DG Trade and DG Customs Union reply to TACD on Seizures of Medicines in Transit
The European Commissioners for External Trade and for Taxation and Customs Union have replied to TACD in a letter available here:
Dear All,
Author: James Love
Notes from Day one of WIPO SCP 13
WIPO’s five day 13th meeting of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) began on Monday, and will go through Friday. The agenda is quite full, as the SCP will consider four important reports written by the Secretariat.
SCP/13/2: Standards and Patents
SCP/13/3: Exclusions from Patentable Subject Matter and Exceptions and Limitations to the Rights
SCP/13/4: The Client-Attorney Privilege
SCP/13/5: Dissemination of Patent Information
WIPO SCP 13, slides from KEI Side event on Patents and Standards
On 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). Continue Reading
2009: Obama trade officials promise thorough review of transparency policies
The following report was prepared by KEI, and reviewed by Daniel Sepulveda of USTR:
Meeting at DOJ on the Ticketmaster /Live Nation merger
Yesterday’s meeting at DOJ on the Ticketmaster Live Nation (TM/LN) merger lasted about 90 minutes. Several civil society NGOs groups showed up for the meeting. There were also several persons from age 17 to 65, who go to live events, play in bands, and preform in local venues. Continue Reading
What should be transparent in trade and treaty negotiations?
KEI doing work on the transparency of global trade and treaty negotiations, particularly but not exclusively as relates to IPR negotiations.
One area that has received attention recently (after a year of complaints), seems to be recent USTR denial of access to the negotiating texts of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which is basically an IPR enforcement agreement only marginally related to the emotive title, “counterfeits.”
Canada on disclosure of ACTA documents
Michael Geist reports he has obtained under the Canada Access to Information Act” a confidential November 2008 memorandum written by Stockwell Day, the Canada Minister of International Trade, that says in part:
European Parliament debate on transparency of ACTA documents
From the European Parliament is a call for more transparency of ACTA documents. This is a report from Sina Amoor Pour of Sweden, posted to the A2K listserve:
March 2009 news stories on the denial of access to ACTA documents under FOIA on national security grounds
The following are some of the stories on the denial of the ACTA FOIA request on national security grounds.
March 12, 2009
https://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/03/12/acta-state-secret/
Obama Administration Rules Texts of New IPR Agreement are State Secrets
Huffington Post, James Love, March 12, 2009.
Who are the cleared advisors that have access to secret ACTA documents?
The negotiating text of ACTA and many other documents, including even the lists of participants in the negotiations, are secret. The White House claims the secrecy is required as a matter of national security. But that does not mean the documents are off limits to everyone outside of the government. Hundreds of advisors, many of them corporate lobbyists, are considered “cleared advisors.” They have access to the ACTA documents.