Author: James Love

I have been asked to elaborate on the relationship between the Medical Innovation Prize Fund (S.2210, 110th Congress) and the WTO TRIPS Agreement.

For centuries, innovation inducement prizes have been suggested as a mechanism to stimulate investments in a wide range of topics. (See, for example, Selected Innovation Prizes and Reward Programs, KEI Research Note 2008:1). During most of this period, the patent system has also existed.

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Larry Lessig has writen a blog post on the Google Books settlement. Lessig starts by saying “this is a good deal that could be the basis for something really fantastic,” and then elaborates, noting how important will be the governance of the new non-profit registry. At the end, Larry trashes the legislative proposal for an orphan works act:

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Larry Lessig has writen a blog post on the Google Books settlement. Lessig starts by saying “this is a good deal that could be the basis for something really fantastic,” and then elaborates, noting how important will be the governance of the new non-profit registry. At the end, Larry trashes the legislative proposal for an orphan works act:

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Siva Vaidhyanathan writes his initial reaction to the Google Book/publisher settlement. Among his conclusions:

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According to the WSJ today PhRMA is spending $13.2 million in an “ad buy to prop up 28 Congressional candidates, many of them vulnerable and all but three of them Democrats.” The Journal points out

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On October 28, 2008, Chris Friend of the World Blind Union sent a letter to WIPO DG Francis Gurry, with a proposal for a “WIPO treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons.” The case for the treaty is explained in the WBU letter.

Additional information on this topic is available from the KEI web site here.

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[img_assist|nid=147|title=James Love and Dr. Yusuf K. Hameid of CIPLA, at DNDi Geneva offices, September 2008|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=427] Continue Reading →

The Association of American Publishers are apparently worried about Larry Lessig.

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These are a few quick points about the PhRMA submission.

1. PhRMA asks that ACTA “Establish liability for Internet Service Providers and Other Operators that Facilitate Trade in Counterfeit Medical Products.”

This is potentially quite an important and controversial recommendation. PhRMA wants to make telecommunications companies liable if one of their customers sells counterfeit products.
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