Knowledge Ecology International

In a recent statement to Wired, USTR tried to justify the secrecy of the ACTA negotiations as follows:

The Administration also recognizes that confidentiality in international negotiations among sovereign entities is the standard practice to enable officials to engage in frank exchanges of views, positions, and specific negotiating proposals, and thereby facilitate the negotiation and compromise that are necessary to reach agreement on complex issues.

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http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sccr/comments/2009/reply-2/

Organization/Comment

1 Meredith Filak
2 Malini Aisola, Knowledge Ecology International, and Meredith Filak
3 Pablo Lecuona, Tiflolibro
4 Brad Huther, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
5 Dan Pescod, Royal National Institute of Blind People
6 Nirmita Narasimhan, Centre for Internet and Society
7 Margaret Chase, Radio Reading Service
8 Robert Martinengo, Center for Accessible Publishing
9 Steven M. Rothstein, Perkins School for the Blind
10 Harold Martin, WVTF Public Radio
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A KEI FOIA request for these seven documents was denied on the grounds of national security. (Links to March 2009 news storied about this here). You decide if these seven documents present a risk to the national security of the United States, or if the White House has been misusing the national security exception to avoid a public debate on public policy issues relating to the enforcement of intellectual property rights:

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This sign-on letter has been closed

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has submitted the amendment 2858 to the health reform bill, to create an Ethical Pathway for the registration of generic medicines.

For background on the substance and rationale, I have a short blog describing the amendment here /node/707.

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December 4, 2009

Maria Pallante
Associate Register for Policy &
International Affairs
U.S. Copyright Office

Re: Notice of Inquiry and Request for Comments
on the Topic of Facilitating Access to Copyrighted
Works for the Blind and Other Persons with Disabilities

Dear Maria:

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Attached are several reply comments to the Copyright Office and the USPTO regarding the WIPO draft proposal to facilitate access to copyrighted works for persons, who are blind or have other reading disabilities, in response to the Federal Register Notice of October 13, 2009.

The deadline for filing was Friday, December 4, 2009. Eventually the Copyright Office will publish all of the reply comments on the Internet, and we will provide a link.

We now have comments received from various parties, including:

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In 2009, the WBU and KEI have collaborated on a new pamphlet to provide background information on the proposed WIPO treaty for persons who are blind, visually impaired or have other disabilities. A PDF of the document is available here. A version in word is available here. We also have a pdf file that is more appropriate for professional printing.
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Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has offered an amendment to the health care reform bill that would eliminate data exclusivity in cases where duplicating clinical trials involving human subjects would violate Article 20 of the Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human subjects. The relevant article from the Declaration of Helsinki reads as follows:

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After attending the three day WTO Ministerial meeting in Geneva, I took the non-stop United Airlines Flight back to Washington, DC. On the airplane were a number of U.S. government officials including the head of USTR, Ambassador Ron Kirk. I had a chance to talk to Kirk about the secrecy of the ACTA agreement. He said the ACTA text would be made public, “when it is finished.” I told him it that was too late, and the public wanted the text out now, before it is too late to influence anything.

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Washington, DC. December 1, 2009. Five of the nation’s most prominent public interest groups today called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to block the proposed merger by entertainment giants Ticketmaster and Live Nation. DOJ is currently reviewing the merger and is expected to make a decision in the next month. The organizations include Consumer Action, the National Consumers League (NCL), the American Antitrust Institute, the Consumer Federation of America and Knowledge Ecology International.

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