19th Round of TPP Negotiations: Reduced engagement for “stakeholder engagement” day
On Wednesday, 27 August, the 19th round of TPP negotiations held its “stakeholder engagement” day.
Chief’s briefing changed to “dialogue”
TPP Trade Ministers Press Briefing/Statement (Update from 19th Round of TPP Negotiations in Brunei)
On August 23, 2013, the TPP Ministerial meeting concluded with a press briefing. Stakeholders were not allowed to attend, but according to media sources, the briefing lasted only 20 minutes and reportedly the ministers only took a handful of questions before ending the briefing. Apparently, Ambassador Froman confirmed that the October 2013 deadline was not possible, but that countries were now looking for “milestones” by October with the hope of concluding the agreement by the end of the year.
Updates from the 19th Round of Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) Negotiations in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
The 19th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) began this week in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. Although this round just started yesterday, it is evident that there are many differences between this round and previous rounds.
KEI Director James Love among those selected for EFF 2013 Pioneer Awards
Today the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced KEI Director James Love as one of four distinguished winners of the 2013 Pioneer Awards. The annual award recognizes the leaders who are extending freedom and innovation on the electronic frontier. In addition to Love, this year’s fellow honorees are Aaron Swartz, the late digital rights activist, and Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, the journalists that broke the Edward Snowden/NSA stories.
Michael Froman’s decision in the Apple/Samsung ITC patent dispute and the USTR trade agenda
On Saturday, August 3, 2013, USTR head Ambassador Michael B. G. Froman wrote to the Chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), to “disapprove the USITC’s determination to issue an exclusion order and cease and desist order” for Apple Inc. “smart phones and tablet computers that infringe a U.S. patent owned by Samsung Electronics,” in the ITC Investigation No. 337-TA-794. Continue Reading
“IP as a power tool for development” is back for a Nov. 2013 conference organized by South Africa’s Companies and IP Commission
During Kamil Idris’s tenure at the helm of the World Intellectual Property Organization, a hackneyed mantra of the organization was “Intellectual property: a power tool for economic growth”. Continue Reading
Quick look at the Green Paper on Copyright Policy, Creativity, and Innovation in the Digital Economy
On the last week of July 2013, the Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force released a green paper on copyright.
WTO teams up with South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry, WHO and WIPO to convene workshop on IP and public health
On 7-8 August 2013, the Department of Trade and Industry (the DTI), Republic of South Africa and the World Trade Organization (WTO), in close collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will hold a National Workshop on Intellectual Property and Public Health in Pretoria. Leading experts from these intergovernmental organizations, Roger Kampf (WTO), Dr. Continue Reading
2010 FDA (NME) drug approvals: few were based upon US inventions or sold by US companies
In any given year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) grants marketing approval to new drugs. The most important category* are those classified as “new molecular entities” or NMEs. Chen Xingzhi has collected data on the 2010 NMEs included in the FDA Orange Book here: http://goo.gl/W78Tbk. Some of the data are summarized below:
- Among products listed in the FDA Orange Book in 2010, 15 were classified as NMEs.
- Among all of the NMEs, 43 patents were listed in the FDA Orange Book, covering 12 of the 15 products.
WIPO GA 2013 to decide on future of the Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore
The Forty-Third session of the WIPO General Assembly which meets from 23 September 2013 to 2 October 2013 will have the pleasant task of untangling the Gordian knot that is the Report of the Proposals Made by Delegations Regarding Future Work of the IGC.