USTR releases new White Paper on Access to Medicine: includes almost no specifics in terms of negotiating positions
USTR has released its new White Paper on Access to Medicine. Here is the press release. A copy of the White Paper is available here:
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KEI comments on inconsistencies between USTR proposal for the TPPA and current US law
As KEI has discussed previously, USTR’s proposal for the IP chapter of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) raises numerous concerns for human rights, access to medicines, and access to information, among other issues. Continue Reading
Wikileaks on USTR negotiations with India Commerce Minister Anand Sharma
Among the cables recently published by Wilileaks is one written on November 24, 2009, detailing negotiations between USTR and Anand Sharma, the Cabinet Minister for Commerce and Industry of the Government of India. The complete cable is available here: http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/11/09NEWDELHI2375.html
John LaMattian, former head of Pfizer R&D, says industry mergers have harmed R&D efforts
John L. LaMattina, the former President of Pfizer Global Research and Development, has just published an article in Nature that looks at the impact of drug company mergers and increased industry concentration on R&D. Among his conclusions: the “impact on the R&D of the organizations involved has been devastating.”
http://www.nature.com/nrd/journal/v10/n8/full/nrd3514.html
COMMENT
NATURE REVIEWS | DRUG DISCOVERY VOLUME 10 | AUGUST 2011 | 559
The impact of mergers on pharmaceutical R&D
USTR New Exclusive Right for Copyright Holders: Importation Provision in the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)
At the recently completed Vietnam round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), once again, no official text of negotiation was released. Therefore, we still need to speculate about its status, relying in part on a three-month-ago leaked version of the intellectual property chapter proposed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).
BLS Estimates of Employment in the Sound Recording Industries
I was asked recently to look at some data on employment in the copyright industry. This addresses one set of data points, the BLS estimates of US employment in the Sound Recording Industries.
Occupational Employment Statistics
NAICS 2-Digit Industry Specific Estimates, May 2010
51 Information 2,708,760
NAICS 3-Digit Industry Specific Estimates, May 2010
511 Publishing Industries, except Internet, 758,090, 28.0%
512 Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries, 371,450, 13.7%
515 Broadcasting (except internet), 292,010, 10.8%
517 Telecommunications, 909,780, 33.6%
Continue Reading
The USTR Special 301 Report, some initial reactions
The USTR Special 301 Report was issued today. The full report is here, the USTR web page on the report is here, and a link to the USTR press release about the report is here. Continue Reading
2011: Judge rejects USTR claim that negotiating position in FTAA investment chapter is exempt from FOIA
In a somewhat unexpected and encouraging ruling, on April 12, 2011, the District Court for the District of Columbia rejected USTR claims that the release of certain documents relating to a trade negotiations can be shielded from the FOIA.
The case involves a FOIA dispute between the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the the United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) over documents revealing the US negotiating position on the Investment Chapter in the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA).
Homeland Security’s 2008 letter to USTR: ACTA is a threat to national security
On August 7, 2008, Stewart Baker, the Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security, sent a one page letter and a three page “Policy Position on Border Measures of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.”
Stewart Baker was the General Counsel of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1994, and was appointed the first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by George W Bush.
KEI to appeal USTR rejection of FOIA of Congressional Research Service (CRS) study of ACTA
USTR has rejected a KEI FOIA request for a Congressional Research Service study of ACTA that was done for Senate Ron Wyden. Senator Wyden shared the report with USTR. USTR acknowledges that it has possession of the document, but asserts it does not have control. Public Citizen has agreed to represent KEI in an appeal of the decision. Our administrative appeal was filed today.
March 23, 2011
FOIA Appeals Committee
Office of the Untied States Trade Representative
1724 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20508Re: Freedom of Information Act Appeal