Senators Seek USTR Nominee Froman’s Views on IP, India, Trade Promotion...
Last Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee held its confirmation hearing for the Obama Administration’s nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Froman. The hearing webpage has a webcast and...
View ArticleFFII Comment on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: Openness...
[Ante Wessells, FFII, Link (CC-BY-SA)] Monday the EU and US will start negotiations on a trade agreement. Today the FFII sent a comment to the EU Commission and the EU Parliament rapporteurs on this...
View ArticleTransatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Talks Begin As Documents Leak
Last week, USTR hosted the first round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations in Washington D.C. A statement by the EU indicated that during the talks, the negotiating...
View ArticleCongressional Research Service on Transatlantic Trade and Investment...
The Congressional Research Service has released a report on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) in which it discusses “selected key TTIP negotiating issues.” It predicts that...
View ArticleSenate Finance Committee Hearing on U.S.-EU Trade Agreement: IP, Medicines,...
Today the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), currently under negotiation between the U.S. and the EU. Testimony was delivered by...
View ArticleJoint Statement of Mexican Senator Iris Vianey Mendoza and Civil Society...
Click here for the original statement in Spanish. An English translation follows: The government of Mexico has engaged in secret negotiations, behind the backs of the public and elected legislators,...
View ArticleGlobal Congress Endorses Principles for International Intellectual Property;...
Researchers, scholars and policy specialists from over 40 countries drafted and endorsed a declaration of Fundamental Public Interest Principles for International Intellectual Property Negotiations...
View ArticleTrade Unions Warn Drug Pricing Provisions in Trade Agreements Would Increase...
Major unions in the U.S. and Europe have written US Trade Representative Al Froman and EU Director General for Trade Karel de Gucht, warning against provisions in the Trans Atlantic Trade and...
View ArticleEC Trade Negotiators and Industry Discuss How to ‘Re-Educate’ Public About...
The EU Greens have sent around a first hand account of a December 5 meeting between trade officials including Velasco Martins (the EC’s top negotiator for IP in TTIP), and lobbyists from “TimeWarner,...
View ArticleUpdate: 200 People Sign Global Congress Declaration on Public Interest...
To date, 200 people from around the world have signed the Third Global Congress Global Congress Declaration on Fundamental Public Interest Principles for International Intellectual Property...
View ArticleSen. Hatch – Obama Administration Should More Aggressively Use Trade Policy...
This morning, Sen. Orrin Hatch spoke about international intellectual property issues at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He was the keynote at the organization’s launch of the second edition of its...
View ArticleUSTR Accepts Business Proposal to Segregate Public Interest in Advisory...
United States Trade Representative Froman announced yesterday that his agency will create a public interest trade advisory committee (PITAC) for academics and NGOs as part of the trade advisory...
View ArticleIP and privacy in TTIP / TAFTA
[Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, Link (CC-BT-SA)] With other representatives of civil society organisations and business stakeholders, I spent an afternoon at the Dutch Ministry of...
View ArticleUSTR rejecting EU bids for more transparency in TTIP
USTR demands for hyper-secrecy in the Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) continue to be a major block to continuing negotiations. The current issue under discussion is access to US...
View ArticlePutting the Public’s Interest Back Into the “Public Interest”
What’s your definition of the “public interest” when it comes to law and lawmaking? Is it a unitary concept, where we consider the good of society as a whole? If so, you might think that the public’s...
View ArticleThe Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): A Civil Society...
Excerpt from a joint position paper by the Commons Network, Medicines in Europe Forum, International Society of Drugs Bulletins, Health Action International Europe, UAEM Europe, and Salud Por Derecho....
View ArticleSean Flynn, David Levine, Margot Kaminski: Comment to USTR on the Public...
This comment is submitted on behalf of the undersigned legal academics. We are members of the Project on International Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, coordinated by the Program on...
View ArticleEU Chief TTIP Negotiator on Investor-State Disputes Due to Domestic...
The Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue is holding a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Stakeholder Forum today, featuring a morning panel on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS)....
View ArticleNotes on TACD Hill Briefing on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment...
Yesterday the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) held an event on Capitol Hill about the trade agreement currently under negotiation by the US and the EU – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment...
View ArticleNotes on TACD Briefing on Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership,...
Last week, the Trans-Atlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) hosted a panel on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and access to medicines at the Capitol building. Videos of...
View ArticleInterview on ECJ Ruling on Transparency and the TTIP
Fannie Rascle — French journalist (@fannierascle) working for a website called novethic.fr, interviewed me today for an article about TTIP and transparency. Here are her questions and my answers....
View Article‘Investor-to-state dispute settlement’ in EU–US trade deal risks access to...
NGO coalition urges European Commission to exclude mechanism from TTIP [Joint press release by eight civil society organizations, PDF] BRUSSELS—Several European and American health NGOs publicly...
View ArticleUSTR Tells Press that TPP Negotiators Are Down to “A Dozen Issues,” While...
Inside US Trade reports that U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told reporters Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators are “down to a dozen issues” in the intellectual property chapter....
View ArticleEuropean Ombudsman Asks Council and Commission to Publish More TTIP Documents
[Ombudsman Press Release, Link] The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, has called on the Council of the European Union to publish the EU negotiating directives for the on-going Transatlantic Trade and...
View ArticleBlue Future: Maude Barlow, Water Rights, Investor Clauses, and Trade Deals
Maude Barlow is the chairperson of the Council of Canadians, and the founder of the Blue Planet Project. She is a recipient of Sweden’s Right Livelihood Award, and a Lannan Cultural Freedom Fellowship....
View ArticleInternational Chamber of Commerce: Trade Secret Law Should Be Harmonized,...
As Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiators began this week’s round of talks in Hanoi, the International Chamber of Commerce issued a white paper urging the inclusion of strong trade secret...
View ArticlePharmaceutical CEO: This Controversial Deal Will Be Great for Us…And You
Cross posted from Public Citizen’s Eye’s on Trade. Link. In an op-ed appearing in Forbes on Tuesday, the CEO of Eli Lilly, a U.S. pharmaceutical corporation, paints a glowing picture of how the...
View ArticleOxfam and HAI: How the European Trade Agenda Continues to Undermine Access to...
Oxfam press release, Link Insufficient innovation and a lack of access to affordable medicines are major barriers to achieving the right to health in low- and middle-income countries. This paper argues...
View ArticleResponding to Frequently Asked Questions: TPP TTIP Pharmaceutical...
Brand name pharmaceutical companies are advocating for inclusion of disciplines on public pharmaceutical reimbursement programs in the ongoing negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement...
View ArticleSolutions to Improve Access to Medicines and Biomedical Innovation Through EU...
[Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign] The European Union’s (EU) free trade and research and development (R&D) policies promote excessive intellectual property (IP) protection. This approach...
View ArticleAmerican University Event: Convergence and Divergence in Mega-Regional Trade...
January 26, 2015 | 9:30 – 2:30 American University School of International Service Printable agenda & directions (PDF) Co-hosted by the AU School of International Service and AU Washington College...
View ArticleDizzy Yet? The Spin on Investor State Dispute Settlement Just Doesn’t Stop
Introduction: Recently the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released a memo to reporters with Q&A’s on Investor-to-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). ISDS is a mechanism by which foreign...
View ArticleTrade Promotion Authority (#FastTrack) Legislation Introduced in Congress:...
Trade Promotion Authority legislation was introduced in the House and Senate today. The full text is available here. Trade Promotion Authority lets Congress set trade negotiating objectives for the...
View ArticleFact or Fiction: Does the Hatch-Wyden-Obama Trade Promotion Authority Bill...
[Cross posted from the American Constitutional Society blog, Link] The Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill that was released last week contains a fascinating Section 8 on “Sovereignty.” The section...
View ArticleTTIP Stakeholder Statement: Protect IP from ISDS
This presentation is in the IP room. But my message is for the IP team to be talking to the ISDS folks next door. The reason is that there is an increasingly urgent need revise the EU and US ISDS...
View ArticlePIJIP Table Comparing TPA Legislation from 2002, 2014, and 2015
The table linked below compares the full text of Title XXII of the Trade Act of 2002, ( the last Trade Promotion Authority law, which expired in 2007); the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act...
View ArticleFrequently Asked Questions on IP and TPP Investor State Dispute Settlement...
In preparation for my role in warming up for Noam Chomsky on WORTFM Madison Wisconsin today, I put together this FAQ on the TPP ISDS leak and intellectual property policy concerns. As with all our...
View ArticleSenate and House Endorse Balanced IP in Reports on Fast Track
The Senate and House Reports on the Trade Promotion Authority bills working through Congress include important, albeit limited, steps toward endorsing balanced intellectual property norms in trade...
View ArticleThe Effects of TRIPS-Plus IP Provisions on Access to Affordable Medicines
The effects of patenting pharmaceutical products on access to medicines in developing countries are relatively recent as these countries have only been mandated by the World Trade Organization (WTO)...
View ArticleA Commons Approach to European Knowledge Policy
[The Commons Network, Link, (CC-BY] How can we address the high prices of medicines that are straining health budgets? How can openly sharing green knowledge help an agreement at the climate change...
View ArticleEU Commission ISDS Proposal a Threat to Democracy and Civil Rights
[Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure, Link (CC-BY)] The European Commission has published its investor-to-state dispute settlement (ISDS) reform proposal for the EU-US trade agreement...
View ArticleHow Trade Agreements Harm Open Access and Open Source
[EFF Deeplinks, Link (CC-BY)] Open access isn’t explicitly covered in any of the secretive trade negotiations that are currently underway, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the...
View ArticleLetter from 76 NGOs and Seven Professors to USTR Asking the U.S. to Publish...
As U.S. organizations and academics interested in issues related to good governance and transparency, we write to urge you to match the level of openness embarked upon by your counterpart from the...
View ArticleEU Report on the 12th Round of TTIP Negotiations, Excerpt on Intellectual...
The European Union has published its report on the 12th round of Transatlantic Trade and Investment (TTIP) negotiations, held in Brussels Februiary 22-26. The full document is available here. The...
View ArticleCandidates Clinton and Sanders on Intellectual Property and Access to...
The Pennsylvania Fair Trade Coalition (PFTC) has released questionnaires completed by candidates Sanders and Clinton on their views on the Trans Pacific Partnership. The questionnaires consist of ten...
View ArticleTTIP and Affordable Medicines
How TTIP may obstruct progress towards sustainable access to medicines [Tessel Mellema, Sophie Bloemen and Peter Maybarduk, Link, (CC-BY-NC)] The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)...
View ArticleCopyright Industry Experts Signal “High Water Mark” in IP in Trade Agreements
Senior copyright industry experts described the Trans Pacific Partnership and other recent free trade agreements as likely setting a “high water mark” for intellectual property commitments in trade...
View ArticleThe Trump Administration Invites Public Comment for Review of Existing Trade...
Today, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced a request for public input for a performance review of all the United States’ existing international trade and investment agreements. In an...
View ArticleCurrent Alliances in International Intellectual Property Lawmaking: The...
International Centre for Trade and Development, Link (CC-BY-NC) ICTSD is pleased to publish the fourth issue in the CEIPI-ICTSD series on Global Perspectives and Challenges for the Intellectual...
View ArticlePreserving Policy Space for the Evolution of Intellectual Property Law
[Mike Palmedo] US and EU trade negotiators met in Arlington, VA today. They heard presentations from stakeholders as part of a negotiating round for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership....
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