Proposed Pan-African IP Organization a Terrible Idea In a stunning development, following an obscure vote of Heads of State at the Africa Union in 2007 (Assembly Council 138(VIII)), the AU Scientific, Technical, and Research Commission has proposed a draft statute…
By Sean Flynn, with translation assistance of Lina Diaz and Sofia Castillo, American University Washington College of Law Yesterday, in a situation a similar to Colombia’s rushed passage of “Ley Lleras 2,” the Panamanian Congress sprinted to finalization of an incredibly…
The United States Trade Representative issued Federal Register notices on July 23, 2012, for comments on Mexico and Canada joining the TPP negotiations as regards several areas of the agreement, including intellectual property issues. Organizations and individuals responding with comments…
Today USTR hosted an interagency hearing on the entrance of Mexico into the TPP negotiations. Other agencies on the panel were Agriculture, EPA, State, Commerce, Labor, and Treasury. In her opening statement, Barbara Weisel noted that Mexico is the second…
The leaked Trans-Pacific Partnership Investment Chapter has been analyzed extensively with respect to its dangerous intellectual property protections and enhanced enforcement mechanisms and its equally dangerous extra-judicial investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) provisions. In contrast, this analysis focuses on the particular…
Last month, the Panamanian executive branch introduced new copyright legislation to bring the nation into compliance with its Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. The executive would like the legislature to pass it by October. Bill no. 510 “On Author’s…
I am a public health professional representing the organization Center for Health Policies and Studies (PAS), an NGO working in policy analysis and research in health in Moldova. In June 2012 we became aware of the intention of the government…
In law, you have the rule, and then you have the exception to the rule. The rules in copyright law have, and always have had, exceptions that serve the public interest. Given that the rights granted under copyright law have…
Dear Ambassador Kirk: We appreciate having had the opportunity to meet recently with members of the Administration regarding the position the United States has taken concerning limitations and exceptions in copyright law as part of the Intellectual Property chapter of…
The fourteenth round of negotiations of the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement will be held from September 6-15 in Leesburg, Virginia next month. The Stakeholder events – where members of civil society interact with negotiators in an officially sanctioned forum –…
A coalition of eighteen Thai civil society groups has written an open letter to the European Parliamentary delegation to Thailand. The letter warns that the TRIPS-Plus provisions in the trade agreement between EU and Thailand – including border measures, data…
[From the EFF Deeplinks Blog] Civil Society groups from around the Pacific Region join forces to oppose the exceptions and limitations framework in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) proposed by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) in a new…