The US yesterday won the protection it sought for the semiconductor industry after the European Community withdrew its objection to the deal on compulsory licensing, seen as the last major hurdle to completing the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade: The European Community abandoned their objection, John Schmidt, chief US GATT negotiatior, said of the issue, where the US had objected to a draft text on intellectual property rights that sought to legalise the widespread practice of manufacturing products that are patented elsewhere without the permission of the patent holder or without a licensing agreement by simply requiring offenders to pay fees for whatever they had copied.
