The following groups and individuals have written to Anand Grover, the Special Rapporteur for the United Nations on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, to lodge a complaint about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a regional free trade agreement being negotiated by the governments of Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Peru, Vietnam and the United States.
On September 20, 2010, the PTO published “Request for Comments on Incentivizing Humanitarian Technologies and Licensing Through the Intellectual Property System” in the Federal Register (75 Fed. Reg. 57261, available here):
On March 2, 2011, Michel Barnier, the EC Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, wrote to Dan Pescod of the European Blind Union, to defend the European Commission decision to back a soft alternative to a treaty at WIPO. (More context, including the text of all of the proposals at WIPO, here. Continue Reading →
Today USTR provided some additional insight into negotiations of a regional, Asia-Pacific trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. The USTR web page on the TPP negotiations is http://www.ustr.gov/tpp. At present, the TPP negotiators include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Japan and Canada have expressed interest in joining the negotiations, and USTR clearly would like to design an agreement that will be open to other countries. Our discussions focused on the intellectual property chapter in the agreement. Continue Reading →
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) has received a copy of U.S. industry demands on the Intellectual Property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiations. A draft letter from US industry to USTR has been leaked and is available here.
November 29, 2010 Revised January 4, 2011 Introduction This timeline contains a number of selected data points concerning Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The motivations for this timeline, which features entries for both Microsoft and the… Continue Reading →
The following statement was delivered on Wednesday, 27 October 2010 by the UNAIDS Secretariat and on behalf of UNDP during the Annual Review of Paragraph 6.
World Trade Organization
Council for TRIPS – Regular Session
Annual Review of Paragraph 6
Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health
Agenda item 4 – Capacity building on the Paragraph 6 System and related TRIPS flexibilities
Remarks by UNAIDS Secretariat and on behalf of UNDP
27 October 2010
On Wednesday, 27 October 2010, Canada delivered the three interventions to the WTO TRIPS Council related to the review of the Paragraph 6 system. The first intervention below details the Canadian experience using the Paragraph 6 system in the case of Apotex and Rwanda.
CANADA Intervention: (1) Experience using the System (Apotex-Rwanda Case)
As we recall, the 2003 WTO Decision on TRIPS and Public Health was an intensely negotiated decision that garnered unanimous support from all WTO Members.
The following statement was delivered by Brazil at this week’s TRIPS Council.
TRIPS Enforcement Trends/ACTA – TRIPS Council – Intervention by Brazil
According to press releases circulated in the first week of this month, the negotiating process of ACTA is virtually concluded.
A few points only would still remain open and those points would not prevent a final agreement from being reached soon, according to statements released by authorities from the countries participating in the ACTA negotiations.
On March 2, 2011, Michel Barnier, the EC Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, wrote to Dan Pescod of the European Blind Union, to defend the European Commission decision to back a soft alternative to a treaty at WIPO. (More context, including the text of all of the proposals at WIPO, 