More than two-and-a-half years ago, the United States tabled their text for the intellectual property chapter at the Fifth Round of negotiations which took place in February 2011 in Santiago, Chile. In March 2011, that text was leaked and contained many aggressive proposals as well as some placeholder text for pharmaceuticals in other areas. Continue Reading
On August 30, 2013 KEI filed the following FOIA request for copies of any email correspondence between Victoria Espinel, the former US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, and employees, representatives, or member companies of the Business Software Alliance (BSA). Espinel assumed the position of President and CEO of BSA just weeks after stepping down from her position at OMB. KEI is interested in the ethical dimensions of Espinel’s new employment, in light of Executive Order 13490 — Ethics Commitments.
——– Forwarded Message ——–
From: Claire Cassedy
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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
Media coverage of the Marrakesh Treaty for the Blind negotiations 22 June 2013, The Washington Post, Filmmakers’ group tries to reshape treaty that would benefit the blind 24 June 2013, The Guardian, US film industry tries to weaken copyright treaty… Continue Reading
KEI Closing statement
Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons who are Blind, Visually Impaired, or otherwise Print Disabled
June 27, 2013
Diplomatic Conference in Marrakesh Morocco
This was read by James Love (a video of this available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNcnx0iME1U)
Mr. President. KEI is a non-profit organization that focuses on human rights and the public interest in the governance of knowledge.
Thursday, June 27, 2013, noon Marrakesh time.
Statement by James Love
Director, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), Morocco cell: +212.639.61.6030, james.love@keionline.org
In February 2013, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reached a very difficult compromise of the broader copyright issues that were blocking progress on a treaty on copyright exceptions for blind persons. As part of that compromise, the negotiators agreed to this text:
Attached is an electronic copy of a FOIA received from USPTO, of email messages sent by MPAA lobbyists to the USPTO, about the WIPO negotiations on a treaty for copyright exceptions for persons with disabilities. (Copy here). (Now with OCR, courtesy of John Miller).
The FOIA request covered:
Attached below are the current proposals on the so called “Berne Gap.”
AF Group: Any Contracting Party which is not a member of the Berne Convention or other relevant international treaties shall ensure consistent with its own legal system and practices, that accessible format copies are not reproduced, distributed or made available to non-beneficiary persons.
This was just passed out upstairs. There is now a proposal on TPMs by Australia, Switzerland, Argentina, Ecuador, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Holy See, Japan, India, African Group, Guatemala, Bangladesh, China, Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, to address TPMs with a single sentence, and it is quite good:
Proposal by Australia/Switzerland/Argentina/Ecuador/Canada/Chile/Brazil/Holy See/Japan/India/African Group/Guatemala/Bangladesh/China/Kenya/South Africa/Morocco