La Ley Lleras Continúa

 Posted by on October 13, 2017  No Responses »
Oct 132017
 

Primeras impresiones de la reforma al derecho de autor que presentará el gobierno en 2017 para implementar el TLC con EEUU.

[Fundación Karisma, Link (CC-BY-SA)] El lunes 2 de octubre, la Dirección Nacional de Derecho de Autor citó a Karisma y a otros actores interesados para  socializar la nueva versión del proyecto de ley de reforma al derecho de autor, que se presentará al Congreso para cumplir obligaciones TLC relacionadas con derecho de autor. Les dejo mis primeras impresiones sobre el texto. Continue reading »

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EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement Would Harm User Rights and the Commons

 Posted by on September 21, 2017  2 Responses »
Sep 212017
 

[Timothy Vollmer, Creative Commons, Link (CC-BY)] Today Creative Commons published a policy analysis covering several copyright-related issues presented in the draft intellectual property chapter of EU-Mercosur free trade agreement. We examine issues that would be detrimental to the public domain, creativity and sharing, and user rights in the digital age.

The policy paper is also available in Spanish and Portuguese.  Continue reading »

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TPP, RCEP and the Crossvergence of Asian Intellectual Property Standards

 Posted by on September 18, 2017  2 Responses »
Sep 182017
 

Author: Peter Yu

Abstract: The debate on convergence and divergence has garnered considerable attention from policymakers and commentators involved in regulatory developments in Asia. The recent completion of the negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the still ongoing negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) have added fuel to this debate. Given the different leadership in these two mega-regional agreements and the exclusion of many RCEP parties from the TPP negotiations, it will be interesting to see how the agreements will affect the future efforts to set regional intellectual property standards. It will also be curious to see whether the draft and finalized standards could reveal policy preferences of the participating countries. Continue reading »

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Shrinking Transparency in the NAFTA and RCEP Negotiations

 Posted by on September 14, 2017  1 Response »
Sep 142017
 

[Jeremy Malcolm and Jyoti Panday in EFF Deeplinks Blog, Link (CC-BY)] Provisions on digital trade are quietly being squared away in both of the two major trade negotiations currently underway—the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiation and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade talks. But due to the worst-ever standards of transparency in both of these negotiations, we don’t know which provisions are on the table, which have been agreed, and which remain unresolved. The risk is that important and contentious digital issues—such as rules on copyright or software source code—might become bargaining chips in negotiation over broader economic issues including wages, manufacturing and dispute resolution, and that we would be none the wiser until after the deals have been done. Continue reading »

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Current Alliances in International Intellectual Property Lawmaking: The Emergence and Impact of Mega-Regionals

 Posted by on September 7, 2017  3 Responses »
Sep 072017
 

International Centre for Trade and Development, Link (CC-BY-NC)

ICTSD is pleased to publish the fourth issue in the CEIPI-ICTSD series on Global Perspectives and Challenges for the Intellectual Property System produced jointly with the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI). The new issue, edited by Pedro Roffe and Xavier Seuba, explores the impact of plurilateralism on intellectual property law. Continue reading »

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RCEP IP Chapter: A Serious Threat to Access to Knowledge/ Cultural Goods?

 Posted by on July 28, 2017  Comments Off on RCEP IP Chapter: A Serious Threat to Access to Knowledge/ Cultural Goods?
Jul 282017
 

[Arul George Scaria and Anubha Sinha for LiveLaw.in, Link] Negotiators from sixteen countries are currently meeting in Hyderabad for discussing a free trade agreement titled Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Looking at the latest available IP chapter (leak dated October 15, 2015), RCEP stands to adversely affect nearly half of the world’s population on areas like access to knowledge and access to medicines. We would like to highlight five issues related to access to knowlege/cultural goods, based on the leaked IP chapter.

Click here for the full story at LiveLaw.in

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The Trump Administration Invites Public Comment for Review of Existing Trade Agreements

 Posted by on June 30, 2017  1 Response »
Jun 302017
 

Today, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced a request for public input for a performance review of all the United States’ existing international trade and investment agreements.

In an April 29, 2017 executive order, President Trump directed USTR and the Department of Commerce to submit within 180 days a report that reviews trade agreement performance, identifies trade abuses, and pursues trade remedies. Continue reading »

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Copyright Balance as a NAFTA Negotiating Objective: Testimony to the Trade Policy Staff Committee

 Posted by on June 28, 2017  2 Responses »
Jun 282017
 

NAFTA Modernization Hearing, International Trade Commission
USTR-2017-0006 | June 27, 2017
See also: Written Comment on NAFTA Modernization, submitted jointly with Sean Flynn

My name is Michael  Palmedo, and I work for the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) at the American University Washington College of Law.  We have an interdisciplinary project that studies the economic effects of legal provisions in copyright laws, specifically copyright limitations that are relied upon by various firms in the information and research sectors.  I manage the economic side of this research, which is partially funded by Google. In this testimony, I will share information from our research indicating that the promotion of balanced copyright systems promotes U.S. trade interests, and should therefore be included in the NAFTA renegotiation objectives. Continue reading »

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NAFTA Hearings This Week – Details and Schedule

 Posted by on June 26, 2017  2 Responses »
Jun 262017
 

This week the U.S. government’s Trade Policy Staff Committee, an inter-agency group headed by the U.S. Trade Representative, will be holding a three-day open hearing on NAFTA.  The purpose of the hearing, as stated in the Federal Register Notice, is to “assist USTR as it develops its negotiating objectives and positions for the agreement.”  The hearing runs from Tuesday, June 27 through Thursday, June 29. It will held at the International Trade Commission building, and will be webcast on ustr.gov.  (Tuesday will definitely be webcast, and USTR is ‘awaiting livestream confirmation’ at the time I am writing this.)

143 people will testify. The panels with witnesses that seem the most dedicated to intellectual property run from 4:45 to 8:00 on Tuesday evening. The full schedule is here. 

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Monopoly v. Openness: Two Sides of IP Coin in the Pharmaceutical Industry

 Posted by on June 26, 2017  Comments Off on Monopoly v. Openness: Two Sides of IP Coin in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Jun 262017
 

Author: Olga Gurgula

Abstract: The pharmaceutical industry extensively relies on the patent system. It actively lobbies for the strengthening of patent protection of its medical products and the results of its efforts may be found in the majority of bilateral and multilateral agreements, including the TRIPS and the most recent TPPA, augmented by private patent strategies pursued by pharmaceutical companies. However, some recent developments show the emerging tendency of implementing different business models by pharmaceutical companies that may mark the beginning of transformation of this industry. Among these developments is an ‘open innovation’ model, which has increasingly been followed by some research institutions and pharmaceutical companies aiming at facilitating the creation of new and affordable medicines, as well as providing transparency in order to enhance safety and efficacy of drugs. This article will discuss these two current developments in the pharmaceutical industry, i.e. strong IP protection against open innovation. Continue reading »

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Trump Executive Order on Drug Pricing: Helping Pharmaceutical Firms Earn More Overseas Will Note Lead to Lower Prices at Home

 Posted by on June 21, 2017  1 Response »
Jun 212017
 

(CC-BY-NC-ND) – Rakka

Today’s New York Times features a story on a leaked draft outline the Trump Administration’s upcoming Executive Order on drug pricing. According to the Times, “the document directs the United States trade representative to conduct a study of price differences between the United States and other countries, and to review trade agreements that may need to be revised ‘to promote greater intellectual property protection and competition in the global market’.”

It as many others have already pointed out (KEI, Public Citizen, UEAM), this will do nothing to reduce drug prices in the United States. Continue reading »

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Promoting Copyright Balance in NAFTA

 Posted by on June 13, 2017  Comments Off on Promoting Copyright Balance in NAFTA
Jun 132017
 

Sean Michael Flynn and Michael Palmedo
Comments to U.S. Trade Representative, re: NAFTA Negotiation

The AU Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property has been working over several years on empirical research pertaining to the impact of balanced copyright systems on trade and economic development. One key element of an adequately balanced copyright system is having sufficiently “open” limitations and exceptions for the digital environment. We refer to “open” limitations and exceptions for the digital environment as those that are open to the use of any kind of work, by any kind of user and for any purpose, as long as the use does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author. Such openness is the hallmark of the U.S. fair use clause. These “open” aspects are crucial because the digital environment creates new opportunities to use different kinds of works, by different users and for different purposes than were envisioned in most copyright statutes. An open statute is a flexible one – and flexibility is needed to accommodate and encourage innovation in the digital environment.     Continue reading »

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