[Ip-health] AFP: Thais protest against US copyright report amid drugs row

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

  Thais protest against US copyright report amid drugs row

Some 30 Thai activists Thursday protested outside the US embassy here
against a new report that ranked the kingdom among the world's worst
offenders of intellectual property rights amid a patent row with
Western drug firms.

The activists accused the US Trade Representative's office of grouping
Thailand with copyright offenders such as China, Russia and India in
retaliation for the government's decision to allow generic versions of
AIDS drugs and heart medication.

Wearing black T-shirts with crossed-out pictures of US President George
W. Bush, they unfurled a banner reading: "Evil USA: Stop threatening
access to treatment in Thailand."

"This protest is to express our dismay and outrage at the USTR decision
in response to Thailand's decision to issue three compulsory licences,"
the activists said in a statement to the media.

So-called compulsory licences are allowed under World Trade
Organisation rules so that countries can temporarily suspend patent
protections on medicines to safeguard public health.

Thailand has issued compulsory licences for AIDS drugs Kaletra and
Efavirenz and popular heart disease medicine Plavix. The government
plans to import generic versions of the drugs from India, but could
also choose to manufacture them itself.

In an annual report released on Monday, the US trade office said it was
concerned by "an overall deterioration in the protection and
enforcement of intellectual property rights in Thailand."

Apart from rampant copyright violations on books, DVDs and apparel
here, the US report said Thailand's generic drug efforts were "further
indications of a weakening of respect for patents.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org