Knowledge Ecology International

In a December 2, 2013 letter, Senator Orrin Hatch wrote to USTR’s Michael Froman, suggesting TPP exclude any countries that do not meet “high levels of ambition.” According to Hatch, these high ambitions include agreeing to 12 years of exclusive rights for IPR in biologic drug test data, and the elimination of barriers to cross border data flows (a privacy issue). A copy of the Hatch letter is attached below.

The timing of the Hatch letter is designed to pressure countries meeting in Singapore on December 7-10 in the TPP negotiation, on these two contentious issues.

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I missed this news earlier. Here is a report from IP-Watch:

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The World Health Organization (WHO) is convening a Global Technical Consultative Meeting of Experts on Identification of Health Research & Development Demonstration Projects from 3-5 December 2013. Continue Reading →

The United States has proposed that some (but no means all) IPR obligations involving medicines be modified for countries with incomes below the amount the World Bank defines as “high.” The threshold to be considered a high income country was $12,616 in per capita income for 2012, and is adjusted every year. In contrast, the US per capita income was $50,124 in 2012. (More data here)

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Introduction

This note looks at the TPP, ACTA and TRIPS provisions on injunctions, and finds the TPP text unclear, as regards the possibility of exceptions to the obligation to make injunctions available in cases in of infringements. We have asked USTR and USPTO to clarify this issue.

Discussion

The TRIPS text on injunctions reads as follows:

Section 2: civil and administrative procedures and remedies
Article 44 – Injunctions.

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This is the short briefing note that KEI is sending to TPP negotiators, on the issue of regulatory test data, which is currently a monopoly without space for exceptions, in the TPP text:

Exceptions to rights in regulatory test data

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Subject: TPP, damages, US copyright law

KEI TPP Note: IP Chapter language on damages conflicts with US copyright law, and blocks reforms being considered by the USPTO Green Paper

20 November 2013

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The twelfth session of the WIPO’s Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) is taking place from 18 November 2013 to 21 November 2013. This Committee, squeezed into just four days of discussions, has a heavy workload. Continue Reading →