On August 10, USTR staff met civil society actors to discuss the intellectual property and pharmaceutical provisions in the Trans Pacific Partnership. USTR was represented by Probit Mehta, Stan McCoy and Jared Raglad, and the civil society actors were James…
In a letter to US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, ten members of Congress have asked for a meeting to discuss “the approach your office is considering for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement negotiations that would undermine public health and access…
The Mexican Senate has asked President Calderon to reject ACTA. A statement by a group of Senators led by Eloy Cantu Segovia (translated by Geraldine Juarez, and printed in English on Techdirt) said that ACTA “would violate the principle of…
Forty Members of the House of Representatives have written President Obama urging that the intellectual property chapter of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) include a requirement that countries offer 12 years of data exclusivity for new biologic drugs: “…we urge…
On July 26, fourteen Democratic Members of the House Committee on Ways and Means have written President Obama asking that a policy deal struck in 2007 by Congressional Democrats and the Bush Administration to guide the requirements of Free Trade…
A July 13 letter from 22 Members of Congress to President Obama asks the administration to seek high standards for intellectual property protection in the Trans Pacific Partnership, and to use the provisions in the pending Korea-US Free Trade Agreement…
Australian Ambassador Kim Beasley has vowed that Australia will not change the Tobacco Plain Packaging Act, which prohibits cigarette packs from displaying brands and logos, despite accusations that the law violates international trademark law. According to Inside U.S. Trade, last…
Kimberlee Weatherall from University of Queensland TC Beirne School of Law has written a detailed analysis of the copyright and IP enforcement provisions of the US proposed text for the IP chapter of the Trans Pacific Partnership that was leaked…
The EU Directorate General for External Policies has issued a report on ACTA in advance of this fall’s debate over ratification. Its primary recommendation is that “unconditional consent would be an inappropriate response from the European Parliament given the issues…
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe has warned against the inclusion of TRIPS-Plus provisions in the EU-India Free Trade Agreement that would jeopardize the continued manufacture and export of generic medicines. India currently produces the majority of antiretrovirals used in the…
The EC has produced a Proposal for a Council Decision recommending against further review of ACTA before it is passed by the European Parliament. The document opens with an explanatory memo noting that “the Commission has opted not to propose…
Members of the Senate Finance Committee offered 97 amendments to legislation meant to implement the three bilateral free trade agreements pending in Congress at a “mark mock up” (which was boycotted by Republicans). Sen. Hatch offered 26 amendments to the…