David Hammerstein is a former Member of the European Parliament from Spain. He now works for the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD). Among other things, he is an advocate for a new WIPO copyright treaty for persons who are blind or have other disabilities. The following is an interview with David, carried out from March 3 to March 6 by email.
On March 2, 2011, Michel Barnier, the EC Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, wrote to Dan Pescod of the European Blind Union, to defend the European Commission decision to back a soft alternative to a treaty at WIPO. (More context, including the text of all of the proposals at WIPO, here. Continue Reading →
On February 26, 2011, the World Blind Union issued a statement announcing it would “suspend participation in the WIPO Stakeholder Platform and EU Stakeholder Dialogue projects, pending agreement at WIPO on a proper binding legal framework.” [See full statement below]. The WBU statement is expected to dramatically change the environment for considering a new WIPO treaty for persons who are blind or have other disabilities.
Four Green/EFA MEPs (from four parties and four countries) have asked a follow-up question on ACTA and the Vienna Connection, trying to get at the “is the US bound?” issue.
Greens/EFA MEPs Christian Engström, Judith Sargentini, Sandrine Beliér and Jan Albrecht have asked the European Commission this follow-up question on ACTA and Vienna Convention:
Motivating Television Viewers to Become Organ Donors
Authors: Lauren Movius, Michael Cody, Grace Huang, Mandy Berkowitz, Susan Morgan
Corresponding Author: Lauren Movius, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, lmovius@usc.edu.
Today USTR provided some additional insight into negotiations of a regional, Asia-Pacific trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. The USTR web page on the TPP negotiations is http://www.ustr.gov/tpp. At present, the TPP negotiators include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. Japan and Canada have expressed interest in joining the negotiations, and USTR clearly would like to design an agreement that will be open to other countries. Our discussions focused on the intellectual property chapter in the agreement. Continue Reading →
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) has received a copy of U.S. industry demands on the Intellectual Property chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiations. A draft letter from US industry to USTR has been leaked and is available here.
November 29, 2010 Revised January 4, 2011 Introduction This timeline contains a number of selected data points concerning Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The motivations for this timeline, which features entries for both Microsoft and the… Continue Reading →
In a October 19, 2010, Senators Bernard Sanders (I-VT) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) wrote to David Kappos, the Director of the USPTO, asking for an assessment of conflicts between the October 2010 ACTA text, and U.S. law. (attached here).
Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, David Kappos
On March 2, 2011, Michel Barnier, the EC Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, wrote to Dan Pescod of the European Blind Union, to defend the European Commission decision to back a soft alternative to a treaty at WIPO. (More context, including the text of all of the proposals at WIPO, 
