Analysis at the intersection of intellectual
property law and the public interest.
The “Africa IP Forum,” originally cosponsored by WIPO, numerous intellectual property rightholders, and a handfull of governments, has been postponed. Civil society groups objected to the conference’s corporate sponsorship and IP-maximalist agenda, and had pushed for the cancellation of the meeting. Over 100 groups signed an open letter to WIPO warning that the strong IP […]
On February 23, the Special 301 Committee held its third annual opening hearing as part of its review of foreign countries’ intellectual property policies. The committee was chaired by Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation Stan McCoy. Committee Members from the following agencies were represented: USTR, State, Homeland Security, Commerce, Labor, Agriculture, […]
Good morning. Thank you for having me. I continue to believe that having a public hearing as part of the 301 process is important. My comments today will be in the vein of continuing the trend toward making this a more open, fair and legal process. [Click here for a PDF version of this statement] […]
The U.S. government has an unfortunate history of pressuring low- and middle-income countries to observe strong intellectual property protection on medicines. This blocks access to generics in countries unable to afford expensive brand name drugs sold by American drug companies. The Bush and Obama Administrations both promised to stop doing this, yet the pressures continue. […]
Tomorrow USTR will hold an open hearing as part of the 2012 Special 301 Review, in which it identifies countries that “deny adequate or effective intellectual property protection or deny fair and equitable market access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property protection.” This year, there will be fewer big businesses and trade […]
Dissatisfied with the exclusive right to set the price at which copies of their works are first sold, copyright holders have been trying, for over 150 years, to bolster the resale prices at which copies of their works are re-sold, in order to protect them from the normal pressures of free market price competition. Since […]