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

TAFTA: First Step Towards a Super-ACTA

[La Quadrature du Net (CC-BY-SA)(Link)] In a plenary vote, the European Parliament just adopted a mandate to the European Commission explicitly allowing it to “include strong protection of intellectual property rights (IPR)” in the proposed EU-US trade agreement negotiations, the “Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement” (TAFTA), also know as “Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership” (TTIP). Author […]

The Brazilian Congress Needs To Pass Marco Civil for Brazilians – and The World

Carolina Rossini is Project Director, Latin America Resource Center, New America Foundation Tim Berners-Lee’s visit to Brazil last week has rekindled hopes for a civil society frustrated by six postponed votes on the bill known as “Marco Civil.” This groundbreaking federal legislation would guarantee civil rights in the use of the Internet, and is sometimes […]

House Democrats Urge Obama Administration to Give Poorest Countries More Time to Adhere to WTO Intellectual Property Rules

Representatives Waxman, Lee, DeLauro, Schakowsky, and Bass have sent a letter to Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis supporting a proposal by Haiti to allow poor countries extra time to enact stronger rules on patent, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property. The issue involves the implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on […]

Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Proposal to Ban Special 301 Adjudication

For many non-U.S. parties and public interest advocates, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) intellectual property chapter is seen primarily as a threat. It is the latest step in a long running agenda to shift between policy making forums to achieve new global “maximalist” intellectual property policies that are not achievable in multilateral forums. This narrative […]

LDC Watch and OWINFS on the TRIPS Council Chair to Stop the Ongoing Unfair Informal Negotiations on the LDC TRIPS Waiver Extension

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Arjun Karki, akarki@ldcwatch.org , +977 9851023254 Prerna Bomzan, prerna@ldcwatch.org , +977 9841209336 Deborah James, djames@cepr.net , +1 (202) 441 6917 On 20 May, global civil society networks LDC Watch and the Our World Is Not For Sale (OWINFS) wrote an open letter of protest to the Ambassador of Panama, Alfredo Suescum […]

Changes in U.S. Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Proposal Needed to Accommodate Copyright Policy Proposals

As the Trans Pacific Partnership creeps toward an end game (which appears far off) it may be worth spending more time discussing positive proposals for amending the proposal in various ways. I have previously written on ideas for positive proposals from the perspective of the non-U.S. parties, both in the form of a short list […]