FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Contact: Reid Cox
703.535.5836
Brazil’s Legislation Breaking Drug Patents"The U.S. government has many options in dealing with Brazil’s pattern of violating intellectual property rights, and trade sanctions should be considered," said Reid Cox, the Center for Individual Freedom’s General Counsel. "The United States cannot continue to aid Brazil with preferred trade status when the country is biting the hand that is feeding it. After all, American companies will not invest the money needed for research and development if the resulting intellectual property is only going to be stolen by foreign countries like Brazil."
"Research and development is a vital component of the U.S. economy," Cox continued. "Innovation drives our economic growth and, in this case, leads to medical breakthroughs and better health worldwide. If our own government won’t protect U.S. intellectual property from foreign pirates, then America and the whole world will suffer not only from a slower economy but also from limited access to new medicines."
Brazil has a long history of ignoring intellectual property rights, and the country has been on a U.S. watchlist because of repeated violations. Currently, Brazil is manipulating provisions in the international TRIPS agreement to justify breaking drug patents. Brazil claims it is in the midst of a national emergency because of an HIV/AIDS epidemic, and that it is entitled to relief as a developing country. Neither assertion is true since Brazil is the world’s 9th largest economy ($1.492 trillion GDP) and has nearly the same percentage of its population infected with the virus as the United States (0.7%).
"Not only is Brazil threatening U.S. innovation and industry, the country is now seeking permanent membership on the U.N. Security Council. This has hypocrisy written all over it. Brazil can’t expect to be a world leader when it is openly hostile to international treaties and agreements," Cox concluded.
The Center for Individual Freedom (www.cfif.org) is a nonpartisan constitutional and free-market advocacy organization. Since its inception, CFIF has been a staunch and vocal advocate for the protection of intellectual property rights.