incommunicado

By Pedro Paranaguá
The United States awards subsidies to its cotton industry, including export subsidies. According to Brazil, such subsidies distort competition and violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules that have been agreed to by all WTO member countries, including the US. Brazil filed a complaint with the WTO dispute settlement system challenging the cotton subsidies.
In 2005, WTO's Appellate Body ruled that the US policies in fact violate WTO rules.
The Appellate Body ruled that (...)

by Reporters Without Borders-
The fight for free access to information is being played out to an ever greater extent on the Internet. The emerging general trend is that a growing number of countries are attemptimg to tighten their control of the Net, but at the same time, increasingly inventive netizens demonstrate mutual solidarity by mobilizing when necessary.
The Internet: a space for information-sharing and mobilizing
In authoritarian countries in which the traditional media are (...)

By Kaitlin Mara from Intellectual Property Watch-
Public interest groups in India are raising questions over annual summits involving Indian judges and policymakers that are being funded by major western industry groups, in particular pharmaceutical companies. At this year's summit, held recently, a section of India's patent law which prevents the extension of monopoly power for incremental innovations came under attack, the groups have said.
India is a key supplier of generic drugs to the (...)

Today the Brazilian government published a list of US goods that will be subject to higher import taxes when entering Brazil, according to a press release.
This follows a WTO dispute settlement decision giving Brazil the authorisation to suspend Brazil's concessions and other obligations in the WTO towards the US which was found in violation of international trade rules over its cotton subsidies (IPW, WTO/TRIPS, 7 September 2009-).
The list, which corresponds to retaliation in amount of US (...)

Recently the Brazilian Prosecutor General's Office manifested favorably to the annullment of pharmaceutical pipeline patents at ADI 4234 at the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF). ADI 4234 is a law suit that argues the unconstitutionality of pipeline patents. Read more about the discussion here-
Source: GTPI and ABIA

by KEI-
On 12 February 2010, the Council of the European Union distributed a table drawn up by the Commission Services, outlining the positions of various counties regarding civil enforcement and the special requirements relating to the Internet. A copy of this 44 page document was leaked on March 1, 2010.
The following are Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) comments on some parts of the EU document.
Types of IP covered
On page 2, the EU insists that "All IPR" should be included in the (...)

Last Thursday, Center for Tecnology and Society was one of the spots that hosted a wireside chat with Lawrence Lessig, one of the main voices from the free culture movement.
Transmitted from Harvard Law School, in partnership with Open Video Alliance-, it was hosted by more then 40 streaming locations, including Rio de Janeiro, Delhi, Sao Paulo, Toronto, New York, and many more, allowing an worldwide interactive conversation with Lessig about copyright and fair use at the digital era. (...)

By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch
Ensuring public access to knowledge while supporting intellectual property rights cuts across broad areas such as internet availability, public health, education and culture, climate change, and basic technical standards. And while the non-profit movement that has worked to encourage access is facing serious challenges this year, they are set to fight it out in the various fora related to essential drugs, books and academic journals, and (...)