The USTR has announced that its next GSP review hearing will include consideration of the complaint by the IIPA alleging that South Africa’s adoption of a US style fair use right would violate the adequate and effective intellectual property requirement for GSP (19 U.S.C. 2462(c)(5)) primarily due to passage (but not yet signed into law) Copyright Amendment Act.
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has announced an upcoming review of South Africa's eligibility for trade benefits under the General System of Preferences (GSP), a system which allows duty-free imports from developing countries that meet certain criteria. According to the announcement, USTR "is accepting a petition from the International Intellectual Property Alliance based on concerns with South Africa’s compliance with the GSP IP criterion, in the area of copyright protection and enforcement." It will publish a Federal Register Notice requesting comments and announcing the dates of a public hearing.
The U.S. Trade Representative has called for comments for the National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE). The report, published each year "sets out an inventory of the most significant foreign barriers affecting U.S. exports of goods and services, including agricultural commodities, U.S. intellectual property, U.S. foreign direct investment by U.S. persons, especially if such investment has implications for trade in goods or services, and U.S. electronic commerce."
... Since the mid-2000s, China has taken an innovative turn that has serious ramifications for the global pharmaceutical landscape and future issues lying at the intersection of intellectual property and public health. To be sure, many policymakers and commentators still focus unduly on the problems in the Chinese intellectual property system. Notable recent examples include the Trump administration's Section 301 reports and the United States' second complaint against China for violating the WTO TRIPS Agreement. Nevertheless, it is time that policymakers and commentators paid greater attention to the changing Chinese pharmaceutical landscape and its many ramifications.
[Srividhya Ragavan] In memory of Shamnad Basheer the founder of SpicyIP and IDIA, the Association for Accessible Medicines in collaboration with the Texas A&M University School of Law invites applications for the Shamnad Basheer IP/Trade Fellowship with Texas A&M University School of Law. The fellow will work closely with Professor Srividhya Ragavan of Texas A&M University School of Law and Jonathan Kimball of the Association for Accessible Medicines to produce a white paper that examines the Special 301 submissions of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The fellow will evaluate the submissions’ role and impact on USTR policymaking and their consistency with the approach to intellectual property protection and enforcement outlined in the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (Trade Promotion Authority) and the May 10 Agreement concerning international trade negotiations and access to healthcare and pharmaceutical innovation.
...PIJIP’s research indicates that American firms in industries that rely on copyright limitations enjoy better outcomes when our trading partners’ limitations are more like fair use. Specifically, US firms in technology and related sectors do better in countries where copyright exceptions permit fair uses and practices of any type of work, by any user, and for any purpose – as long as the use itself is fair to the owner.
[Sean Flynn and Peter Jaszi] We write in reference to the August 1, 2018, filing of the IIPA, in respect of South Africa’s proposed copyright amendments. IIPA claims that adoption of the South Africa copyright amendment bill “would place South Africa out of compliance with the AGOA eligibility criteria regarding intellectual property.” We find this claim wholly unsupported.
The U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is conducting its annual review of country eligibility for trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This law allows beneficiary countries to export certain goods into the U.S. duty-free. The benefits are conditional upon a set of criteria, which includes the protection of intellectual property. The International Intellectual Property Association (IIPA) has filed comments to USTR arguing that South Africa’s copyright reform legislation, if it becomes law, “would place South Africa out of compliance with the AGOA eligibility criteria regarding intellectual property.”
[Tsai-fang Chen] Abstract: Eli Lilly v. Canada is the first international investment arbitration case that renders final award that deals with patents under the international investment regime. This case is, therefore, critical in understanding the development of protecting patents under investment protection and its impact on the domestic patent regimes. Patents can be object of direct expropriation or that of indirect expropriation. As demonstrated in Eli Lilly v. Canada, a new frontier in claiming expropriation of patents is the invalidation of the patent by courts.
[William New, IP Watch] The European Union has filed a World Trade Organization dispute settlement complaint against China for unfair treatment of foreign intellectual property rights holders. The case follows a similar filing by the United States against China. The EU says in its filing, available here, that a series of measures employed by China violate the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
[Hugh Stephens] Abstract: Negotiating tactics can often appear harsh, but when the United States Trade Representative (USTR) placed Canada on its Priority Watch List (PWL), the move went beyond the standard give-and-take of renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement. Canada – a nation that believes in the rule of law – joins China, Algeria, Kuwait and Venezuela, to name just a few, on the PWL list for its alleged “worst” record in intellectual property standards. Granted, Canada has room for improvement in this area, but for the USTR’s annual Special 301 report to place it on the PWL is hardly credible. It is no coincidence that Canada, the only G7 country – and virtually the only western country – to make either the PWL and the USTR’s lesser Watch List (WL), is also in the midst of renegotiating NAFTA with the United States and Mexico.
The Chilling Effect: Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Graphic Health Warnings, the Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Victoria University Law and Justice Journal (2017) Matthew Rimmer Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) poses significant challenges in respect of tobacco control,…