InfoJustice Roundup – May 7, 2019

The Limits of International Copyright Exceptions for Developing Countries

[Ruth Okediji] Abstract: Development indicators in many developing and least-developed countries reflect poorly in precisely the areas that are most closely associated with copyright law’s objectives, such as promoting democratic governance, facilitating a robust marketplace of ideas, fostering domestic markets in cultural goods, and improving access to knowledge. Moreover, evidence suggests that copyright law has not been critical to the business models of the creative sectors in leading emerging markets. These outcomes indicate that the current configuration of limitations and exceptions (L&Es) in international copyright law has not advanced the human welfare goals that animate its leading justifications in developing countries. Click here for more.

Webinar: The USMCA (NAFTA 2.0) and Access to Medicines

[Mike Palmedo] How will the recently-concluded United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) impact access to affordable medicines? The USMCA – the renegotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (also commonly referred to as NAFTA 2.0) – incorporates many of the harmful provisions from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), including patent provisions that were suspended by the remaining Parties following the withdrawal of the US. It goes even further than the TPP in extending the exclusivities for biologics to ten years, an unprecedented TRIPS-plus measure. Beyond the intellectual property chapter, multiple other chapters and provisions of the USMCA also have implications for access to affordable, safe and effective medicines. Click here for more.

Towards a European ‘Fair Use’ Grounded in Freedom of Expression

[Christophe Geiger and Elena Izyumenko] Abstract: It is often claimed that an open-ended provision for copyright limitations such as the US fair use clause would be unfit for civil law countries because of their author-centered traditions of copyright law and their traditional skepticism towards “judge made law” encouraged by open norms. However, the rising application in those countries of fundamental rights by the judiciary to solve copyright cases (mainly based on freedom of expression and information) and the balancing of interests it requires resemble in many aspects the practice of common law jurisdictions and the weighing of factors typically done in the context of a fair use analysis. Click here for more.

Marrakesh Treaty Misrepresented in South Africa Copyright Debate

[Jace Nair and Marcus Low, Letter to the editor of Business Day] In a recent article Mpuka Radinku of the Publishing Association of SA claims the Copyright Bill awaiting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s signature “does not meet the terms” of the Marrakesh Treaty… Radinku’s core argument is that the “treaty does not cover other kinds of disabilities as proposed in the Copyright Amendment Bill”. But nowhere in the treaty is there a restriction on extending access rights to people with other disabilities. Click here for the full letter on businesslive.co.za.

Preview: Creative Commons Summit and Copyright Reform

[Timothy Vollmer] In Lisbon from 9-11 May people will come together from around the world to participate in the Creative Commons Global Summit. The gathering is a chance for for CC network members, digital rights activists, open content creators, and commons advocates to meet together, share information, and collaborate on projects. Communia’s bread and butter over the last several years has been advocating for a progressive copyright reform in Europe that will protect users rights and improve the legal situation for both creators and institutions that want to share in the digital age. Click here for more.

U.S. Special 301 Report Undermines Efforts to Lower Medicine Prices Globally

[MSF India] On the eve of World Intellectual Property Day, the United States Trade Representative released its annual “Special 301 Report.” Developing countries like India and Malaysia once again face unfair pressure from the US government over the measures these countries have taken to try to protect access to medicines… Not surprisingly, India is named in the report for the country’s patentability criteria, compulsory licensing criteria and absence of an additional intellectual property monopoly-data exclusivity. India’s patent and drug regulatory laws and policies have helped to protect price-lowering generic competition, so much so that the country is known as the “pharmacy of the developing world” because it supplies affordable quality generic medicines globally. Such pressure violates the integrity and legitimacy of the system of legal rights and flexibilities created by the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement, as reaffirmed by the Doha Declaration for the World Trade Organisation members to meet their rights and public health obligations. Click here for more.

The Changing Academic Publishing Industry: Implications for Academic Institutions

[Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition] Academic publishing is undergoing a major transition as some of its leaders are moving from a content-provision to a data analytics business. This is evidenced by a change in the product mix that they are selling across higher education institutions, which is expanding beyond journals and textbooks to include research assessment systems, productivity tools, online learning management systems – complex infrastructure that is critical to conducting the end-to-end business of the university… Data about students, faculty, research outputs, institutional productivity, and more has, potentially, enormous competitive value. It represents a potential multi-billion-dollar market (perhaps multi-trillion, when the value of intellectual property is factored in), but its capture and use could significantly reduce institutions’ and scholars’ rights to their data and related intellectual property. Click here for more.

Patent Pooling in Public Health

[Esteban Burrone] Abstract: In recent years, patent pooling has emerged as a mechanism to address some of the innovation and access challenges relating to health technologies. While patent pools have existed for several decades in other fields of technology, it is a relatively new concept in the biomedical and public health fields, where it has been adapted to pursue public health objectives. The patent pooling model represents a new type of public–private partnership (PPP) in health that relies on the licensing of patents on access-oriented terms to enable multiple third parties to develop and/or supply patented health technologies in a given geography. Click here for more.