Post Tagged with: "IP"

Chile Considers Pulling out of TPP Because of US IP Demands

Reports from Chile indicate that it is considering pulling out of the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations due to the U.S. demands on intellectual property.

Read more ›

May 11, 2012 Comments are Disabled News

Industry Committee Launches New Study on Intellectual Property

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, fresh off its e-commerce study, kicks off a new study on intellectual property this morning. The study will apparently focus on “the important role of intellectual property in Canadian innovation and leading edge technology.” Today’s hearing will feature witnesses from CIPO and […]

Read more ›

May 10, 2012 4 comments News

Provinces Warn Ottawa Over CETA IP Provisions

The B.C., Ontario, and Manitoba governments have reportedly expressed concern about the prospect of higher prescription drug prices as a result of the intellectual property provisions in the Canada – EU Trade Agreement.

Read more ›

May 4, 2012 1 comment News

Stop Being Poor: U.S. Piracy Watch List Hits A New Low With 2012 Report

The U.S. Trade Representative released its annual Special 301 Report yesterday, unsurprisingly including Canada on the Priority Watch list. While inclusion on the list is designed to generate embarrassment in target countries, this year’s report should elicit outrage. Not only is the report lacking in objective analysis, it targets some of the world’s poorest countries with no evidence of legal inadequacies and picks fights with any country that dare adopt a contrary view on intellectual property issues.

The inclusion of Canada on the priority watch list is so lacking in objective analysis as to completely undermine the credibility of the report. The Canadian “analysis” amounts to 173 words that hits on the usual dubious complaints (and given criticism of countries such as Chile for their notice-and-notice system, Israel for their statutory damages rules, and many countries on border enforcement, the Canadian criticism will clearly not end with the enactment of Bill C-11). By comparison, China is treated as equivalent to Canada on the priority watch list, yet garners over 4,600 words.

Earlier this year, I completed a submission with Public Knowledge to the USTR Special 301 process that examined current Canadian law as well as Bill C-11. It concluded:

Read more ›

May 1, 2012 21 comments News

CETA’s Constitutional Problem

My colleague Jeremy deBeer has published an article on the constitutional challenges posed by the intellectual property provisions in the Canada – EU Trade Agreement.

Read more ›

May 1, 2012 Comments are Disabled News