Senator Wyden issues statement on release of ACTA negotiating text, warns “poorly constructed agreement” would harm consumers
This is an important statement by Senator Ron Wyden, the Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs and Global Competitiveness. He mentions the importance of transparency in giving the public an opportunity to “understand and shape” the agreement, and he warns that a “poorly constructed agreement could be harmful to consumers’ ability to use the Internet and could stifle the type of innovation needed to create new American jobs.”
Consolidated ACTA text is released, without country positions
Today the first public draft of the ACTA text was released. A copy is available here. Earlier leaked versions of the text, which include country positions, are the January 18, 2010 consolidated text, a February 2010 EU memorandum of the selected sections, and seven documents from 2008.
April 28 TACD meeting on ACTA and Consumers, at the US Department of Commerce in Washington, DC
On April 28, TACD will be holding a meeting from 9 am to 3 pm at the U.S. Department of Commerce, in Washington, DC, to discuss the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
ACTA Provisions on Injunctions and Damages
KEI has issued a new research note, Comments on ACTA Provisions on Injunctions and Damages, KEI Research Note 2010:1, dated April 6, 2010.
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.
Article 1714: Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights: General Provisions
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)
ACTA: the new institution
KEI has access to yet undisclosed sections of the negotiating ACTA text. The text is organized in 6 chapters. The longest is Chapter 2 on “legal framework for enforcement of intellectual property rights.” The second longest is Chapter 5, on “Institutional Arrangements.” In ten pages of text, the ACTA negotiators have set out a plan to create a new institution to administer, implement and modify ACTA. Continue Reading
PhRMA’s asks regarding special 301, drug pricing and reimbursement
Below are asks from the 2010 PhRMA submission to the USTR Special 301 list on the topic of drug pricing and reimbursement decisions, and described as ‘Market Access Barriers.’ In its assertions, PhRMA attack countries for government price negotiations, making use of reference pricing, the insufficient involvement of pharmaceutical companies in setting government pricing policies and the composition of drug formularies, among other things.
CHINA