On Wednesday February 24, 2015, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Special 301 Committee held its annual public meeting following written comments sent earlier by trade associations, corporations and a few public interest groups that follow trade and intellectual property.
On February 24, 2015, the USTR convened the Special 301 Review, taking testimony almost exclusively from witnesses representing large corporate rights holders. Over the course of the three-and-a-half hour hearing, groups such as Phrma, NAM, IPO, and the misleadingly-named Alliance for Fair Trade with India (an alliance comprised of groups such as Phrma, NAM, MPAA and many other similar groups) as well as foreign-owned multinational Bridgestone, pushed for the watch-listing of countries that fail to implement TRIPS+ measures. Continue Reading
The Human Rights Council’s 2015 Social Forum will take place from 18 February 2015 to 20 February 2015 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.
As requested by the Council in the above-mentioned resolution, the 2015 Social Forum will focus on “access to medicines in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including best practices in this regard “. (Source: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/SForum/Pages/SForum2015.aspx).
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will host an Expert Forum on International Technology Transfer on 16 February 2015 to 18 February 2015 at its New Conference Hall. The event is open to the public, and the link for online registration can be found here: http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/registration/form.jsp?meeting_id=35562.
On Tuesday, 27 January 2015, Argentina, Brazil, India and South Africa tabled a draft decision to extend the mandate of the Global strategy and plan of action and public health, innovation and intellectual property (EB136/CONF.7) until 2022. We expect that this draft decision will be discussed on Thursday, 29 January 2015 under agenda item 10.5, Global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property. Continue Reading
On Thursday afternoon, 11 December 2014, Bangladesh delivered the following powerful intervention on behalf of the Asia and the Pacific Group on limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives. This group includes nations such as Bangladesh, Iran, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. The Asia and Pacific Group stressed that copyright limitations and exceptions were assured to developing countries and LDCs to ensure a more balanced and efficient international copyright system anchored in Article 7 of the WTO TRIPS Agreement,
Following Professor Crews’ presentation of his updated report on limitations and exceptions (L&E) for libraries and archives, today more member states, IGOs and NGOs engaged again in an interesting Q&A. After years in this committee, I have rarely witnessed such enthusiasm and interest among all the SCCR participants about a report. Continue Reading
On Wednesday, 5 November 2014, Pakistan delivered the following intervention on patents and health.
Agenda 7 Statement on patents and health
1. General statement
Mr. Chair,
I will make this statement in national capacity,
In the words of the International Bureau of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) was created,
created in 1998 to serve as a forum to discuss issues, facilitate coordination and provide guidance concerning the progressive international development of patent law.
During the WIPO 2014 General Assembly’s discussions of patents and health in the context of the work of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patent (SCP), the Obama Administration embraced an aggressive position against WIPO technical assistance on the use of patent limitations and exceptions.
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