Advocating for a world where intellectual
property law serves the public interest.

USTR Seeks Comments For Annual Report on Foreign Trade Barriers

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
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The Decline of Online Piracy: How Markets – Not Enforcement – Drive Down Copyright Infringement

[João Quintais and Joost Poort] Abstract: This article... combines different sources and empirical methods, including consumer surveys among nearly 35.000 respondents and comparative legal research. Our main conclusion is that online piracy is declining. The key driver for this decline is the increasing availability of affordable legal content, rather than enforcement measures. Where the legal supply of copyright-protected content is
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Are Fair Use Provisions in the SA Copyright Amendment Bill Far Broader than in the US?

Opponents of the South African Copyright Amendment Bill claim that the fair use provisions in Section 12 of the Bill far exceed those of the U.S. They state that if the Bill is signed by the President, it will be the only country in the world with such extensive rights for users. They warn, as part of their ongoing media
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China’s Innovative Turn and the Changing Pharmaceutical Landscape

... 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
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Intellectual Property Norm-Building: Some Reflections on the Interplay between the National and International Dimensions

International IP instruments are usually developed “bottom up”, which is to say that they build upon and harmonize those existing national regimes that are regarded as successful and representative of widespread practice. At least when they are first adopted, international IP instruments are often not too detailed and prescriptive, leaving policy space for national implementation. The negotiations so far in
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Former USTR Official: USMCA Can Be Amended If U.S. Wants To Pass A Law Violating Its Obligations

Former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Mariam Sapiro has written a memo for the Pass USMCA Coalition arguing that the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) would not prevent a future Congress from shortening the period of marketing exclusivity granted to new biologic medicines in the U.S. She argues that the countries could amend the agreement if the U.S. wanted to pass a law
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