Brazil’s proposal at WIPO on patent limitations and exceptions (SCP/14/7)

On January 15, 2010 the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the World Trade Organization and other economic organizations in Geneva submitted a proposal to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The Brazilian note verbale to WIPO notes that the proposal:

“aims at contributing to the discussion of exceptions and limitations to patent rights. . . While not purporting to cover all interfaces of the matter with development concerns, it emphasizes the importance of promoting a wide and sustained debate on the issue in the SCP”.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

USTR’s new hearings on 301 list

USTR has issued an announcement for new procedures including public hearings on the 2010 Special 301 list. This is an effort to make the 301 process somewhat more open, and to provide more formal opportunities to both supporters and critics of USTR’s bilateral trade pressures to make their case. USTR’s actions are welcomed by several NGOs that have been critical of the unilateral trade pressures initiative, as it seems to provide the beginning of a more mature discussion about the objectives of trade policy, and the evidence to support different positions. Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Transparency of FTAA negotiations, compared to ACTA

In a recent statement to Wired, USTR tried to justify the secrecy of the ACTA negotiations as follows:

The Administration also recognizes that confidentiality in international negotiations among sovereign entities is the standard practice to enable officials to engage in frank exchanges of views, positions, and specific negotiating proposals, and thereby facilitate the negotiation and compromise that are necessary to reach agreement on complex issues.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized
2

Senator Sanders Amendment 2858 would replace data exclusivity with cost sharing, if new trials violate medical ethics

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has offered an amendment to the health care reform bill that would eliminate data exclusivity in cases where duplicating clinical trials involving human subjects would violate Article 20 of the Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human subjects. The relevant article from the Declaration of Helsinki reads as follows:

Continue Reading

Uncategorized
21

Ambassador Kirk: People would be “walking away from the table” if the ACTA text is made public

After attending the three day WTO Ministerial meeting in Geneva, I took the non-stop United Airlines Flight back to Washington, DC. On the airplane were a number of U.S. government officials including the head of USTR, Ambassador Ron Kirk. I had a chance to talk to Kirk about the secrecy of the ACTA agreement. He said the ACTA text would be made public, “when it is finished.” I told him it that was too late, and the public wanted the text out now, before it is too late to influence anything.

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

Missing Safeguards in ACTA present risks to consumers in the United States, KEI/PK letter to Congress

November 9, 2009

Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman
Senator Jeff Sessions, Ranking Member
Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Max Baucus, Chairman
Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member
Senate Finance Committee

Representative John Conyers, Chairman
Representative Lamar Smith, Ranking Member
House Committee on the Judiciary

Representative Henry Waxman, Chairman,
Representative Joe Barton, Ranking Member
House Committee on Energy and Commerce

Representative Charles Rangel, Chairman
Representative Dave Camp, Ranking Member
House Committee on Ways and Means

Continue Reading

Uncategorized

US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) FOIA requests

  • On September 2009, KEI made a first attempt to FOIA documents related to WIPO negotiations on copyright exceptions for person who are blind or have other disabilities.

    September 30, 2009.

    USPTO FOIA Officer
    United States Patent and Trademark Office
    PO Box 1450
    Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
    efoia@uspto.gov

    Dear FOIA Officer:

    Continue Reading