U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that the number of seizures of infringing goods at the U.S. border increased 34% in 2010, though the overall value of goods seized dropped. “The average value for…
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…
Repost from: Ian Grant March 14, 2011 The US is continuing its secret efforts to secure tougher copyright laws, even though its Hollywood-sponsored anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (Acta) has still to be validated, a leaked document has revealed. A 10…
PEOPLE’S DAILY, March 14, 2011: China will strengthen its protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), in a bid to improve the nation’s capacity for innovation, said senior figures from six ministries and administrations. Officials from the six bodies, which include…
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…
Today at New York University I will be participating in the official launch of the multi-year multi-country study of Media Piracy in Emerging Economies (), edited by Joe Karaganis at SSRC. Mike Palmedo and I contributed to the report, in…
New York (March 7 2011)—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, Mexico and Bolivia. Based on three…
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…
Mike Masnik has a good blog about a court ruling in Australia in which the court agreed with ISPs that it makes no sense for them to make legal determinations instead of courts:
The President has issued an executive order establish committees to advise the IP Enforcement Coordinator in the implementation of the Joint Strategic Plan required by the PRO IP Act. IP Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel described the executive order as creating…
On February 16, 2011 at 10am the full Senate Judiciary will hold a hearing on efforts to shut down websites where IP-infringing content is hosted. The witnesses will include representatives from Rosetta Stone, the Authors Guild, GoDaddy!, Verizon, and Visa. …