International Research Organizations Support WTO TRIPS Waiver for COVID-19
Over 250 organizations and prominent researchers and experts, representing millions of researchers, educators, libraries, and support organizations globally, call for reduction of copyright barriers to COVID-19 prevention, containment and treatment. Their statement, released today, calls particular attention to the need to include copyright rules within the waiver. Click here for the full statement, press release and a video of the press conference. Click here for the statement, press release, and a webcast of the statement’s release.
Lawmakers Keep up Pressure on Biden to Support TRIPS Waiver
[Hannah Monicken] A group of progressive Democrats is upping the pressure on President Biden to reverse course at the World Trade Organization and support a proposal to waive some intellectual property rights to help combat the pandemic, a move they called a “moral obligation.”… The lawmakers – led by Reps. Jan Schakowsky (IL), Rosa DeLauro (CT), Earl Blumenauer (OR), Lloyd Doggett (TX), Adriano Espaillat (NY) and Andy Levin (MI) – will send a letter to Biden in the “coming weeks,” according to a statement they issued on Wednesday. The letter officially has 62 signatories, according to DeLauro’s office, but Schakowsky said during a virtual press conference on Wednesday that the number is closer to 100. Click here for more on Inside U.S. Trade.
Vaccine Nationalism and Crisis Profiteering: Unions Take Action
[Education International] Just 10 countries, some of the richest in the world, have administered 75% of vaccinations. Meanwhile, around 130 countries that account for 2.5 billion people have not administered a single dose. This is not an issue on which we can afford to be passive. The only solution to a global pandemic is global solidarity,” stated David Edwards, Education International General Secretary, opening EI’s webinar on vaccine equity…Education International and its member organisations fully support the TRIPS waiver proposal and will continue to push, at both national and international levels, for equitable access to lifesaving vaccines and medical products. Click here for more information on the TRIPS waiver proposal. Click here for more.
Communia Supports the WTO TRIPS Waiver for COVID-19
[Teresa Nobre] Today, Communia and a group of over 100 organisations and more than 150 individuals issued a statement calling for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to temporarily suspend its rules on intellectual property where needed to support the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19. This diverse group representing researchers, educators, students, information users, and the institutions that support them, urges all WTO Members to endorse the TRIPS waiver proposal presented by India and South Africa, including provisions that address “the copyright barriers to the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19”. Click here for more.
WHO DG Criticizes Countries “Putting Lives at Risk” in Covid-19 Fight
[D. Ravi Kanth] Without naming the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has criticized “some countries” that are “putting lives at risk around the world” in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic which has so far claimed more than 2.6 million lives globally. The three countries along with Norway, Japan, and Switzerland as well as Big Pharma have continued to block an early outcome on the TRIPS waiver proposal co-sponsored by South Africa and India along with 55 other countries at the World Trade Organization, according to people familiar with the development. Click here for more on twn.my.
WEBINAR: Digital Pirates: Policing Intellectual Property in Brazil
[GW Elliott School Book Launch Series | April 2, 2021 | 3:00pm EDT] Drawing on his fieldwork in São Paulo with pirates, musicians, filmmakers, police, salesmen, technicians, policymakers, politicians, activists, and consumers, Alexander Dent argues that 21st-century capitalism generates piracy and its enforcement at the same time, while producing fraught consumer experiences in Latin America and beyond. The Elliott School Book Launch Series is proud to present a conversation between Dr. Dent and Joe Karaganis on his latest book, Digital Pirates: Policing Intellectual Property in Brazil (Stanford University Press). The discussion will be followed by a live and moderated Q&A with the audience. Click here to register.
