TRIPS

USTR cracks down on compulsory licensing in Section 301 report

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Special 301 report uses new, tougher language to call out a handful of countries for using or threatening to use compulsory licenses, which USTR says is undermining rights holders and forcing American patients to fund research and development for new drugs. If a country issues a compulsory license, companies are allowed to produce a patented product without the consent of the rights holder. Past renditions of the Special 301 report have singled out countries for utilizing...

Draft MC11 ministerial decision on TRIPS non-violation and situation complaints

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Ministerial declaration, moratoriums on e-commerce duties and TRIPS non-violations in doubt as MC11 kicks off

BUENOS AIRES – Ministers gathered at the World Trade Organization’s 11th ministerial will have to decide whether to renew moratoriums on e-commerce duties and non-violations of the WTO’s intellectual property agreement while also grappling with what sources described as fading chances for a ministerial declaration. Talks on a draft ministerial declaration broke down in Geneva in part because the U.S. pushed back against language that would have recognized the WTO as the center of the multilateral trading system, sources here...

Cardin blasts Trump's linkage of trade policy, Chinese action on North Korea

Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Ben Cardin (D-MD) is blasting the Trump administration's linkage of U.S. trade policy toward China with action on North Korea as dangerous and beneficial only for China. Last week, the administration had planned to launch an investigation, under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, into China's alleged violation of U.S. intellectual property rights through forced technology transfers. But sources say the announcement was delayed “indefinitely” after the action was vetoed by the State...

Azevedo links TRIPS amendment, TFA to antimicrobial resistance issue

25 October 2016

DG Azevêdo highlights how WTO can help to meet challenge of antimicrobial resistance

Speaking at a joint symposium held by the WTO, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on 25 October, DG Azevêdo said “the WTO has an important role to play in helping face the challenges of antimicrobial resistance”. He emphasized that the three organizations – and others — need to work together to ensure effective use of antibiotics. This is what he said:

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