ISDS Case Map
intellectual property
With many Peruvians already dying from treatable illness due to difficulties in accessing drugs, a UN human rights expert has expressed "deep concern" that an eventual US-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) could deprive millions more of essential drugs made unaffordable by stronger protection of patents.
With many Peruvians already dying from treatable illness due to difficulties in accessing drugs, a United Nations human rights expert today voiced deep concern that an eventual United States-Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) could deprive millions more of essential drugs made unaffordable by stronger protection of patents.
Even though potential commercial gains are expected from this FTA agreement, domestic industries and US companies are equally sceptical of the legislative changes in Thailand.
As the 4th round of Thailand-US free-trade negotiations start today in Montana, a key issue will be the shape of any future intellectual-property regime. The survival of Thai jasmine rice, and the people who grow it, may very well depend on whatever system is finally agreed upon.
Most observers realise the existence of a parallel economy in Pakistan and the integral role that it plays in the overall financial system. The underground piracy economy is estimated at billions of rupees, providing employment to thousands of people. So no one is complaining. No one except the corporations and Uncle Sam.
For US and Thai trade negotiators meeting next week in Montana, intellectual property rights protections for plant breeders and pharmaceutical innovators are proving to be the most contentious issues in negotiating a Thailand-US Free Trade Agreement (TUSFTA).
The protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) has been identified as being one of the main concerns for US investors to come into Malaysia, said the United States ambassador to Malaysia, Christopher J LaFleur.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, which represents 67 parent companies and subsidiaries that develop and make prescription and over-the-counter drugs, listed contacts with the government's top officials overseeing international trade agreements on more lobbying reports than it did for contacts with the Food and Drug Administration, which directly oversees the industry's products.
After tiptoeing around the issue for months, Thailand's trade negotiators will have to finally reveal where they stand on the life-or-death question of producing cheap, generic anti-AIDS drugs.
The prospect of including in many FTAs, especially the Thai-US one, issues like intellectual property and agriculture, could have implications on the survival or disappearance of the Thai rice culture
