Making Intellectual Property Law through Trade Negotiations?

Intellectual Property Provisions of Proposed Free Trade Area for the Americas and Bilateral Free Trade Agreements

April 14, 2003. 9:30-4:30pm
American University Washington College of Law, Room 603,
4801 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016-8181


Using its new trade promotion authority, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is negotiating regional and bilateral trade agreements which Congress will consider for approval without the possibility of amendment. USTR has finished or will soon finish regional agreements with Central America countries (CAFTA), countries of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and bilateral agreements with Morocco, Australia, Chile and Singapore. The USTR is also pushing for a vast regional agreement for the Western Hemisphere. All these agreements have extensive provisions on patents, copyrights, trademarks, and sui generis intellectual property regimes, which may affect domestic US law as well as the laws of our trading partners.

A one day meeting at The Washington College of Law, American University, sponsored by the Consumer Project on Technology and the Program on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, will bring together experts on intellectual property agreements, stakeholders and government officials to explain and debate the intellectual property provisions of these agreements.

Program

Opening Remarks - Dean Claudio Grossman

9:30 - 10:15 Setting the Scene

10:15 - 10:30 -- Coffee break

10:30 - 12:00 -- Panel: Copyright, Trademark and Geographic Indication Issues

12:00 - 12:30 - Question and Answers

12:30 - 1:30 -- Lunch in WCL cafeteria or nearby restaurants

1:30 - 3:00 -- Patent Issues

3:00 - 3:30 - Question and Answers

3:30 - 4:30 - Next Steps - An Open Discussion

Reception to Follow

Sponsoring Organizations

The Consumer Project on Technology (CPTech) is a public interest non-profit organization that represents consumer interests in a range of technology policy areas. In particular, CPTech focuses on intellectual property policy in the fields of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, computer software and information services. CPTech is active in a number of multilateral, regional and bilateral trade negotiations on patents, copyrights and other areas of intellectual property policy, as reported at http//www.cptech.org.

The WCL Program on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest was organized in 2001 to conduct research, promote scholarly exchange, and provide public information around the connections between IP laws on the one hand, and social, cultural and economic policy on the other.

To register for this event: www.wcl.american.edu/secle click on event registration.


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