At a hearing titled “Promoting Investment and Protecting Commerce Online: Legitimate Sites v. Parasites, Part I” Subcommittee Members heard testimony from Maria Pallente (Acting U.S. Registrar of Copyrights); David Sohn Center for Democracy and Technology); Daniel Castro (Information Technology and…
UNAIDS, UNDP, and the World Health Organization have released a policy brief describing the flexibilities in TRIPS available to increase access to medicines, including compulsory licenses, parallel imports and patentability criteria. It recommends that low and middle income countries “revise…
IP Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel has issued a white paper that lists 20 legislative recommendations to Congress for the strengthening of IP enforcment. The paper recommends increasing prison sentences for the sale of counterfeiting drugs or products sold to military and law enforcement. It recommends changing the U.S. Sentencing Guideline Range for a number of specific infringements and for “repeat intellectual property offenders.” The paper recommends felony penalties for illegal streaming, and the authorization of wiretaps for investigations of copyright infringement. Although it makes no specific recommendations related to foreign-hosted websites that distribute infringing material, the paper says that the administration is eager to work with Congress on this issue.
IP ENFORCEMENT ROUNDUP U.S. Proposal for the Trans Pacific Partnership Leaked The leaked IP chapter proposed by the U.S. at the February Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations was circulated last week by Knowledge Ecology International. The text includes strong enforcement measures…
Knowledge Ecology International received a leaked copy of the intellectual property chapter proposed by the U.S. at the February round of negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership. It is available here:
The Professional Musicians Union of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Association of Independent Music (ABMI), and 130 Brazilian musicians, composers and artists have written the Minister of Culture. The letter urges the government to find a third way out of…
At a March 9 Senate Finance Committee hearing on the President’s Trade Agenda, the Senators’ top concerns included the quick passage of pending FTAs with Korea, Columbia, and Panama, as well as IP in China. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk…
USTR – Special 301 Post-Hearing Submission Docket: ustr-2010-0037 PDF Version of Submission Thank you to the subcommittee for allowing this opportunity to submit post-hearing comments for the 2011 Special 301 Report. First, I would like to follow up on the…
IP ENFORCEMENT ROUNDUP SSRC Releases “Media Piracy in Emerging Economies” Today, the Social Science Research Council released the first independent, large-scale study of music, film and software piracy in emerging economies, with a focus on Brazil, India, Russia, South Africa,…
Inside US Trade reports that Stan McCoy says USTR has not ruled out issuing a signing statement with ACTA: “We certainly don’t exclude the idea of issuing some kind of statement in connection with the signing,” McCoy told Inside U.S.…
USTR has published its annual report, compiled with assistance from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, and State. The report, describes the government’s work to strengthen IP norms and enforcement, including through ACTA and other…
On March 2, the interagency Special 301 Subcommittee held a hearing to solicit input for this year’s report. Assistant USTR for Intellectual Property Stan McCoy opened the hearing, saying that it is the subcommittee’s job to make recommendations for what…