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intellectual property

Aids activists bring patent-drug fight to US
10-Oct-2006 The Nation
The Thai Network of People Living with HIV/Aids will launch the country’s first campaign abroad against the Thai-US free-trade agreement (FTA) from tomorrow to October 29 in US cities, including San Francisco, New York, Washington and Chicago.
Playing our own game
4-Oct-2006
Sripai Noonsee was in despair after her latest attempt to find a job at an electronics factory at Bang Kadee Industrial Estate ended in failure like so many others. She has been jobless for many months.
Dominican pharma reiterates US demands exceed DR-CAFTA stipulations
4-Oct-2006
The Dominican Association of Pharmaceutical Industries denounced yesterday as “abusive demands” the requirements recently posed by the United States Trade Representative, prior to implementing the Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA).
Pro-FTA advisers a worry for HIV groups
28-Sep-2006
HIV/Aids groups claim that if Thailand signs a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, the access to life-saving treatment for HIV positive people could be considerably compromised.
IP rights under investment agreements: the TRIPS-plus implications for enforcement and protection of public interest
27-Sep-2006 South Centre
One of the issues that has recently started to influence the negotiations for new investment agreements involves the question of the status of IP rights and the impact of investment agreements on the rights, obligations and regulatory discretions of countries under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
BIO-IPR: Draft EU-Eastern and Southern Africa EPA
27-Sep-2006 GRAIN
A recent draft of the EPA between the EU and 16 Eastern and Southern Africa countries gives a taste of what these treaties might spell out in terms of rights to local biodiversity and traditional knowledge.
International Intellectual Property Alliance summary of testimony on US-Malaysia FTA
26-Sep-2006
Notice of intent to testify and summary of testimony from IIPA to Trade Policy Staff Committee, US Trade Representative’s Office on proposed free trade agreement with Malaysia
Trade agreements for the future, not the past
21-Sep-2006 Hankyoreh
Politicians tend to be very backward looking people. They are usually the last to notice important trends and to recognize the ways in which the world is changing. Perhaps this is why many politicians in South Korea place such a high priority on a new trade agreement with the United States.
Struggling with globalisation, EU to take tougher line with trade partners
18-Sep-2006 Turkish Press
The European Commission is planning a more "hard-nosed" approach to breaking into foreign markets and ensuring EU exporters get a fair deal, including protection of their intellectual property, through better use of available trade instruments such as negotiating new free-trade agreements.
Salvadorans resist trade reforms
18-Sep-2006 The Bridge
The Salvadoran Market Vendors Movement held peaceful protests yesterday morning to denounce police confiscation and repression. The work of market vendors were criminalized last December when the right wing in the Legislative Assembly pushed through dozens of reforms to bring El Salvador into compliance with the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
Weak IPR makes GCC-6 seek individual FTAs with India
15-Sep-2006
Weak implantation of intellectual property right (IPR) in the country and different legal systems operative in the member-nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC-6) have led them to seek individual free trade agreements (FTAs) with India.
FTA paves way for biopiracy
15-Sep-2006 Latin America Press
Under CAFTA, indigenous heritage becomes intellectual property for the United States.
The ’free trade’ explosion
14-Sep-2006 India Together
With the World Trade talks in limbo, the focus remains on aggressively pushing on the bilateral front. What could not be achieved through a multilateral trade regime, is now being pursued by the US through bilateral and regional deals. Devinder Sharma connects the dots.
AMCHAM M’sia denies patent provisions in US FTAs
24-Aug-2006
The American-Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM Malaysia) Thursday refuted press reports that the US Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in Chile and Singapore seeks to extend patents for 30 to 40 years through TRIPS-Plus.
Patent or patient? How Washington uses trade deals to protect drugs
23-Aug-2006 Financial Times
The controversy over the impact of bilateral trade agreements on public health poses particular difficulties for the Geneva-based WHO, which is gearing up for the highly political election of a new director-general.
Vietnamese, Japanese governments sign scientific co-operation agreement
22-Aug-2006 Nhan Dan
The agreement signed between the two governments will facilitate exchanges of information and scientists and technicians providing training to improve professional skills and the protection of intellectual property rights.
Malaysian manufacturers wary of US move on patents
22-Aug-2006
Malaysian manufacturers are wary of any move by the US to incorporate software patents and pharmaceutical patents in ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks between the US and Malaysia.
Progress on HIV drugs threatened by new trade pacts
20-Aug-2006 IPS
In the midst of the world’s biggest HIV/AIDS conference here, close to a hundred activists launched a noisy protest over bilateral free trade agreements, which they say elevate patent protections above the right to life-extending antiretroviral drugs.
Free trade agreements, intellectual property and access to medicines
18-Aug-2006
Patent and data protection rules in free trade agreements have a profound impact on the ability of developing countries to access life saving medicines of assured quality.
Making free trade fair
15-Aug-2006
Ukrit Kungsawanich, a fruit grower in Rayong, was worried when he read in the news that a US company is trying to patent a drink made with mangosteen extract.