Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Copyright protection advances the public interest, and good public policy must properly consider “the role of intellectual property as a tool for economic emancipation, a catalyst for cultural diversity, and a powerful protector of individual dignity and fundamental human rights,” argues RIAA’s Neil Turkewitz.
As prospective presidential candidates prepare to plunge voters in the United States into campaign purgatory, it is time for pundits to examine how candidates are branding their political campaigns and crafting their messages to appeal to the electoral audience. With the presidential race beginning to heat up, which candidate will seize the message that resonates most with American voters? And what will that message be?
From the New York Times: WASHINGTON — Facing resistance from its Pacific trading partners, the Obama administration is no longer demanding protection for pharmaceutical prices under the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to a newly leaked “transparency” annex of the proposed trade accord.
But American negotiators are still pressing participating governments to open up the process that sets reimbursement rates for drugs and medical devices. Public health professionals, generic drugmakers and activists opposed to the trade deal, which is still being negotiated, contend that it will empower big pharmaceutical firms to command higher reimbursement rates in the United States and abroad, at the expense of consumers.
After a tumultuous early morning session today in Strasbourg, a slim majority of 183 (against 181) members of the European Parliament decided to postpone mere debate of the Parliament's report on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The vote on the report prepared by Bernd Lange, head of the International Trade Committee (S&D), had already been postponed yesterday by the President of the Parliament, Martin Schulz.
MUNICH -- The agreement of the heads of states of the United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany to reduce global warning to less than two degrees made the biggest headlines of the G7 Summit on Elmau Castle, Germany, in the Bavarian Alps. Also agreed were commitments on trade and on public health, including research and development for neglected diseases.
The US Federal Circuit Court of Appeals clearly likes patents. Over the years, the court has issued a long string of rulings that greatly strengthened the rights of patent owners. But several weeks ago, in Akamai Technologies v. Limelight Networks, the court reluctantly created a major loophole in patent protection.
While a full range of stakeholders would be affected by the outcome of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement under secret negotiation by the United States and a dozen trading partners, corporate representatives have had a special seat at the negotiating table, as shown by hundreds of pages of confidential emails from the US Trade Representative’s office obtained by Intellectual Property Watch. The emails give a rare and fascinating perspective on how policy is developed in the trade office.
Patent activity is currently at an all-time high, with statistics showing large growth across industry sectors in the volume of patents being filed. However, the production of scientific literature is declining, according to a new report from Thomson Reuters.
This year’s United Nations review of implementation of the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is picking up pace. Meanwhile, intensive efforts continue to meet a September target for the handover from the United States of key underlying functions of the internet.
Mike Palmedo writes: This post presents preliminary data showing that firms in industries sensitive to copyright can succeed in countries other than the US when copyright limitations include fair use. It is an early product of an interdisciplinary project at American University, in which legal researchers are working with economics professor Walter Park to study how country’s copyright exceptions effect economic outcomes. The project has been undertaken as part of American University’s larger role coordinating the Global Network on Copyright User Rights. The research supports and expands on other recent research attempting to measure the value of fair use abroad.
European Commission negotiators should back away from a controversial provision in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal that would allow companies to sue governments in arbitration courts over claimed unequal treatment, the European Parliament International Trade Committee (INTA) said on 28 May. MEPs called instead for publicly appointed, independent judges, public hearings and an appellate mechanism that respects the jurisdiction of EU and national courts, the committee said.
Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences has been noted first for developing a treatment for hepatitis C, which afflicts tens of millions around the world, and then for pricing it at jaw-dropping prices ($1000 per pill) in the United States and elsewhere. Now a group of health advocates has challenged Gilead's patent applications in five emerging economies.