Paragraph 6 system: Brazilian intervention at the WTO TRIPS Council

On Wednesday, 27 October 2010, Brazil delivered the following intervention during the annual review of the Paragraph 6 system at the WTO TRIPS Council. The Brazilian intervention followed Canada’s detailed explanation of her use of the Paragraph 6 system in the Apotex/Rwanda case. The Brazilian intervention voiced concern over the future prospects of access to competitively priced second and third line ARVs raising questions as to whether the Paragraph 6 system would be economically viable for generic producers.

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Michèle Rivasi asks question about ACTA and Access to Medicine

225px-michel-rivasi.jpg Michèle Rivasi, a Member of the European Parliament, representing South East France for The Greens, has asked the European Commission: “Given the possible impacts of the inclusion of patents the agreement on access to medicines and on innovation, would the Commission consider accepting the exclusion of patents from the agreement as proposed by a number of ACTA negotiating parties?” The full text of her question follows:

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KEI’s ACTA timeline

ACTA Timeline

2007

  • September 24 to October 3, 2007, WIPO General Assembly meets and approves the WIPO Development Agenda.
  • October 23, 2007. Joint announcement is made regarding the formal launch of negotiations on ACTA. The USTR announcement is here.

2008

USTR’s implausible claim that ACTA Article 1.2 is an all purpose loophole, and the ramifications if true

The October 2010 version of the ACTA text is inconsistent with several areas of U.S. law, and proposals for new laws in the areas of the reform of patent damages and access to orphaned copyrighted works. In particular, the obligations in the ACTA text do not incorporate many of the areas of limitations and exceptions to remedies found in U.S. law, and in the statutes of some other countries.

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Statement of the Holy See at 48th WIPO General Assembly

48th Series of Meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s General Assemblies

Statement by H.E. Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva

at the 48th Series of Meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s General Assemblies

Geneva, 21 September 2010

Mr. President,

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Access to Orphan Works, and ACTA provisions on damages

Access to Orphan Works, and ACTA provisions on damages
KEI Policy Brief 2010: 1
20 October 2010

Introduction

Copyright is a term that in the United States describes the laws that regulate the use and distribution of “original works of authorship.” The types of activities and expressions protected by copyright have expanded over the years, particularly due to technology, but also due to the lobbying by various interested parties. The current systems of registration of copyrighted works in the United includes the following catagories:

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Response by FDA to KEI’s FOIA Request Regarding the PSM India Summit of May 11, 2010 in New Delhi

In June of 2010, KEI was informed that representatives from the the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had recently attended a summit in India on the issue of counterfeited and spurious medicines organized by the Partnership for Safe Medicines (PSM), a US-based organization with clear links to pharmaceutical corporate interests.

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