Meet the chief US ACTA negotiator: Kira Alvarez, the Deputy Assistant USTR for IP Enforcement

Kira Alvarez is the Deputy Assistant USTR for Intellectual Property Enforcement, and the chief US negotiator for ACTA. According to her Linkedin bio, as late as October 2008, right before the election, she was the Time Warner Vice President for Global Public Policy, and before that, she was a lobbyist for Ely Lilly, the pharmaceutical company. Continue Reading

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TACD issues resolution on IPR enforcement

On June 18, 2009, The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) issued a 2,000 word resolution on the enforcement of copyright, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights. The resolution is on the TACD web page here. A press release from the TACD IP-Working Group, with comments from several TACD members, is available on the web here.

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Draft conclusions on Protection of broadcasting organizations

And these are the draft conclusions on the casting treaty. And a date for the next SCCR which might be changed because it is the same date as a WTO meeting in Geneva.

Protection of broadcasting organizations

16. The committee expressed its appreciation for the information session on developments in broadcasting which focused on concerns of developing and least developed countries

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WHO at a crossroads on a mandate for an R&D Treaty

21 May 2009

Today at the World Health Assembly (WHA) the US and EU are opposing that the WHO have a mandate on global research and development norms, including the possibility for Member States to negotiate at WHO a global biomedical R&D treaty.

Developing countries governments made very strong interventions this morning on this issue (among them India, Bolivia, Barbados, Suriname, Bangladesh, Ghana, Argentina, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Cuba and Jamaica) and are wondering where are the promises of multilateralism made by the new Obama administration.

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WHA: Civil Society letter to WHO Member States

May 18, 2009

Open Letter to WHO Member States on outstanding components of Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property

Dear WHO Member States,

During the 2008 World Heath Assembly WHO Member States reached unanimous consensus on resolution WHA 61.21 that adopted a Global Strategy and unfinished Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual property.

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Minimum TRIPS Terms of Protection for Copyright and Related Rights

KEI has a page that summarizes the minimum terms of protection for copyright and related rights in multilateral treaties. The most binding constraints are those included in the WTO TRIPS Agreement. Those constraints are as follows:

Most literary and artistic works protected by copyright under the Berne would have a minimum copyright term calculated on the basis of the life of the author plus 50 years.

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