Knowledge Ecology International

12 May 2010

Statement of Knowledge Ecology International on possible WTO disputes against the EU seizures of goods in transit

Thiru Balasubramaniam, Geneva Representative

“In a world with territorial patent rights, it is important that the rules for ‘goods in transit’ permit the transport of medicines from places where they can be made to places where they will be used. The EU’s systematic seizure of at least 17 drug consignments is indefensible and undermines the very principle of free trade, the raison d’être of the World Trade Organization.

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USTR has released its 2010 Special 301 list. Closely following the IIPI and the PhRMA asks, the Special 301 Priority Watch List countries are: Algeria, Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Thailand, and Venezuela. Among high income countries, Finland, Norway and Spain made the Watch list this year. Sweden was off.

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The Chapter FIVE (Institutional Arrangements) of ACTA is short. In less than 4 pages (pp 33-36) the negotiators “hereby establish” and “Oversight Steering Committee” (the OSC). Of course all of this chapter can be revisited later (see footnote 73) but let’s examine what is proposed now.

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On April 21, 2010, an official version of the consolidated negotiating text of the proposal Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was published. Next Wednesday, April 28, 2010, the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) will host a series of roundtable discussions about the new ACTA text at the US Department of commerce, Washington, DC from 9am to 3pm.

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This is an important statement by Senator Ron Wyden, the Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness. He mentions the importance of transparency in giving the public an opportunity to “understand and shape” the agreement, and he warns that a “poorly constructed agreement could be harmful to consumers’ ability to use the Internet and could stifle the type of innovation needed to create new American jobs.”

Today the first public draft of the ACTA text was released. A copy is available here. Earlier leaked versions of the text, which include country positions, are the January 18, 2010 consolidated text, a February 2010 EU memorandum of the selected sections, and seven documents from 2008.

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Briefing on the Report of the WHO Expert Working Group on R&D Financing

19 April, 2010
Geneva, Switzerland
Rue de Lausanne 78, Salle LEH
Médecins Sans Frontières

The WHA Executive Board (EB) has been asked to submit to the 2010 World Health Assembly (WHA) a report by the the WHO Expert Working Group on R&D Financing. This report was presented to the WHO EB in January 2010. A meeting of the EB to consider the report will be held on May 13, 2010.

The briefing on Monday April 19 will review the following topics.

Program

9:30am – 10:00am

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On April 28, TACD will be holding a meeting from 9 am to 3 pm at the U.S. Department of Commerce, in Washington, DC, to discuss the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

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KEI has issued a new research note, Comments on ACTA Provisions on Injunctions and Damages, KEI Research Note 2010:1, dated April 6, 2010.

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In a parallel trade case involving Costco, a popular discount outlet, and Omega, the Swiss watchmaker, the US Department of Justice has come down against U.S. consumers, backing the Swiss companies use of copyright laws to block imports of watches sold at lower prices outside of the US, by Omega. A copy of the DOJ brief is available here. Costco filed a response, which is available here.

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