By ICTSD The past decade has been a turbulent one for the global intellectual property system in general and for the international copyright regime in particular. On the one hand, there is a trend pressing for greater access to knowledge…
As the latest round of negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement starts this week in Vietnam, some member countries are publicly defending their prescription drug reimbursement programs. If the TPP agreement contains language similar to the…
The U.S. has recently begun to include in free trade agreements provisions regarding government health care programs which reimburse entities for prescription drugs. The U.S.-Australia free trade agreement was the first to include such provisions, followed by the U.S.-Korea Free…
Two recent news stories on Radio New Zealand covered the potential for a pharmaceutical chapter in the TPP.
In a video interview from the World Copyright Summit on June 8, Francis Gurry, the Director General of WIPO, makes a (possibly unintended) effort to coop the “positive agenda” terminology of advocates for the development agenda and access concerns in…
Sources knowledgeable about the U.S. negotiating position in the TPP confirm that the U.S. has now drafted a pharmaceutical chapter for the TPP negotiations. The chapter is modeled on the Korea-US (KORUS) FTA’s pharmaceutical chapter, as expected, but goes beyond…
A group of over 50 academics and civil society organizations has established the Communia Association, a nonprofit based in Brussels dedicated to protecting and growing the public domain. According to its homepage, “The Association’s mission is to educate about, advocate…
IP Enforcement Roundup YouTube Gives Users Creative Commons Licensing Option; Creates a Creative Commons Library YouTube now offers people who upload video the option of licensing their videos under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which gives others…
UN Special Rapporteur Frank La Rue has issued a report to the UN General Assembly Human Rights Council stating that “the Internet has become a key means by which individuals can exercise their right to freedom of opinion and expression.” …
On May 27, the International Anti-Piracy Caucus published its 2011 Country Watch List, identifying Canada, China, Russia, Spain and Ukraine as countries “that continue to lag in efforts to combat piracy.” The caucus was formed in 2003 and is currently…
Seven governors have written President Obama asking him to include in the Trans Pacific Partnership “very strong intellectual property rights provisions, consistent with U.S. law, for protecting the investments of our innovative, intellectual property-investive sectors, such as biopharmaceuticals.” The letter…
On May 24, 2011, the European Commission unveiled a new initiative to modernize intellectual property protection. Noting that “in the last few years, technological change and, in particular, the growing importance of online activities, have completely changed the world in…