In December 2016, Brazil submitted a proposal to the World Trade Organization entitled, ELECTRONIC COMMERCE AND COPYRIGHT (JOB/GC/113, JOB/IP/19), intended for circulation at the WTO’s General Council and the TRIPS Council. This paper will be discussed at the next session of the TRIPS Council under agenda item 13, “Work Programme on Electronic Commerce” (1-2 March 2017).
February 15, 2017, the USPTO ruled that 12 genome-editing CRISPR-Cas9 patents and one patent application assigned to the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT did not interfere with a patent application from scientists at the University of California. A copy of the ruling is available here.
Following the ruling by the USPTO that the Broad Institute and the University of California both issued statements, as did several firms with an interest in the dispute.
On February 9, 2017, KEI filed written comments to the Office of the United States Trade Representative’s Special 301 Review process.
The Special 301 Review is an annual process carried out by the USTR to, “to identify countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on intellectual property protection.”
In December 2016, during the twilight of President Barack Obama’s 44th presidency, the World Trade Organization (WTO) conducted a Trade Policy Review (TPR) of the United States of America. All members of the WTO are subject to review under the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). The TPRM takes place in the “Trade Policy Review Body which is actually the WTO General Council — comprising the WTO’s full membership — operating under special rules and procedures” (Source: WTO, Trade Policy Reviews: Brief Introduction).
Bayh-Dole Act and difference between March-In Rights and the world wide royalty free rights in patents KEI Briefing Note 2017:1 When the United States federal government funds research that results in patents, it obtains rights, either directly or through contracts,… Continue Reading
On 31 January 2017 the WHO Secretariat published the “Draft decision resulting from informal consultations” on the Overall programme review of the global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property (EB140/CONF./7 Rev.1). This can be found here: http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB140/B140_CONF7Rev1-en.pdf
The chapeau to this decision notes:
* (The author thanks the PHM Watchers for their notes of the WHO EB140 deliberations).
On Friday, February 24, 2017, KEI hosted a meeting exploring compulsory licensing in the United States.
Title: History, Experiences, and Prospects of Compulsory Licensing on Medical Patents in the United States
Date: Friday February 24, 2017
Location: Kaiser Permanente Center for Total Health
700 Second St. NE (near Union Station)
Washington, DC 20002
The Cámara de Diputados of the Chilean Congress voted on January 25, 2017 in favor of Resolution 798, calling on the government to implement compulsory licenses on drugs for cancer and other diseases. The vote was 67 yes, 0 no, and 32 abstentions. The resolution was put forward by Giorgio Jackson and six other members (V. Mirosevic, Miguel Alvarado, Karla Rubilar, Juan Luis Castro, Gabriel Boric, and Victor Torres). Continue Reading
On the morning of Monday, 23 January 2017, India delivered the following intervention at the 140th session of the World Health Organization’s Executive Board requesting the “explicit inclusion” of the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel Report in the “provisional agenda of the EB140 as a separate agenda item under item 8.”
In making the case for the inclusion of the UN HLP in the WHO’s Executive Board deliberations, India articulate the following: