The TPP’s Reckless Proposals For Damages Will Have Negative Impact On Future Reform Of IPR Regimes 28/07/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 13 Comments James Love writes: This week negotiators from a dozen countries are meeting to finalize the rules for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. When or if concluded, this massive regional trade agreement will set new standards for the grant of property rights in knowledge, and the enforcement of those rights. The TPP chapter on intellectual property covers all intellectual property types included in Part II of the WTO’s TRIPS agreement, plus some others, including not only patents, copyrights and trademarks, but also “undisclosed information”, test data for the registration of drugs, industrial designs, layout-designs of integrated circuits. The rules in the TPP are intended by the United States to become global norms, effectively replacing TRIPS. While there are plenty of issues in the TPP IP Chapter, this note only addresses one set of issues — those relating to the remedies for the infringement of intellectual property rights. The remedies include such topics as injunctions, damages, and the seizure or destruction of infringing goods.
Ukraine Open Access Initiative Roils Local Authors Seeking Copyright Protection 28/07/2015 by Eugene Gerden for Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment It may be an open access initiative, but Ukrainian writers and authors are on the verge of massive protests, due to a recent initiative of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) to conduct digitalisation and online publishing of all of the books and documents stored in the national archives and libraries.
As TPP Ministers Meet, NGOs Make Urgent Push For Public Interest 27/07/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Trade ministers negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement meet this week in Maui, Hawaii to try to finish the deal. Along with them are numerous public interest groups strenuously lobbying to steer the deal away from single-minded corporate interest.
Decision Time On Biologics Exclusivity: Eight Years Is No Compromise 27/07/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch 14 Comments Burcu Kilic and Courtney Pine write: As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations approach their endgame, biologics exclusivity is still considered “one of the most difficult outstanding issues in the negotiation.”[2] Pharmaceutical companies seek longer data and marketing exclusivities to further delay market entry of cost-saving biosimilar drugs. Data exclusivity prevents follow-on pharmaceutical developers from relying on originators’ test data submitted for marketing approval while seeking such approval for its own product. The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) requires some protection against unfair competition for this sort of data, but it does not require countries to adopt rules conveying exclusive rights over it in the same way as it does regarding patents.[3] Currently, the US provides 12 years of exclusivity for new biological products under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA).[4] The provision providing 12 years exclusivity was buried inside the 20,000-page healthcare law, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. A robust debate over what would be an appropriate exclusivity period, if any, was overshadowed by other controversial aspects of the bill commonly referred to as Obamacare.
Intellectual Property Law Under The Prism Of The Right To Culture 24/07/2015 by Jos̩phine De Ruyck for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment STRASBOURG, FRANCE РAlthough the right to science and culture has been enshrined in several international treaties, their exact implications in the intellectual property field have remained vague.
India IPR Policy Update: Final Draft Circulated 23/07/2015 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch 3 Comments The final draft of India’s national intellectual property policy has been circulated for inter-ministerial consultation and will be sent to the Cabinet for approval after receiving comments, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said this week. Meanwhile, today public health groups in India announced that revocation of a Roche pharmaceutical patent has been upheld under Indian law.
Treaty On ‘Medicines Crime’ Not Best Response To Counterfeit/Substandard Medicines, Paper Says 22/07/2015 by Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment A recent paper by public health experts argues that a treaty on ‘medicines crime’ to combat counterfeit and substandard medicines may not be the best step forward. Rather, it proposes to form an international agreement to “ensure that all proven effective and necessary medicines are affordable, available, and of assured quality,” if the goal is to protect the interests of people and public health.
ITU Secretary General Visits Old Archrival IETF 21/07/2015 by Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC — International Telecommunication Union Secretary General Houlin Zhao today called for more cooperation between his organisation and other standardisation bodies, including the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
EU Commissioner Signals Support For LDC Request To Waive IP Rights Enforcement On Pharma 21/07/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said in a recent speech that providing she has the backing of the College of Commissioners, the Council and the European Parliament, she would like to answer positively to the request by least developed countries (LDCs) to extend a particular exemption to enforce intellectual property rights on medical products as long as they remain an LDC.
Aid Agencies Hail Agreement On Access To Early Infant HIV Diagnostic Technologies 21/07/2015 by Rishi Dhir for Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment An agreement entered into by a range of international organisations and others announced this week is expected to lower the price of early infant HIV diagnostic technologies by 35 percent, according to the parties.