In the area of Transparency, KEI works on several different topics, including for example: Norm setting. KEI has advocated access to meeting venues, timely disclosures of negotiating texts, and the use of webcasting of meetings, among other measures. Trade negotiations… Continue Reading
4 August 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Zack Struver
+1 (202) 332-2670
zack.struver@keionline.org
Knowledge Ecology International Leaks TPP Text on Intellectual Property
Tuesday, August 4th, 2015
Attached is a 2 page summary of the main provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) that will lead to higher prices for drugs and other medical technologies.
A pdf version of the note is available here: /wp-content/uploads/KEI-TPP-Briefing-2015-2-A2M.pdf
KEI TPP Briefing note 2015:2
June 10, 2015
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KEI is circulating a sign on letter to be sent to Ambassador Michael Froman of USTR. We learned that in a USTR has been stating that there was no evidence that stronger intellectual property rules created barriers for access to medicine.
This is a shocking statement for USTR to make, and we are seeking confirmation and clarification of USTR’s assertion. The text of our letter follows below.
If you would like to sign on to this letter, please send your name, city and state of residence, and affiliation if any, along with contact details (only for confirmation if necessary), to:
For more information:
James Love, Knowledge Ecology International
email: james.love@keionline.org, +1.202.361.3040
The May 16, 2014 version of the consolidated negotiating text for the Intellectual Property Chapter for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement is a long, complex document that taken as a whole is designed to expand and extend monopolies on knowledge goods, including in particular publisher-owned copyrights, patents on inventions, and monopoly rights in data used to register new drugs, vaccines and agricultural chemical products.
In 2012, as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Ron Wyden was a strong advocate for providing the public with access to the TPP negotiating text. Now, as Chairman, the Senator has been silent on the public’s right to the text. This is an example of Wyden in 2012. Has his position changed?
Timestamp and notes on Wyden comments on need for transparency in TPP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUYCSSdhEC8
In a 6 December 2013 letter, Representative Henry Waxman wrote to USTR Ambassador Michael Froman opposing USTR’s proposal of a term of 12 years of exclusivity for biologics in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). The letter notes,
[w]hile I have worked closely with Senator Hatch on important health issues, including the generic drug law that we co-authored in 1984, I strongly disagreed that the United States should be proposing twelve years of exclusivity.
Earlier this year, IP-Watch submitted two FOIA requests to USTR about the TPP negotiation. I am attaching two letters from USTR to IP-Watch about the FOIAs, and a file with 127 pages of emails between USTR and various industry lobbyists. (USTR provided KEI with copies of the files provdied to IP-Watch as part a separate KEI FOIA to USTR regarding communications involving the TPP).
A lot has clearly been withheld by USTR. According to USTR’s June 19, 2013 letter to IP-Watch
KEI Comments on the August 30, 2013 version of the TPP IP Chapter
For more information, contact James Love, mailto:james.love@keionline.org, mobile +1.202.361.3040.
While the GOP and Democratic conventions highlight the differences between the parties, there are some bipartisan issues, and one of the biggest is taking care of corporate interests.