Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) comments
U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Trade, March 13, 2013 Hearing on U.S.-India Trade Relations

Name: James Love
Organization: Knowledge Ecology International
Address: 1621 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20009
Phone Number: 1.202.332.2670
Contact E-mail Address: James.Love@KEIonline.Org
Title of Hearing: U.S.-India Trade Relations

Introduction

On March 13, 2013, the U.S. House of Representative held a hearing on U.S.-India Trade Relations. Among the several topics under discussion were "the issuance of compulsory licenses, patent revocations, and other policies on pharmaceuticals" in India.

On Monday, 25 March 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in the case, Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis, Inc., et. al. This case had previously been captioned as Federal Trade Commission v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, et. al., but was recaptioned after the combination of Actavis and Watson. KEI filed an amicus brief in support of the FTC which is available here (along with additional background to the case).

The 16th round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) took place at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore in early March.

TACD meeting on IP Chapter for TTIP

On March 27, from noon to 3 pm, the IP Policy Committee of TACD will hold a meeting on the intellectual property chapter of the proposed U.S.-European Union Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

The meeting will be held at KEI's offices at 1621 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20009

Today, 19 March 2013, the Supreme Court released its opinion in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, a case involving the parallel importation of copyrighted works. The case involved the petitioner, Kirtsaeng, purchasing textbooks in Thailand then reselling them in the United States. The Second Circuit held in this case that the first sale doctrine did not apply to foreign made goods, applying national exhaustion principles.

On Monday, March 18, 2013, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), held a conference call with the four NGOs that filed an October 25, 2012 march-in request for the patents held by Abbott Laboratories/AbbVie relevant to the manufacture and sale of ritonavir, a federally funded invention that is much more expensive in the United States than in Canada, Europe or other high-income countries, and is only available as a co-formulated product with AbbVie's version of lopinavir.

Informed sources have provided KEI the following draft text of the IP chapter under negotiation between the European Union and India in current free trade agreement talks. KEI will provide analysis of these provisions in due course.

**Updated 19 March 2013, after the Supreme Court released its opinion in Kirtsaeng ruling to permit parallel importation of copyrighted works**

On Tuesday, 5 March 2013, Brazil delivered the following statement at the WTO TRIPS Council in favor of the LDC Group's request for an extension to the transition period. The draft decision, if adopted as outlined in proposal (IP/C/W/583), would permit an LDC member not to apply the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, other than Articles 3, 4 and 5, until they ceased to be an LDC.

Here is Brazilian intervention in full.

On 5 March 2013, the European Union delivered the following statement during WTO TRIPS Council discussions on the LDC group’s request for an extension of the transitional period for TRIPS implementation.

On Tuesday, 5 March 2013, the Ambassador of Nepal made the following intervention at the World Trade Organization's Council for TRIPS, on behalf of the LDC Group on agenda item 11, Request for an Extension of the Transitional Period under Article 66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement.

WTO Council for TRIPS Meeting, March 5-6, 2013
Agenda item 11 – Request for an Extension of the Transitional Period under Article 66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement

Presentation of Request (IP/C/W/583) by Nepal on Behalf of LDCs Group

Mr. Chairman,

On 5 March 2013, the Government of India made the following intervention at the TRIPS Council under agenda item 11, request for an extension of the transitional period under Article 66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement. In their intervention, India unequivocally supported the duly motivated requested submitted by Haiti on behalf of the LDC Group on 5 November 2012 (IP/C/W/583).

India asserted that the "no roll back provision" of the 2005 extension had no place in the TRIPS Agreement and noted that

On 5 March 2013, the Government of India delivered the following statement at the TRIPS Council on agenda item 13, Intellectual Property and Innovation: Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, a standalone item tabled by Chile, Chinese Taipei, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America.

We thank the delegations of Chinese Taipei, Korea, the United States and others for tabling an agenda item on "Intellectual Property and Innovation: Small and medium Sized Enterprises" which we understand is a standalone item.

As others have reported, the India Intellectual Property Appeals Board (IPAB) has upheld the compulsory license on the Bayer patents on the cancer drug sorafenib, sold under the trademark of Nexavar by Bayer.