would affect WTO members who are not ACTA parties,
Recent cancer drug prices
2010
April 29, 2010.
Brand name: Provenge
Generic name: Sipuleucel-T
Marketed by: Dendreon
Indication: therapy for certain men with advanced prostate cancer that uses their own immune system to fight the disease.
FDA press release here.
US Price: $31,000 per infusion. A full course of treatment is three infusions over a one-month period, or $93k.
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