Trade Ministers of the eleven countries negotiating the Trans Pacific Partnership held a side meeting at the APEC summit in Indonesia last week. They issued a statement in which they agreed to keep working on outstanding issues (including IP), and…
[Signed by 19 public health groups. Available here as a printable PDF] Generic medicines save lives by preventing, curing and managing non-communicable and communicable diseases for all Malaysians, especially the lower-income and marginalised groups. The United States via the Trans-Pacific Partnership…
Yesterday the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) held a panel on “21st Century Issues” in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, which featured speakers on e-commerce/telecommunications, SOEs, regulatory coherence, and intellectual property. According to an account of the discussion on ustr.gov,…
Sen. Max Baucus (Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee) and Sen. Orin Hatch (the Committee’s Ranking Minority Member) wrote Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis on March 22 asking for “comprehensive, strong, binding and enforceable” intellectual property protections in the…
Today the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on “The President’s 2013 Trade Agenda.” Opening statements, a webcast, and instructions for submitting comments to the record are all here. The sole witness at the hearing was Acting United States Trade…
The Supreme Court decided the long anticipated Kirtsaeng case today, upholding an interpretation that the first sale (exhaustion) rule in the U.S. allows the parallel importation of copyrighted products voluntarily released in other countries with the right holder’s consent. The…
Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinto is expected to announce his nation’s intention to enter the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations at 6pm on Friday. To join the negotiations, Japan will need to win the consent of Australia, New Zealand and the…
The eleven countries negotiating the TPP are in negotiations in Singapore from March 4 through 13. Inside U.S. Trade reports that “the main issue intellectual ptoperty negotiators are discussing here is enforcement… negotiators have made more progress here than in…
The following message was sent to infojustice from an observer in Chile who wishes to remain unidentified… On March 5, the Chilean Constitutional Court (CC) decided to review the constitutionality of the patent linkage bill currently being discussed in the…
Open letter to Members of the U.S. Congress from civil society: Dear Member of Congress: As U.S. trade negotiators seek to conclude a standard-setting new trade and investment pact for the Asia-Pacific region by this October and consider launching another…
The eleven countries negotiating the TPP will hold negotiations in Singapore from March 4 through 13. The formal stakeholder outreach will take place on Wednesday the 6th. Inside U.S. Trade has reported that industry sources expect the American negotiators to…
Today, the U.S. Trade Representative posted the 2013 Trade Policy Agenda and 2012 Trade Policy Report. The report covers trade negotiations existing trade agreements, and enforcement activities for all sectors. At first glance, one strange item stands out: the U.S. “encourages”…