Athens meeting on access to medicine
The agenda for the meeting is here: http://tacd-ip.org/archives/945
My slides are here.
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Month: May 2013
Updated: “Final” version of the text for the CEWG “Decisions Point”
The drafting group has finished its work, and below is the “Final” text on the “Decisions Point” that will accompany the resolution on the CEWG work, it is very similar to the text from Friday, but stronger in some areas and perhaps not as good in some others. For example, on the topic of the finance mechanism, reference to “voluntary” has been eliminated.
Friday text: “demonstrate voluntary and sustainable financing mechanism.”
Saturday text: “propose and foster financing mechanisms including innovative, sustainable and pooled funding.”
Proposed US language on a decision point on CEWG
On Friday, 24 May 2013, in the United States’ intervention to the 66th World Health Assembly’s deliberations on the Consultative Expert Working Group on R&D Financing, the US dropped a bombshell by proposing a decision point with the following language. We expect the Assembly to reconvene at 14:30 Geneva time and discuss the US proposal.
DG Trade’s May 17, 2013 briefing on the IP Chapter of the TTIP
On May 17, 2013, DG trade held a public briefing on the IP Chapter for the TTIP and the E/Japan trade agreement. The TTIP discussion was led by Pedro Velasco Martins, the Deputy Head of Unit for Intellectual Property and Public Procurement. Unlike some recent USTR briefings, which were off-the-record, this was on-the-record meeting, and DG Trade even displayed a suggested twitter hash tag.
Notes on R&D and EU market from May 16, 2013 event in Parliament on crisis is access to medicine in Europe
Below is a PDF from my presentation at the May 16, 2013 event in the EU Parliament on the Economic Crisis and Access to Medicines in Europe. While the main purpose of my talk was to discuss delinkage, I began with some data on the EU market and R&D outlays. I have pulled out one figure and two tables from the presentation and offer some comments here.
The figure below simulates the shape of the demand curve for Europe, if one assumes a constant elasticity of income for products, and insurance in each market.
Business Europe seeks to block WIPO treaty on copyright exceptions for persons who are blind or have other disabilities
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| Markus Beyrer thinks blind people should not have robust copyright exceptions, because it might set a precedent for patents on health or climate technologies |
Joint Letter to the 66th World Health Assembly: Follow-up of the report of the CEWG
Joint Letter to the 66th World Health Assembly: Follow-up of the report of the CEWG
20 May 2013
Distinguished Delegate,
We urge the World Health Organization (WHO) and its Member States to exercise leadership, ambition and innovative thinking in developing new paradigms to take forward the work of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination (CEWG) in reconciling the objectives of stimulating medical innovation and ensuring access for all.
Supreme Court Unanimously Finds Patent Exhaustion Does Not Apply to Seeds; Leaves Door Open on Other Self-Replicating Technology
On Monday, 13 May 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that patent exhaustion does not apply to second, third or nth generations of seeds. In an opinion authored by Justice Kagan, the court found that patent exhaustion does not apply to seeds because later generations constitute new copies of the invention. Continue Reading
UK IPO office releases emails that show close collaboration with publishers on WIPO treaty for the blind
On May 10, 2013, a very revealing freedom of information request was made available from the UK Intellectual Property Office (IPO). The request had been filed on April 14, 2013 by the journalist Glyn Moody, for:
KEI Comments on US/EU Trade negotiations (TTIP), Docket No. USTR-2013-0019
A PDF version of our comments is available here.
People have until midnight May 10, 2013 to file comments, here:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=USTR-2013-0019-0001
This is the table of contents.
Comments on the Administration’s Intention to Enter Into Negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement
Response to Docket No. USTR-2013-0019
Introduction
Transparency
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