On March 8, 2018, USTR and the interagency committee on the Special 301 held a hearing. KEI was one of the groups testifying. More on this process here: https://keionline.org/ustr/special301 I began our oral testimony discussing President Trump’s promise, during the… Continue Reading
USTR just sent out the schedule for the Special 301 hearing on March 8, 2018. 21 trade associations, civil society NGOs and academies will testify. Everyone is given 10 minutes, including questions, but persons testifying can provide additional materials to… Continue Reading
The October 2017 meeting of the WTO TRIPS Council witnessed heated discussions on compulsory licensing within the context of IP and the Public Interest. As reported earlier by Knowledge Ecology International, on 31 May 2017, Brazil, China, Fiji, India, and… Continue Reading
2000 SPECIAL 301 REPORT United States Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky today announced the results of the 2000 “Special 301” annual review which examined in detail the adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property protection in over 70 countries. Ambassador Barshefsky also… Continue Reading
PhRMA and BIO have both requested that the US Trade Representative place the European Union on its watch list in the 2018 Special 301 Report. The Special 301 Report is a yearly review by the US Trade Representative of the… Continue Reading
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
The USTR’s Special 301 Report has been issued every year beginning in 1989. The Executive Summary of the 2009 report says: The “Special 301” Report is an annual review of the global state of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection and… Continue Reading
On 14 March 2017, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee held confirmation hearings for Robert Lighthizer, President Donald Trump’s appointee for United States Trade Representative. During the Reagan administration, Lighthizer served as Deputy US Trade Representative with the rank of Ambassador (Source: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=41174). Prior to his tenure as Deputy USTR, from 1981 to 1983, Lighthizer served as Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. Currently, he is a partner at Skadden Arps. Continue Reading
On February 9, 2017, KEI filed written comments to the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s Special 301 Review process.
The Special 301 Review is an annual process carried out by the USTR to, “to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection.”