KEI has recently learned that 6 of 9 countries ignored a UN Special Rapporteur request to respond to the March 22, 2011 complaint regarding the TPP. We are also disappointed in the comments from the three that did respond. The UN process for dealing with such complaints is somewhat bureaucratic and secretive. Among the three countries that did respond, Australia, Chile and New Zealand, all defended the secrecy of the TPP negotiating text and asserted that the TPP would not violate the right to health. Continue Reading →
On 12 March 2012 the Controller General of Patents,Designs & Trademarks of India issued an order granting a compulsory license under Section 84 of the Patents Act (1970) to Natco in patent number 215758 granted to Bayer covering the anti-drug sorafenib toslyate. KEI filed an affidavit in this compulsory licensing dispute involving Natco and Bayer. Following the issuance of a compulsory license, Bayer requested the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) to issue a stay on the compulsory license.
Test data protection is a sui generis intellectual property right that was first developed in the 1980s for pharmaceutical drugs, and has been extended recently to biologic drugs and vaccines.
When politicians and trade officials tell you they want to impose a restrictive 3-step test to narrow the copyright limitations and exceptions permitted under the Berne Convention, take a minute to review what the Berne exceptions cover, and ask yourself, why would anyone want to further limit these exceptions?
[The related rights in the Rome Convention, the rights in the WCT, WPPT and Beijing treaties, and the flexabilities in the WTO TRIPS Agreement require a separate discussion].
The Berne Convention revisions for limitations and exceptions to copyright 2012:1 KEI Research Note August 2012. Revised June 18, 2017. This research note reports on the evolution of each copyright exception found in the Berne Convention for the Protection of… Continue Reading →
Kista Cox on a provision in the TPP trade negotiation that would restore right to sue surgeons and other medical professionals for patent infringement. The US law (35 USC 287(c)) was changed after lawsuits were filed against surgeons performing certain procedures in eye surgery. USTR and USPTO have been asked to protect this exception in the TPP Intellectual Property Chapter, but have not done so.
Deputy USPTO Director Teresa Stanek Rea has issued a retraction of her statement regarding Administration support for 12 years of exclusive rights in test data for biologic drugs, and moderated somewhat her statement on the India compulsory license for Nexavar. USTR also issued a statement on the issue of biologic test data in response to Rea’s earlier comments.
