The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) released a Notice on the Federal Register (“the Notice”) today requesting public commentary and input on the current state of the experimental use exception. The USPTO is...more
On Thursday, January 25, 2024, the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Office (U.S. PVPO) announced that the Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) Offices of Canada and Japan are now accepting Distinctness, Uniformity, and Stability (DUS)...more
On November 6, 2023 I submitted a response to the public comments which can be found here. I have also included my comments in full on this blog in a series of posts including the below. The only change in my submission is...more
It came as something of a shock in May, 2021 when the Biden administration voiced support for waiver of intellectual property protection mandated under the TRIPS agreement for COVID-19 vaccines (see "Biden Administration...more
The “African Group” in the World Trade Organization (WTO) is pushing for discussions—and potentially renegotiation of international trading rules—on how developing countries do and can acquire technology to build resilience...more
On April 26th, Ambassador Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), issued the 2023 Special 301 Report. In a press release, the USTR stated that "[i]nnovation and creativity are at the heart of American...more
On 27 April 2023, the European Commission (the Commission) published its Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on compulsory licensing for crisis management (the Proposed Compulsory Licensing...more
Key Points - The EU aims to harmonize patent protection rules and flexibilities with a layer on top of national rules. This is in line with long-term efforts by the EU institutions to harmonize patent rules and motivated,...more
Summary - The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) is soliciting public comment on the proposed expansion of a June 2022 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property...more
On February 1, 2023, the U.S. International Trade Commission (the “ITC”) initiated an investigation into the impact of intellectual property (“IP”) rights on the production, supply, and availability of diagnostics and...more
Key Points - The anticipated zero draft of the WHO’s Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Accord was released on February 1. This process will intertwine heavily with the renegotiations of the 2005 IHRs. ...more
On February 1, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a "zero draft" of a WHO convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (or "WHO CA+") for the...more
On February 1, the USITC formally announced the opening of its investigation into the merits of expanding the TRIPS Waiver to diagnostics and treatments. The investigation was initially requested by USTR, who had been leading...more
At the end of last year, World Trade Organization (WTO) members agreed that the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13) of the WTO will take place in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in February 2024....more
On December 16, the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights of the World Trade Organization (WTO) issued a report recommending that the General Council extend the deadline by which the WTO would...more
On December 6, the same day that the U.S. Trade Representative issued a statement on the June 17, 2022 Ministerial Decision that authorized developing Members to use the subject matter of a patent required for the production...more
Key Points - On December 6, days before a deadline for WTO members to decide whether to expand the TRIPS waiver for COVID-19 vaccines to cover COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics as well, the Office of the USTR...more
It is often observed (or asserted) that a fair compromise in a dispute has likely been reached when both sides are not particularly happy about it. This is not always the case, of course, and is more likely not to be the...more
Overview - In March 2020, the world was upended and faced with unimaginable challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic posed threats that had not been experienced in the United States since the smallpox epidemic over 100 years...more
As we previously reported, some members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including India and South Africa, had called for a waiver of intellectual property enforcement on COVID-19 pandemic-related diagnostic kits,...more
On June 16, 2022, the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed to a partial waiver of intellectual property rights related to COVID-19 vaccines. The agreement came on the heels of an all-night negotiating session. The agreement...more
Last Friday 17 June 2022, the WTO member states came to an agreement on the long negotiated TRIPS Waiver. In its annual 6 days conference (the Ministerial Conference), the WTO member states agreed that all developing country...more
Kilpatrick Townsend’s Dan Englander moderated a recent panel at the International Trademark Association (INTA) Annual Meeting that addressed “Why Trademark Policy Matters to Brand Owners Large and Small.” The panelists...more
On April 27th, apparently without a trace of irony, Ambassador Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), issued the 2022 Special 301 Report. In a press release, the USTR stated that "[i]ntellectual property-intensive...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to members of Congress indicating that the Chamber "strongly supports" recent House and Senate legislation that the Chamber noted "would prohibit the...more