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<h1><b><font size=4 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN style='font-size:14.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/us-trade-rep-serves-drug_b_483627.html"
title=Permalink>US Trade Rep serves drug companies, publishers and pushes
anti-consumer agenda</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'><a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love"><img border=0 width=45
height=45 id="_x0000_i1070" src="cid:image001.jpg@01CABAB0.08BD13E0"
alt="James Love"></a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'><a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love">James Love</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'>Director, Knowledge
Ecology International<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";color:navy'>Posted: March 3,
2010 at <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/us-trade-rep-serves-drug_b_483627.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/us-trade-rep-serves-drug_b_483627.html</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Today the Senate Finance Committee will hold a
hearing on <a href="http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing030310.html">the
2010 Trade Agenda</a>. The single witness is Ambassador Ron Kirk, the United
States Trade Representative. (The agency Kirk runs is known by the same name --
USTR for short.) This is a busy week. A few blocks away, at the International
Trade Commission (ITC), USTR is holding a day long hearing on something called
the <a href="http://www.keionline.org/ustr/special301" target="_hplink">Special
301 list</a> -- which is a program to pressure trading partners on intellectual
property rights. On Monday, in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Geneva</st1:place></st1:City>,
the USTR blocked a request by developing countries to hold a workshop at the
World Trade Organization (WTO) on access to patented medicine. The USTR is also
doing damage control to defend a controversial new trade agreement on the
enforcement of intellectual property rights that is being negotiated in secret,
and trying to block a new treaty at the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) for persons who are blind or have other disabilities. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>From the point of view of many consumer, public health,
digital rights and development groups, USTR is major disappointment, as it
pushes an anti consumer agenda on dozens of issues. Industry lobbyists, on the
other hand, are pretty happy. One PhRMA lobbyist told Knowledge Ecology
International (KEI) that they were amazed at how "malleable" USTR is
under Kirk. General Electric lobbyists on climate change practically write the
USTR work program on patents and climate change. When publishers were rebuffed
by the White House office of disabilities and the US Patent and Trade Office
(USPTO) on a proposed treaty for copyright exceptions for persons who are blind
or have disabilities -- they turned to USTR to reign in the Obama
administration's bleeding hearts. When the White House issued a new memorandum
on transparency, the USTR laughed, and declared negotiations on an
international agreement on damages for patent and copyright infringement to be
a state secret -- except for hundreds of corporate lawyers and advisors who are
briefed under non-disclosure agreements. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>When the Republicans ran the USTR, there was some
Congressional opposition to policies that were anti-consumer, or that would
harm the poor. With the Democrats in charge of the Congress and the White
House, there is now almost no resistance to what is becoming an increasingly
shrill voice for industry lobbies.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Before being head of USTR, Ron Kirk was involved in
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:State>
politics, having once served as Mayor of Dallas, and more recently as a partner
at Vinson & Elkins -- the big corporate law firm. His chief of staff is <a
href="http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/biographies-key-officials/julianna-smoot-chief-staff"
target="_hplink">Julianna Smoot</a>, a legendary fundraiser for the Democrats. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>Prior to joining the USTR,
Ms. Smoot served as Senior Advisor to President Obama and served as Co-Chair of
the Presidential Inaugural Committee. In January 2007, Ms. Smoot joined
President Obama's Presidential Campaign as the National Finance Director. Prior
to working for President Obama, Ms. Smoot served as National Finance Director
for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, chaired by Senator Charles
Schumer.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>(Update on Smoot <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/02/AR2010030200941.html"
target="_hplink">here</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'>We try to work with USTR on intellectual property
right issues. Kirk has no background on this topic, and delegates policy to the
Stan McCoy, a hardliner who had the same job in the Bush Administration. McCoy
has assigned <a href="http://www.keionline.org/blogs/2009/06/25/kira-alvarez"
target="_hplink">Kira Alvarez</a> to head up the negotiations on the secret
ACTA agreement on the enforcement of intellectual property rights. Before this,
Kira had been a lobbyist for Time-Warner and Lilly. USTR is known around DC for
the revolving door. Two past heads of the International Federation of
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA) were former USTR employees,
as are hundreds of lobbyists for various trade organizations and big
corporations. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p><b><font size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Trebuchet MS";font-weight:bold'>Follow James Love on Twitter: <a
href="http://www.twitter.com/jamie_love">www.twitter.com/jamie_love </a></span></font></b><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Trebuchet MS"'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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