On January 30 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CPATH and colleagues addressed trade negotiators
and the public at a forum organized by American University’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property
and Knowledge Ecology International. The distinguished panel discussed public interest concerns with the closed
door negotiation of the intellectual property chapter in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.
The webcast
for the event is now available at http://infojustice.org/tppbriefing-january30
Background
In the context of increasing public scrutiny of the public
interest implications of intellectual property laws raised by the recent derailing of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), U.S.
and international negotiators met in Los Angeles behind closed doors to craft new international intellectual property
enforcement rules through the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement. Some of the proposals for the
agreement have leaked to the public, leading to concerns that the agreement could threaten Internet freedoms, business innovation,
the free flow of generic medicines, cost containment in medicaid and other medicine reimbursement programs, tobacco controls,
and other important public interests. There was no official announcement about the planned meeting. Public interest advocacy
organizations determined that intellectual property negotiations would be held January 31-Feb 4th at a hotel in West Hollywood.
The day before the negotiation, representatives of public interest organizations and regulated businesses gathered at USC
to explain their substantive concerns with previously leaked negotiating documents and their process concerns with holding
such negotiations in secret. The presentations follow.
9:30am – Introduction
- Sean Flynn, Associate Director, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, American University Washington College of Law
9:40-10:20am – Copyright and the Internet
- Krista Cox, Staff Attorney, Knowledge Ecology International [Statement of KEI on the TPP]
- Jonathan Band, intellectual property attorney in Washington, D.C. whose clients include the Computer & Communications Industry Association [Handout: SOPA and Its Implications for TPP] | [CCIA Press Release: Study Shows Growing Entertainment Choices, Industry Profits]
- Matt Zimmerman, Electronic Frontier Foundation [Presentation: Freedom of Expression, Privacy, and the TPP]
- David Fewer, Director, Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, University of Ottawa [Presentation: Canada and the TPP]
10:25-10:55am – Access to Medicines, Tobacco Controls, and Development
- Judit Rius, US Manager of the Access Campaign of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) [Background: Access to Lifesaving Generic Medicines Threatened by US Trade Pact]
- Matt Kavanagh, Health GAP
- Ellen Shaffer, Co-Director, CPATH (Center for Policy Analysis on Trade and Health),
[Handout: Testimony to House Ways and Means Committee][Presentation: Tobacco Industry Expropriates Intellectual Property Rules] ,
- Peter Maybarduk, Director, Access to Medicines Campaign, Public Citizen [Brief: Obama Administration Backtracking from Bush Era Access to Medicines Commitments | Spanish Version]
11:00-11:30 – Q&A
- Moderator, Jack Lerner, Clinical Associate Professor of Law and Director of the USC Intellectual Property and Technology Law Clinic