Comments and signatories sought for communique on ACTA and the public interest

This week, over 90 academics, practitioners and public interest organizations from five continents gathered at a meeting convened by American University’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) to analyze the official text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The text was released for the first time in April, 2010, after years of secretive negotiations.

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The EU proposal for increasing access?

The EU position came out in a proposal for a Joint Recommendation with 9 articles in 11 pages. It is hard to believe but it is worst than the US proposal and it is even worst than nothing. It is an outrageous “roll back” recommendation. It does make clear who’s the boss in the commission. The publishers apparently. Their proposal is bold. Here’s a quick read:

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2008 U.S. Copyright Office Memo concluded that export of accessible works is not legal under U.S. law

In briefings about the WIPO proposal for a treaty for persons who are blind or have other disabilities, the U.S. government has sent mixed signals regarding the legality of exporting of accessible works created under exceptions in U.S. law. In some informal briefings and conversations, the U.S. government has said such exports are allowed under U.S. law. At other times, they say they are not.

KEI has obtained a June 12, 2008 memo from the U.S. Copyright Office, written by Neil Conley to David Carson, that analyzes the possible extraterritorial effects of the Chafee Amendment.

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How Much Time is Necessary to Negotiate the Text of a Multilateral Agreement on Intellectual Property?

There is a negotiation in the WIPO SCCR over the work program on copyright limitations and exceptions for persons with disabilities. Some countries favor a negotiation on a binding treaty. The US government is asking that the SCCR set aside work on the treaty, and focus instead on a non-binding recommendation to address a limited set of issues relating to the import and export of works created under an exception. The US government asserts that treaties would take a very long time to negotiate, ratify and implement. Continue Reading

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Anne Marie Worning appointed as new acting head of WHO’s team on public health, innovation and intellectual property

On 4 June 2010, Dr. Margaret Chan (Director General, World Health Organization) announced Dr. Anne Marie Worning as ‘acting Director, Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (PHI)’. According to the WHO website,

Dr Anne Marie Worning, a Danish national, is the Executive Director of the Director-General’s Office since April 2009.

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Program for WTO TRIPS Council (June 8-9) including discussion on Paragraph 6 implementation and TRIPS plus enforcement trends

The following WTO aerogram contains the agenda for the upcoming WTO Council for TRIPS meeting to be held in Geneva from 8 June 2010 to 9 June 2010. Paragraph 2 and agenda items l and m will be of interest to readers of this blog. It should be noted that in the original document, the text is capitalized.

WTO/AIR/3562/Rev. 1

1. The next meeting of the Council for TRIPS will be held in the Center William Rappard on 8-9 June 2010. The meeting will start at 11 A.M. Tuesday, 8 June.

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