Law Professors Ask Senate to Take Up ACTA, Challenging ACTA Constitutionality (Again): The Context
Today, a group of nearly 50 U.S. legal scholars sent an open letter to the Members of the Senate Finance Committee asking them to “exercise your constitutional responsibility to ensure that the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is submitted to [Congress].” This note explains the legal and political context for the letter, including the mounting barriers to ACTA ever going into force as a binding international treaty.
The letter is the latest in a long series of exchanges between law professors, Senators and the Administration on the validity of the administration’s Constitutional claim that it can ratify the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement without the Congressional approval that normally accompanies any binding international trade agreement. [Read More...]
Remarks of Rep. Waxman on the Fifth Anniversary of the “May 10 Agreement”
Rep. Henry Waxman
Remarks of Rep. Henry A. Waxman – as prepared for delivery | May 10, 2012
I thank my colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee for organizing this event.
Five years ago today, we achieved a breakthrough, taking a critical step toward a more progressive trade policy that raises standards for labor, the environment, and public health.
I became involved because much of the U.S. proposal on trade and medicines was being taken from Hatch-Waxman, the landmark law that delivered generic drug competition to the American marketplace. The only problem was that our trade proposals were being designed to have the exact opposite effect – delaying generic competition in poor countries, countries in which the vast majority of people could not afford brand name medicines. [Read More...]
ACTA-As-Counterproposal at TPP Negotiations; News from Dallas Round
(cc dherrera_96 bit.ly/LxtI9S)
The 12th round of Trans Pacific Partnership talks are underway in Dallas. Negotiators are covering intellectual property topics including enforcement and patents. As reported by Inside U.S. Trade, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore have proposed replacing some elements of the US proposal on IP enforcement with ACTA language. The US proposal for IP enforcement in the TPP goes beyond ACTA in a number of ways. Under the US proposal, an infringement carried out without regard to financial gain may be still considered “commercial scale” – and therefore subject to criminal penalties. The US TPP proposals also requires penalties to be applied in certain cases where infringements are not carried out “willfully.” For a good analysis of the differences between TPP and ACTA, see former PIJIP fellow Carrie Sager’s table comparing the two). [Read More...]
Communia Project’s New Book – The Digital Public Domain: Foundations for an Open Culture
(CC-BY Communia)
[originally posted to the Communia website under a CC-BY license]
The book “The Digital Public Domain: Foundations for an Open Culture”, edited by Melanie Dulong de Rosnay and Juan Carlos De Martin as an output of the Communia Thematic Network, is out in all formats (hardback, paperback, and digital editions) and can be purchased on the website of OpenBookPublishers. The book is under a CC Attribution license and the PDF can be downloaded here: The Digital Public Domain: Foundations for an Open Culture
Citation reference: Melanie Dulong de Rosnay, Juan Carlos De Martin, (eds.), The Digital Public Domain: Foundations for an Open Culture, Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK, 2012, 220 p. [Read More...]
Letter from the Chairman of the EC Legal Affairs Committee to DG Trade De Gucht
MEP Klaus-Heiner Lehne
CLICK HERE FOR A SCANNED PDF OF THE LETTER
Dear Mr De Gucht,
As the parliamentary committee responsible for intellectual property law, the Committee on Legal Affairs is preparing to adopt an opinion for the Committee on International Trade whose task it is to recommend to the Plenary whether or not to consent to the conclusion of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea, the United States of America, Japan, the Kingdom of Morocco, the United Mexican States, New Zealand, the Republic of Singapore and the Swiss Confederation (ACTA). [Read More...]
Observations from Stakeholder Tabling Session at Dallas TPP Round
Photo from ustr.gov
Groups that work on intellectual property were behind roughly half of the tables at today’s tabling session at the TPP negotiations in Dallas. An incomplete list included PhRMA, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, the American Association of Publishers, the Business Software Alliance, the Property Rights Alliance, the Institute for Policy Innovation and the Chamber of Commerce… but also Public Citizen’s Access to Medicine Campaign, InternetNZ, the Library Copyright Alliance, Public Knowledge, and PIJIP. [Read More...]
Intellectual Property, Innovation and Growth (presentation at TPP negotiation side event)
Yesterday I gave a presentation on IPRs, technology and growth at the Dallas round of TPP negotiations. The following blog is based on my presentation. The slides I used are here.
Policymakers and US industry groups have been arguing that TRIPS-Plus intellectual property rights will drive growth and innovation in all of the countries involved in the TPP negotiations. They often refer to studies of how IPRs work in the U.S., and assume that IPRs will have the same effects in other countries. Of course, the U.S. has characteristics that are conductive to IPR-led growth, such as a large public R&D base and a competitive advantages in IP-intensive industries. [Read More...]
Chile Threatens to Pull out of TPP because of US IP demands
A new (Spanish language) news story contains a quote by a higher level government official to the effect that Chile may pull out of the TPP negotiations if the U.S. does not significantly moderate its intellectual property demands. This follows similar statements made last month in a public forum by a current trade official, a senior senator from the opposition party and a former lead trade negotiator. Today’s statement arrives from the Directorate General of International Economic Relations (Direcon), Rodrigo Contreras — Chile’s top trade official.
Kirk Responds to TPP Transparency Demands
Yesterday, we sent a letter to United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk, signed by over 30 legal scholars, criticizing the decision to cancel full day stakeholder presentations for the current round of negotiations being held in Dallas, Texas, and calling on the administration to “reverse course” and work to expand participation and transparency in the negotiation. The letter specifically called for Kirk to work to give the general public the same rights to see US proposals in the negotiation as cleared corporate advisers now have. The letter received an immediate response from the Ambassador, which we reprint below with a brief response from us.Law Professors Call for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Transparency
Over 30 legal academics from current or potential future Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) negotiating countries wrote to United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk today. The letter, the text of which is posted below, criticizes the USTR decision to cancel full day stakeholder presentations for the current round of negotiations being held in Dallas, Texas. The letter calls on the administration to “reverse course” and work to expand participation and transparency by giving the general public the same rights to see US proposals in the negotiation as cleared corporate advisers now have.
