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

The TPP Free Trade Agreement May Affect the Medicare Part B Program

The U.S. has recently begun to include in free trade agreements provisions regarding government health care programs which reimburse entities for prescription drugs. The U.S.-Australia free trade agreement was the first to include such provisions, followed by the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement (Korea FTA). Similar language is likely to be included in the Trans-Pacific Partnership […]

Radio New Zealand on TPP Pharma Chapter

Two recent news stories on Radio New Zealand covered the potential for a pharmaceutical chapter in the TPP. http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/78135/pharmaceutical-industry-links-with-senators-revealed http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2491279/us-state-governor-weighs-in-on-tpp-debate.asx Author Sean Flynn

WIPO’s Gurry Coopts “Positive Agenda” for Industry Concerns

In a video interview from the World Copyright Summit on June 8, Francis Gurry, the Director General of WIPO, makes a (possibly unintended) effort to coop the “positive agenda” terminology of advocates for the development agenda and access concerns in international IP. He says that the current copyright agenda at WIPO (i.e. the development agenda […]

Shape of U.S. TPP Pharmaceuticals Chapter Emerges

Sources knowledgeable about the U.S. negotiating position in the TPP confirm that the U.S. has now drafted a pharmaceutical chapter for the TPP negotiations. The chapter is modeled on the Korea-US (KORUS) FTA’s pharmaceutical chapter, as expected, but goes beyond it in various ways. Objectives. The objectives of the section include a statement recognizing the […]

June 13, 2011

IP-Enforcement Roundup US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel’s Comments at the World Copyright Summit Last week, IP Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel was featured as a keynote speaker at the World Copyright Summit, organized by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers. The Wall Street Journal and Tech Dirt report that she described expanding […]

Puerto 80 Petitions for Release of Domain Names Seized by ICE

A Spanish company that owns two domains seized by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has petitioned the court to release the domains. The company, Puerto 80 Projects, filed a brief in the Second District of New York which argues that its website – rojadirectica.com (also rojadirectica.org) – is an online discussion forum which […]