Competition policy
Ticketmaster merger threatens consumer interest - Public interest and consumer groups ask DOJ to block merger
Submitted by Manon Ress on 2. December 2009 - 10:20Washington, DC. December 1, 2009. Five of the nation’s most prominent public interest groups today called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to block the proposed merger by entertainment giants Ticketmaster and Live Nation. DOJ is currently reviewing the merger and is expected to make a decision in the next month. The organizations include Consumer Action, the National Consumers League (NCL), the American Antitrust Institute, the Consumer Federation of America and Knowledge Ecology International.
Balanced agenda reached at the conclusion of WIPO patent committee
Submitted by thiru on 30. March 2009 - 11:09The Summary by the Chair of the WIPO Standing Committee Committee on the Law of Patents’ (SCP) Thirteenth Session which took place in Geneva from March 23, 2009 to March 27, 2009 has been posted on the WIPO website.
KEI oral intervention on patents and standards at WIPO SCP
Submitted by thiru on 25. March 2009 - 11:22Thank you Mr Chair.
We take note of document 13/2’s assertion that “inherent tensions exist between patents and standards” particularly when the “implementation of a standard calls for the use of technology covered by one or more patents”.
For our detailed written comments on the issue of patents and standards we request the SCP to please consult pages 36 through 39 of Annex III of document SCP/12/3 Rev.2.
On the topic of patents and standards, we propose the following:
WIPO SCP 13, slides from KEI Side event on Patents and Standards
Submitted by James Love on 23. March 2009 - 9:11On March 23, 2009, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) organized a Briefing on Patents and Standards at WIPO’s 13th meeting of the Standing Committee on Patents (SCP). The meeting features presentations from Dr. Baisheng An, a Research Fellow at the South Centre, George Greve, President of Free Software Foundation Europoe (FSFE), Ahmed Abedel Latif, of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), and James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI).
India: Intervention at WTO TRIPS Council on public health dimension of the TRIPS Agreement
Submitted by thiru on 9. March 2009 - 9:25On 3 March 2009, India delivered the following intervention at the WTO Council for TRIPS meeting on the issue of the public health dimension of the TRIPS Agreement in the context of the Dutch seizures.
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INTERVENTION by INDIA
Agenda item ‘M’ – OTHER BUSINESS – Public Health dimension of TRIPS Agreement
Chair,
WTO Director General Pascal Lamy’s response to joint NGO letter about seizures of medicines in trasit to developing countries
Submitted by Malini Aisola on 4. March 2009 - 12:45On 18 February 2009, sixteen NGOs sent a letter to the head of the World Trade Organization regarding a series of seizures by the Dutch custom authorities of generic medicines in transit to developing countries. The letter is available at
http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/seizures/WTO_seizures_18feb.pdf
Today, Director General Pascal Lamy responded to the letter which is available at
