NAFTA provisions on enforcement of intellectual property rights
In looking at how enforcement norms are being changed in ACTA, it is helpful to review the enforcement chapter of NAFTA.
Search Results for: copyright
Entertainment Industy letter to Obama on ACTA
Just in case anyone does not appreciate how difficult it will be to change the USTR direction on ACTA, note that today the USTR proudly put this letter on the USTR Blog:
http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/blog/2010/march/new-information-ustrgov/acta
(Maybe best to first skip down to see who signed it).
March 22, 2010
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Why would blind people get less than the Olympic Committee? Choosing between Convention, Recommendation and Declaration
When I first heard David Mann representing the World Blind Union at the information session of November 2003 SCCR, call for the “creation of international agreements which would allow the unhindered transfer of accessible material created in one country to blind and partially sighted people in another country”, I did not know that this issue had been the subject of a WIPO/UNESCO report in 1983, which had then proposed Model Provisions Concer Continue Reading
ACTA to cover seven catagories of intellectual property
KEI has access to a recent draft of ACTA. Chapter One, Section B of the agreement provides for “General Definitions.” It is interesting that the term “counterfeits” does not have a general definition. The ten defined terms include:
- days
- intellectual property (See below)
- Council (ACTA Oversight Council)
- measure
- person (natural or juridical)
- right owner (includes federation or assicaitons that have legal standing or authoirty to assert rights)
EU proposes ACTA require criminal sanctions for inciting, aiding and abetting infringements
(Updated March 17, 2010, 12pm).
KEI has learned that the European Union has proposed language in the ACTA negotiations to require criminal penalties for “inciting, aiding and abetting” certain offenses, including “at least in cases of willful trademark counterfeiting and copyright or related rights piracy on a commercial scale.”
The EU proposal is reported on a recent (but still secret) version of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement Consolidated Text, and reads as follows:
Ari Emanuel: Did he mention lobbying the President or the Vice President?
633 to 13, EU Parliament votes to make ACTA public, and more sensitive to civil liberties and consumer protection
In a stunning 633 to 13 vote, the EU Parliament voted for a resolution on ACTA that addresses a wide range of criticisms that civil society groups have made of the process and substance.
The KEI statement on the EU vote follows:
The USPTO-Pfizer collaboration to change India’s laws on patents and test data
The United States Patent and Trademark Office has a joint program with Pfizer to fund and manage seminars in India on “misconceptions of evergreening” and “the importance of regulatory data protection and patent linkage.” KEI has submitted a FOIA request to USPTO on this topic, and received a small installment of documents on Friday. Attached to this blog are 4 pages of documents that we received from two meetings held in Mumbai, India on September 9, 2009. Ten journalists and 15 NGOs attended the meetings. Continue Reading
Six Myths about the treaty for people with disabilities that should be debunked next week?
Next week (March 8-12) delegates from various developing countries will gather in Washington, DC for a week long “INTERNATIONAL TRAINING FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND COUNTRIES IN TRANSITION ON EMERGING ISSUES IN COPYRIGHT AND RELATED RIGHTS AND ISSUES PERTAINING TO BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS” co-organised by the US Copyright Office and WIPO. We hope that at least 6 Myths about the treaty for people with disabilities proposed by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay will be clearly debunked once and for all during the training.
Indian NGOs confront GWU Law School efforts to push maximalist IPR norms in India
The ties between Universities and businesses are often complex and blurred. Private companies or trade associations fund research and seminars, and have consulting relationships with faculty members, trying to shape public policy and judicial decisions on a wide range of issues. A particularly interesting industry/university connection concerns something called the “India Project,” that is associated with the George Washington University (GWU) Law School.