15 Mar, 2008: USTR - Special 301 Public Submissions 2008
Industry submissions to the USTR regarding its Special 301 list to recommend trade sanctions against foreign countries....

2 Mar, 2008: Bilateral Agreements and a TRIPS-Plus World: The Chile-USA Free Trade Agreement, 2004 (Roffe/ICTSD)

16 Feb, 2008: Comment on Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) to USTR
Deadline: 21 March 2008. The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) seeks to negotiate an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement to strengthen international cooperation, enforcement practices, and participants' legal frameworks to address counterfeiting and piracy. USTR requests written comments from the public concerning specific matters that should be the focus of such an agreement.

5 Feb, 2008: Public Comments Open on USTR Special 301 List
"The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has requested written submissions from the public "concerning foreign countries' acts, policies, and practices that are relevant to the decision as to whether particular trading partners should be identified" in its Special 301 List. The USTR's Special 301 Lists are used to impose trade sanction on foreign countries that do not adhere to ...

15 Nov, 2007: Ask First, ACTA Later (Michael Geist)
The Australian government has launched a public consultation on its possible involvement in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement negotiations. Unlike the Canadian government, which jumped at the chance to join the U.S. in the negotiations with no advance warning and no public discussion, the Australians are taking the time to ask the public whether it thinks the country should participate ...

8 Nov, 2007: US Lawmakers Seek To Fuel International IP Enforcement Activities (IP-Watch)
Lawmakers in the United States concerned that global counterfeiting and piracy are hurting American business on Wednesday introduced two bills aimed at curbing the practices, and said they want more international cooperation to do so. Senators Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, and George Voinovich, a Republican from Ohio, introduced the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Act, which would establish an ...

5 Nov, 2007: US-Peru Trade Deal The First Test Of Renegotiated IP Provisions (IP-Watch)
The United States House of Representatives is poised to pass the US-Peru free trade agreement this week, in the first test of the new “bipartisan trade policy” that led to the renegotiation of trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, Peru and South Korea. The Peru pact includes new provisions that congressional Democrats negotiated with the Bush administration with the aim ...

30 Sep, 2007: IP Justice Summary Table of USTR Section 301 Reports 2001-2007
"Under “Special 301” enacted in 1988, USTR identifies countries that denied “adequate and effective protection” of US intellectual property or that denied “fair and equitable market access” to US intellectual property holders. Any “interested person” can file a petition asking USTR to launch Section 301 investigation and deny trade benefits to a country. Often, industry trade organizations such ...

30 Aug, 2007: Stiglitz: FTAs advantageous to US (Bilaterals.org)
Nobel laureate and former World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz believes that no country should enter into free trade agreements with the US, as none of the developing countries has benefited greatly from them.

16 Jul, 2007: Memo on US-Korea “Free Trade” Agreement and Intellectual Property Rights
"The United States and Korea entered into a historic "Free Trade" Agreement (FTA) in April 2007. Chapter 18 of the FTA deals with Intellectual Property Rights. This memorandum will go through and explain each major article discussed in the chapter and where relevant, will contrast these provisions with those of the TRIPS agreement. This memorandum will also ...

29 Jun, 2007: “Intellectual Property Provisions in European Union Trade Agreements: Implications for Developing Countries” by Maximiliano Santa Cruz (ICTSD)
"... This “simple” structure of the EU’s current IP chapters contrasts with the more aggressive approach adopted by other developed countries, such as the US, in negotiating chapters that include substantial provisions on types of protection not included in TRIPS in addition to most of those that are. ..."

4 Jun, 2007: Korean Civil Society Coalition against KORUS FTA on Intellectual Property Rights
"both governments agree on the objective of shutting down the internet sites that permit unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or transmission of copyright works. Korean government shutting down even P2P service and webhard service. I think most of the internet sites including portal, UCC/UGC, blog sites etc.can be shut down by the government. And it also includes strong enforcements activities on book ...

10 May, 2007: Rice says failure to approve US-Korea FTA will send ’disastrous signal’ to region (bilaterals.org)
The top U.S. diplomat urged Congress to approve the free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea, saying failure to do so would send "a disastrous signal" to a region where the U.S. has to anchor peace and prosperity. "Our trade agreement is an opportunity to help a key democratic ally in a rapidly changing Asia to lock in economic ...