Posts Tagged: "GIPC"

On February 22, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) released the 2024 International IP Index, which provides an annual snapshot of the impact of legal developments in intellectual property (IP) on the innovation ecosystem in dozens of nations across the world. While this 12th version of the GIPC’s index noted some positive developments in national IP frameworks, stagnation among the recurring leaders of the IP Index is a major concern given growing efforts by governments to control prices in critical sectors of the economy, especially in pharmaceuticals.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made its initial offers to pharmaceutical companies pursuant to the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), which allows the U.S. Government to “negotiate” Medicare drug prices under a set framework based upon the amount of time a drug has spent on the market. Opponents of the program, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is suing the government over the plan, argue it cannot be characterized as a voluntary negotiation since the affected companies would be subject to onerous excise taxes for refusing to participate and because it would have devastating consequences for patients if companies were to actually pull the affected drugs. The amounts of today’s initial offers were not revealed.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests on January 9 to the Department of Commerce and the National Institutes for Standards and Technology (NIST) regarding the Biden Administration’s recent Request for Information Regarding the Draft Interagency Guidance Framework for Considering the Exercise of March-In Rights. The proposed framework was published in the Federal Register in December by NIST and the Department of Commerce and included suggestions on whether and when to exercise “march-in rights” under the Bayh-Dole Act that would arguably significantly broaden the criteria for compulsory licensing of patented technology developed with federal funding.

On September 13, the Global Innovation Policy Center of the U.S. Chamber published its “IP Principles” paper declaring the Chamber’s “Beliefs about Intellectual Property.” It was promptly endorsed and signed by 32 external IP thought leaders, including the heads of nearly all major IP associations and organizations, and individual experts such as a former Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), two retired judges (including myself), and leading IP academics…. In my view, the Chamber was exactly right to call for a “reset” in the policy debate over IP rights.

Last month, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) announced that it had joined with 30 other signatories to publish a framework of intellectual property principles designed to reshape the narrative around intellectual property (IP) rights and maintain America’s global lead in innovation. Broadly speaking, the principles focus on five primary goals to be achieved by American lawmakers and policymakers: 1) national security, 2) technological leadership, 3) fostering creative expression, 4) enforcing the rule of law, and 5) ensuring full access to the innovation ecosystem for all.

The International Trade Commission (ITC) conducted an all-day hearing today featuring a range of stakeholders with interests in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) pending decision on extending what has come to be known as the TRIPS [Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights] waiver from strictly COVID-19 vaccine technologies to COVID-19 related therapeutics and diagnostics. The initial agreement on waiver came in June of last year and left most of those at the table unhappy. The decision presently applies only to “ingredients and processes necessary for the manufacture of the COVID-19 vaccine” and contemplates extending that to therapeutics and diagnostics no later than six months after the date of the decision, which would have been December 17, 2022. However, that was delayed in December amid concerns there wasn’t enough information to make an informed decision on extension.

On March 22, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) sent a letter addressed to Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), respectively the Chair and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, regarding a Health Committee hearing held that same day on the pricing of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. The GIPC’s letter sought to push back on false narratives regarding the role of public funding in private pharmaceutical research & development (R&D,) and also doubled down on the Center’s criticisms of drug pricing controls in the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act.

Today, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) published a Patient Access Report profiling the many ways in which drug pricing controls, often enacted in the name of ensuring widespread access to low-cost medicines, actually result in less access to innovative medicines that are more widely available in free markets. The GIPC’s report comes at a time during which the Biden Administration has taken recent action on drug pricing provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act passed into law last August, which could have deleterious effects on patient access in the United States.

Innovation is the foundation of America’s ability to compete in a global economy, and the cornerstone of America’s foundation is our patent system. This is especially true when it comes to American leadership in life sciences. Yet, Washington is debating proposals, driven by political narratives, that will limit the availability of patents and that fail to consider the impact on innovation and American competitiveness. Our founding fathers inherently understood that entrepreneurship ran deep within the fabric of our country and that a system was needed to unlock its genius. Developed by our founding fathers, the patent system has evolved with the times and continues to set the global standard on supporting inventors of all stripes. Decisions made by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and others continue to provide the legal certainty necessary for investors to support research and development.  

The Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued its 11th annual International IP Index today, striking what seems like a more dismal tone than usual compared with past reports. While 18 economies saw modest progress on IP protection improvements, 28 economies, including many of the high-scorers, like the United States and the United Kingdom, had a 0% change in score. Only two countries had a 0% change in the 10th edition of the Index. The Index covers 55 economies that represent “most of the global economic output, together contributing over 90% of global GDP.”

Yesterday, February 1, was the deadline for submissions to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on its call for responses to a number of questions purportedly aimed at making U.S. patents more “robust and reliable.” But many commenters have weighed in to question why the Office is relying on data driven by advocacy groups to explore potentially major adjustments to the U.S. patent system when, as the expert agency on patents, it has not yet undertaken a data-driven study itself to confirm the need for such changes. The key data being questioned is that of  the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK), an advocacy organization that has become a “principal, go-to source” for data on the number of patents and patent applications covering pharmaceutical innovations. Some of the questions raised in the USPTO’s Request for Comments (RFC) seem to be based on many of the premises of the I-MAK data.

Following a week of round-the-clock deliberations, the World Trade Organization (WTO) this morning announced a deal on waiver of IP rights for COVID-19 vaccine technologies under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The final text has made almost no one happy and largely mirrors the draft text going into negotiations, with a few key changes. With respect to open questions in the draft text, the final agreement indicates that all developing country WTO Members will be considered eligible to take advantage of the waiver, but that those with “existing capacity to manufacture COVID-19 vaccines are encouraged to make a binding commitment not to avail themselves of this Decision.” This language is primarily targeted at China, which has publicly stated that it would not use the waiver provision but had objected to language based on percentage of global vaccine exports that would have categorically excluded it. The draft text had encouraged members with vaccine export capabilities to opt out rather than to make a binding commitment.

One would think it was ripped from today’s headlines: a deadly respiratory disease sweeps across the world—killing one person every 22 seconds. But this disease is not COVID-19. The threat is tuberculosis (or TB), which has flourished for centuries thanks to the ability of the bacteria that cause the disease (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) to quickly spread from person to person through the air that we breathe. Even though treatments exist, TB can easily become a chronic or fatal condition if left unchecked. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2019, 10 million people became ill with TB, and 1.4 million people lost their lives to the disease—a serious, even silent pandemic that is deadlier than HIV.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) released its eighth annual International IP Rankings. The United States achieved the top overall ranking as the strongest intellectual property regime in the world. The U.S. also tied for second place in the patent specific worldwide rankings with Japan, South Korea and Switzerland. In first place again this year for patents was Singapore, which marks the third consecutive year Singapore has achieved recognition as the top overall patent jurisdiction in the world.