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 →
During Kamil Idris’s tenure at the helm of the World Intellectual Property Organization, a hackneyed mantra of the organization was “Intellectual property: a power tool for economic growth”. Continue Reading →
On 7-8 August 2013, the Department of Trade and Industry (the DTI), Republic of South Africa and the World Trade Organization (WTO), in close collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will hold a National Workshop on Intellectual Property and Public Health in Pretoria. Leading experts from these intergovernmental organizations, Roger Kampf (WTO), Dr. Continue Reading →
On 12 July 2013, Senator Leahy (D-VT), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee requested that the NIH exercise its march-in rights under the Bayh-Dole Act to promote genetic testing for BRCA mutations that are associated with a person’s risk for breast and ovarian cancer. In June, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled that isolated DNA is not patentable, and immediately afterward, other companies stated they would provide BRCA testing. Continue Reading →
On Monday, 17 June 2013, the Supreme Court of the United States released its opinion in Federal Trade Comm’n v. Actavis (formerly captioned as FTC v. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). The decision, with a 5-3 split, found that pay-for-delay settlement agreements are unusual, raising concerns of anticompetitive behavior, and are not immune from antitrust scrutiny. Continue Reading →
The following are four US Department of State cables discussing the status of Thailand as regards the USTR Special 301 review. KEI recently received the cables from the US Department of State in response to an earlier FOIA request.
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On May 17, 2013, DG trade held a public briefing on the IP Chapter for the TTIP and the E/Japan trade agreement. The TTIP discussion was led by Pedro Velasco Martins, the Deputy Head of Unit for Intellectual Property and Public Procurement. Unlike some recent USTR briefings, which were off-the-record, this was on-the-record meeting, and DG Trade even displayed a suggested twitter hash tag.
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May 18, 2013 About the list. This is a work in progress. KEI has been engaged in the negotiations for a WIPO treaty on copyright exceptions for persons with disabilities since 2008. We have attended each negotiation that has been… Continue Reading →
Today USTR held a one hour “listening session” with several Washington, DC public interest groups. The topic was the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the European Union.
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On 1 May 2013, USTR released its 2013 Special 301 Report. Ukraine was put on the Priority Foreign Country list this year, a designation not used by USTR for several years. USTR’s 2013 report spends more than six pages discussing China and two full pages on India. Below are some comments regarding this year’s report.
Least Developed Countries
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