[Ip-health] Pro-PhRMA Congressional letter on Fast Track

[James Love]

Jamie -- the attached pro-PhRMA letter is being circulated for signature
in the House by the Members listed at the bottom.  Thought you might
want to post on the IP health
list. 

Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick 
U.S. Trade Representative 
600 17th Street NW 
Room 209 
Washington, D.C.  20506-0001 

Dear Mr. Ambassador: 

The critical phase of preparations for the Doha Ministerial Conference
of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is now approaching.  We are
concerned by the effort of some countries to weaken the WTO rules
governing protection of intellectual property and urge you to stand firm
in opposition to those efforts.

The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
(TRIPS) was one of the most significant accomplishments for American
industries and workers in the Uruguay Round negotiations.  It set a
baseline of protection for the products of American creativity and
innovation - products ranging from software, to new medicines and
cutting edge electronics, to motion pictures and music.  Strong
intellectual property protection systems based on the TRIPS standards
are essential to ensure a fair return on our principal national asset in
the global marketplace - the creative and inventive output of the
American people.

Implementation of the TRIPS standards remains the highest priority for
all U.S. industries that depend on intellectual property protection.  
Unfortunately, many of our largest trading partners in the developing
world have not met the January 1, 2000 deadline for implementing these
standards.  Others have taken shortcuts in implementation that undermine
these essential guarantees.

It is troubling that against this backdrop of incomplete implementation
of the Uruguay Round standards that calls are now being made for the
United States to agree to a weakening of the TRIPS Agreement.  For
example, some countries want to renegotiate the standards in the
Agreement.  Others are pursuing a more insidious approach - a
"reinterpretation" of the standards through the Ministerial
Declaration.  
Finally, some countries are calling for a moratorium on enforcing the
standards of the Agreement through the WTO dispute settlement system, an
approach that would grant a de facto extension on implementation to more
than a hundred countries.

Any concession on existing TRIPS obligations - whether through a mandate
to renegotiate the TRIPS standards, a re-interpretation of the Agreement
or through a moratorium on enforcement - would send a devastating
message to U.S. inventors and creators and to the U.S. trade community.  
We urge you to stand firm in opposition to efforts to weaken the TRIPS
standards that are so crucial to protecting American intellectual
property.

Sincerly, 

Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher    Congressman Pete Sessions 
Member of Congress                      Member of Congress 



-- 
James Love
Consumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
http://www.cptech.org, mailto:love@cptech.org
voice: 1.202.387.8030 fax 1.202.234.5176 mobile 1.202.361.3040