Month: June 2015

Following the Friday vote in the House of Representatives which effectively blocked movement (for now) on the Trade Promotion Authority, and more generally, slowed down the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, I was contacted by Dr. Harvey Bale, the well known former Director General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). In an exchange on Facebook, Dr. Bale took favorable note of the outcome on fast track, and described the vote against fast track as “A very good day, Indeed.” I asked Dr. Continue Reading →

On Tuesday, 9 June 2015, India delivered the following statement on Non-Violation and Situational Complaints (IP/C/W/385/Rev 1). Brazil introduced the paper along with 16 other WTO members including India. The 17 co-sponsors of this paper include Argentina, Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Russian Federation, Sri Lanka and Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

The joint submission proposes the following action item for the Nairobi Ministerial from 15 December 2015 to 18 December 2015:

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Attached below is a May 20, 2015 letter from Duke researchers to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, setting our problems in the TPP IP Chapter. The letter is signed by Jason Cross, the Director of the Innovation & Technology Policy Lab (ITPLab) at the Sanford School of Public Policy & Duke Law School, at Duke University.

The whole letter (available in PDF format here) is worth reading. Here are a few sections from the letter:

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The LDC Group delivered the following statement on Wednesday, 8 June 2015 during WTO TRIPS Council discussions on their request on the extension of the decision on pharmaceutical products.

PRESENTATION BY THE LDCS GROUP TO THE TRIPS COUNCIL ON THE EXTENSION OF THE DECISION ON PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS, 09-10 JUNE 2015

Mr. Chairman,

I make this presentation on behalf of the LDCs group. We thank you for calling this meeting and for your report.

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Today, on Wednesday, 10 June 2015, the World Trade Organization’s TRIPS Council discussed the LDC Group’s Request for an Extension of the Transitional Period Under Article 66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement for Least Developed Country Members with Respect to Pharmaceutical Products and for Waivers from the Obligation of Articles 70.8 and 70.9 of the TRIPS Agreement (Source: IP/C/W/605). Continue Reading →

I have written an article for Medium, titled: TPP, designed to make medicine more expensive, reforms more difficult. (Link here)
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(More KEI RCEP leaks here: /rcep)

Last week, KEI published the October 3, 2014 Korea proposals for the RCEP IP Chapter (https://www.keionline.org/node/2239), and earlier we published a Japan proposal for the RCEP IP Chapter (/node/2173)

Today we are publishing two new proposals for the RCEP IP Chapter, the proposals by

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