REPOST

REPOST

  • Joined: March 14, 2011
  • Articles: 82

Acting Public Advocate and Speaker Johnson, Elected Officials, The Prep4all Collaboration, and Advocates Rally for Affordable HIV Prevention Medication

[NYC Councilmember Press Release] cting Public Advocate and New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Council Member Carlina Rivera, Assembly Member Dick Gottfried, former State Senator Tom Duane, founders of the PrEP4All Collaboration (and organizers of the #BreakThePatent campaign), and advocates held a rally to call on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to exercise its march-in rights and break Gilead’s patent of Truvada, the brand name medication for pre-exposure prophylaxis, also known as PrEP. March-in rights, as granted by the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980, allow the federal government to break patents in certain cases involving patents that resulted from publicly funded research. Breaking the patent in this case would make PrEP more affordable and accessible by allowing generic versions to enter the market.

Civil Society Letter to Indian Minister of Commerce & Industry Suresh Prabhu, re: RCEP and Access to Medicines

Dear Mr. Prabhu: We are writing to you as concerned people living with HIV and civil society organizations working on the issues of intellectual property (IP), trade, and access to medicines to express our serious discontent over the IP provisions in the ongoing negotiations of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). These provisions in RCEP are referred to as TRIPS-plus, and go way beyond India’s obligations under the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Trade Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). We call on the Government of India to protect the flexibilities available under TRIPS agreement in larger public interest.

Global Innovation Index 2018: China Breaks Into Top 20, US Drops Out Of Top 5

[David Branigan, IP-Watch]  The 11th edition of the Global Innovation Index 2018 (GII), co-published by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, was released yesterday at a launch event in New York. This year’s report showed Switzerland still at the top overall, China continuing to rise, the United States slipping, and explored how countries can vary on inputs and outputs of innovation. “The GII ranks 126 economies based on 80 indicators, ranging from intellectual property filing rates to mobile-application creation, education spending and scientific and technical publications,” according to a WIPO press release.

Time Is running Out to Defend User Rights Online

[Wikimedia Policy Team] This week, a dangerous copyright proposal passed a critical committee vote in the European Parliament. Article 13 of the proposed new copyright directive would require websites that host large amounts of user-generated content to apply mandatory filters to every user upload, searching for copyright infringements. This would institute new automatic gatekeepers between a user’s creation and their chosen platform, threatens internet users’ right to free expression and creates a system ripe for abuse and censorship.

EU Files WTO Case Against China Over Intellectual Property Rights Protection

[William New, IP Watch] The European Union has filed a World Trade Organization dispute settlement complaint against China for unfair treatment of foreign intellectual property rights holders. The case follows a similar filing by the United States against China. The EU says in its filing, available here, that a series of measures employed by China violate the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

Special 301: U.S. Gov’t “Watch List” Threatens Access to Meds

[Public Citizen] Special 301 is an annual report by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) which places countries on a “watch list” if USTR would like to see greater changes in their intellectual property rules or enforcement practice.The USTR articulates in past Special 301 Reports that “the United States respects a trading partner’s right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all,” and “the United States respects its trading partners’ rights to grant compulsory licenses in a manner consistent with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.” However, in these same reports, USTR has frequently criticized countries for exercising public health rights and other flexibilities enshrined in the TRIPS Agreement and Doha Declaration. Every year the USTR hears public comments on the Special 301 review.

Civil Society Letter to NAFTA Negotiators: Do Not Undermine Access to Affordable Medicines

The following letter to the trade and health ministers of the NAFTA negotiating parties was signed by nearly 100 organizations concerned with health. A printable PDF of the letter, including a full list of endorsements, is available on the MSF Access to Medicines site.  Dear Ministers: As organizations concerned with health issues domestically and globally, we urge you to ensure that any renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) does not undermine access to affordable medicines.

Scholars and Advocates Urge NAFTA Negotiators to Protect Free Speech Online

[Eric Goldman, Santa Clara University School of Law] Fifty-five Internet law experts and organizations have written a letter urging Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. trade negotiators to protect Internet businesses from being sued for content posted by others on their sites. The letter comes as representatives from the U.S., Mexico and Canada are working on changes to modernize the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA.

USTR Notorious Markets: Online Ads Still Funding IP Infringement; Alibaba Fires Back About Report

[William New] The Office of the United States Trade Representative today released its annual list of the worst outlaw online and physical markets around the world, citing a range of major sources of problems in every part of the world. The list this year highlights new technologies, identifies online advertising as a large revenue source for counterfeiters, and includes Chinese online market Taobao, owned by internet giant Alibaba, for the second year in a row, leading the company to claim bias and politics are at play.