Author: Papers

Study on EU Copyright and Related Rights and Access To and Reuse of Data

Posted by | Aug 1, 2022 | , ,

[Martin Senftleben] Executive Summary: To safeguard freedom of expression and information, and the freedom of sciences, of researchers,[1] it is important to improve the legal framework for scientific research in copyright, related rights and sui generis database law. In particular, it is important to remove imbalances that pose obstacles to data access and reuse. Article 5(3)(a) of the Information Society Directive could serve as a reference point for this legislative step.

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Rules of Engagement: Copyright and Automated Gatekeepers’ Influence on Creative Expression

Posted by | Jul 25, 2022 | ,

[Michael Carroll] Abstract: This Essay turns questions about artificial intelligence and copyright law around. Rather than focus on algorithms as potential authors, this Essay argues for more attention to the role of algorithms as gatekeepers on social media and how creators adapt their creative choices to meet the demands of these automated tastemakers. Using TikTok’s “For You” algorithm and its role in breaking Lil Nas X’s hit song “Old Town Road” as a case study, this Essay poses the question whether algorithmic gatekeeping is simply a difference in degree or a difference in kind from an artist’s perspective. While tentative, this Essay concludes that this change is a difference in kind because of the rule-bound nature of software, the absence of transparency and accountability for algorithmic decision making, and the flawed data models that inform this form of cultural gatekeeping.

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Conceptualizing a ‘Right to Research’ and Its Implications for Copyright Law: An International and European Perspective

Posted by | Jul 18, 2022 | , , , ,

[Christophe Geiger and Bernd Justin Jütte] Copyright, at international, European and national levels, does not provide a legal framework that prioritizes enabling and incentivizing research using protected works and information to the extent necessary and desirable in a digital, data-driven society in order to build a sustainable ecosystem for innovation and creativity. While small progress has been made, for example with the recent introduction of specific exceptions for research purposes and for text and data mining in certain national legislations as well as in the European Union law, a horizontal approach towards a more research-friendly copyright ecosystem has so far failed to evolve. By revisiting international and European human and fundamental rights instruments as well as the aims and objectives of the European Union, it is possible to distill research as a constitutional and ethical imperative. Conceptualizing a fundamental ‘Right to Research’ and integrating it into a constitutional dialogue provides a convincing argument to rethink copyright towards a research-oriented normative system.

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A Pandemic Treaty for Equitable Global Access to Medical Countermeasures: Seven Recommendations for Sharing Intellectual Property, Know-How and Technology 

Posted by | Jul 18, 2022 | ,

[Katrina Perehudoff, Ellen ‘t Hoen, Kaitlin Mara, Thirukumaran Balasubramaniam, Frederick Abbott, Brook Baker, Pascale Boulet, Mohga Kamal-Yanni, Manuel Martin, Viviana Munoz Tellez, Yannis Natsis, Vicente Ortún-Rubio, Sandeep Rathod, Maties Torrent, Yousuf Vawda, Luis Villarroel, James Love] … We recommend that a pandemic treaty ensures sufficient financing for biomedical research and development (R&D), creates conditions for licensing government-funded R&D, mandates technology transfer, shares intellectual property, data and knowledge needed for the production and supply of products, and streamlines regulatory standards and procedures to market medical countermeasures. We also recommend that a pandemic treaty ensures greater transparency and inclusive governance of these systems. The aim of these components in a pandemic treaty should be to craft a better collective response to global health threats, consistent with existing international law, political commitments and sound public health practice.

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How Well Did Copyright Laws Serve Libraries During COVID-19?

Posted by | Jun 14, 2022 | ,

[International Federation of Library Associations] The report involved a survey of 114 libraries worldwide and 28 interviews during February and March 2022. Respondents were from 29 countries. 83% of responding library professionals said they had copyright-related challenges providing materials during pandemic-related facility closures. These intersected with ongoing challenges predating the pandemic, including budget pressures, external financial crises, difficult negotiations with publishers, and demand for eBooks that outpaces publisher offerings.

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Compliance of National TDM Rules with International Copyright Law – An Overrated Nonissue?

Posted by | Jun 12, 2022 | ,

[Martin Senftleben] Abstract: … lawmakers in countries seeking to devise an appropriate TDM regime may wonder whether the adoption of a restrictive approach is necessary in the light of international copyright law. In particular, they may feel obliged to ensure compliance with the three-step test laid down in Article 9(2) of the Berne Convention, Article 13 of the TRIPS Agreement and Article 10 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty. An imbalanced, restrictive interpretation of the three-step test, however, can lead to an overly cautious approach that stifles TDM and makes broad inroads into the right to research – instead of establishing a proper balance between copyright protection and the right to research that supports TDM activities. Against this background, the analysis raises the question whether international copyright law covers TDM activities at all.

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Progress as Impact: A Contemporary View of the Copyright and Patent Clause

Posted by | Jun 9, 2022 | ,

[Alina Ng] Abstract: The Constitution grants Congress the power to promote the progress of science and the useful arts through the intellectual property clause. … This article argues that intellectual property laws need to have a more contemporary understanding of progress, one that reflects the reality and practicality of how progress actually unfolds and shows how construing progress as making an impact on social and economic welfare through entrepreneurial activities may be a more contemporarily appropriate understanding we should strive for.

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Ensuring the Visibility and Accessibility of European Creative Content on the World Market: The Need for Copyright Data Improvement in the Light of New Technologies and the Opportunity Arising from Article 17 of the CDSM Directive

Posted by | Jun 1, 2022 | , ,

[Martin Senftleben, Thomas Margoni, Daniel Antal, Bodó Balázs, Stef van Gompel, Christian Handke, Martin Kretschmer, Joost Poort, João Quintais, Sebastian Schwemer] Abstract: In the European Strategy for Data (COM(2020) 66 final), the European Commission highlighted the EU’s ambition “to acquire a leading role in the data economy.” At the same time, the Commission conceded that the EU would have to “increase its pools of quality data available for use and re-use.” In the creative industries, this need for enhanced data quality and interoperability is particularly strong (section 1). Without data improvement, unprecedented opportunities for monetising the wide variety of creative content in EU Member States and making this content available for new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (“AI”) systems, will most probably be lost (section 2).

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Inequitable by Design: The Law and Politics of Global COVID-19 Vaccine Access – And a Way Out

Posted by | May 16, 2022 | , ,

[Ximena Benavides] Abstract: …This Article analyzes the power dynamics of vaccine manufacturing and distribution of U.S. pharmaceutical companies in the context of global COVID 19 vaccination. Drawing on the health-justice and law-and-political-economy scholarship of the last decade, this Article demonstrates how a “patent culture” shaped by intellectual property law fundamentally neglects health-equity principles as it politicizes healthcare access. These contemporary frameworks suggest that the global COVID-19 vaccine-access problem is the result of avoidable policy choices of big manufacturers and affluent governments. Despite a long history of inequities in access to healthcare, policy choices—as predicted by Hart’s inverse equity theory—have favored a purposely inequitable-by-design vaccination program driven by the wealth and power of those allowed to control vaccine production and supply globally.

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Bulgaria Falls Into All the Traps Set by Article 5 of the CDSM Directive

Posted by | May 6, 2022 | , ,

[Ana Lazarova] Abstract: With Article 5 of the CDSM Directive, the EU legislator aspired to remedy the inherited legal fragmentation in the area of copyright exceptions and limitations, by introducing a mandatory exception for the purpose of ‘illustration for teaching’ in the digital environment. Bulgaria already had an educational exception as per the InfoSoc Directive, which was rather broad, technology neutral and unrestricted in terms of its beneficiaries. Now, the ‘digital’ exception under Article 5 is being transposed in parallel with the pre-existing one, both provisions largely overlapping in scope and with no clear collision norms available. This is yet another national implementation showing that the new exception, initially envisaged as a mandatory minimum of user rights protection, would likely exacerbate, instead of remedy the fragmented legal landscape in the EU. It would appear that the regime under Article 5 may come to do a disservice to free use for educational purposes.

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A Study of Patent Thickets

Posted by | May 2, 2022 | ,

[Bronwyn H. Hall, Christian Helmers, Georg von Graevenitz and Chiara Rosazza Bondibene] Executive Summary: This report analyses whether entry of UK enterprises into patenting in a technology area is affected by patent thickets in the technology area. The aim is to contribute to our understanding of the role of patent thickets as a barrier to entry into new technologies for UK enterprises, in particular small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The report consists of several parts: 1) a review of the literature on patent thickets, including the limited empirical evidence regarding effects of patent thickets on R&D investments and competition; 2) discussion of the factors contributing to thicket formation and growth; 3) an empirical evaluation of the extent to which patent thickets appear to be barriers to entry in some technology areas.

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Biological Patent Thickets and Delayed Access to Biosimilars, An American Problem

Posted by | Apr 11, 2022 |

[Rachel Moodie and Bernard Chao] Abstract: Drug prices in the United States are higher than in other countries. Generic drugs offer one path to lower these prices. The Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (‘BPCIA’) was passed in 2010 to promote the entry of biosimilars, generic versions of a new class of biologic drugs. These drugs have proven to be effective at treating a variety of illnesses including various autoimmune diseases and cancers. But to date, few biosimilars have entered the U.S. market. Patent thickets covering biologic drugs may be one cause. Our study seeks to test this hypothesis by comparing patent assertions against the same biosimilar drugs in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.

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Copyright and Digital Teaching Exceptions in the EU: Legislative Developments and Implementation Models of Art. 5 CDSM Directive

Posted by | Apr 6, 2022 | , ,

[Giulia Priora, Bernd Justin Jütte & Péter Mezei] Abstract: Article 5 of the 2019 EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSM) attempted to modernize the regime of copyright exceptions and limitations related to teaching activities. Its aim is to enhance the flexibility behind permitted uses to the benefit of educational institutions regarding their digital and cross-border teaching. The pressing need for such a legislative reform was confirmed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which dramatically moved teaching environments to online platforms.

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Reverse Payment: A Comparative Study

Posted by | Mar 30, 2022 | ,

[Garry Gabison and Zaakir Tameez] Abstract: This Article compares reverse payment settlements, also known as pay-for-delay deals, in the United States and Europe. These deals occur where a branded drug manufacturer sues, settles with, and pays a generic manufacturer to delay the entry of its generic. Unlike the United States, which has a decentralized drug purchasing system, European healthcare systems such as those in France and the United Kingdom wield monopsony buying power over drugs. We investigate whether regulator and monopsony power can neutralize these anticompetitive agreements.

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Fahrenheit 2020: Torching the Internet’s Library of Alexandria at the Height of a Global Pandemic

Posted by | Mar 24, 2022 | ,

[Stephen Beemsterboer] Abstract: For more than a decade, the Internet Archive has been collecting and digitizing books as part of its “Open Library” project. The unofficial e-books are made available to the public under a legally untested concept called “controlled digital lending” (CDL), premised on the notion that libraries should be able to lend their books online in much the same way that they do in person. Under the theory, a library may grant restricted digital access to one patron at a time per physically held copy of a book. Once a patron’s access to the book ends, another’s may begin. The process is meant to digitally replicate a physical library loan, and it works just like borrowing an official e-book through a local library.

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Forfeiting IP

Posted by | Mar 24, 2022 |

[Deepa Varadarajan] Abstract: Can intellectual property (IP) rights be lost? Much attention has been paid to how IP rights are acquired and whether threshold requirements are too laxed or onerous. But surprisingly little attention has been paid to the question of IP forfeiture. That is, once IP rights are acquired, what—if anything—do owners have to do to keep those rights or risk losing them forever. The answer, it turns out, varies widely across the IP landscape and has important consequences for follow-on innovation, competition, and the public domain.

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Extraterritoriality: Intellectual Property

Posted by | Mar 17, 2022 | ,

[Timothy R. Holbrook] Abstract: Intellectual property rights, particularly patents, copyrights, and trademarks, have been the subject of international treaties for quite some time. Those treaties all treat intellectual property rights as national in nature, with attendant territorial limits. … For extraterritoriality, that means that the use of one nation’s intellectual property to leverage control over the acts and markets of another have significant implications for sovereignty. These concerns could be vindicated through a robust use of conflicts of law in extraterritorial jurisprudence. The role of conflicts has been, at best, unclear in U.S. law. This chapter suggests, however, that when the conflict is one over the validity within the foreign country, conflict concerns should be at their apex. In other words, why should one jurisdiction allow an IP right holder to leverage a right into a country that would find that right invalid? This dynamic goes beyond merely holding someone liable for acts in a foreign country; it directly undermines the political choices of that sovereign in a far more significant way.

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Intellectual Property and the African Continental Free Trade Area: Lessons and Recommendations for the IP Protocol

Posted by | Mar 4, 2022 | ,

[Caroline B. Ncube] Abstract: This paper aims to explore the contours of the future intellectual property (IP) protocol of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement… This paper frames the IP protocol within the architecture of the AfCFTA Agreement, meaning that it will follow the structure of other protocols and will be guided by the Agreement’s foundational principles and objectives. With the place, shape and form of the protocol so established, the paper considers the substantive aspects that ought to be addressed. It also considers provisions on technical assistance, capacity building and cooperation.

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Access To Medicines and Pharmaceutical Patents: Fulfilling The Promise of TRIPS Article 31bis

Posted by | Feb 28, 2022 | , ,

[Ezinne Miriam Igbokwe and Andrea Tosato] Abstract: … The most contentious [TRIPS] issue has long been the impact of the TRIPS patents regime on access to medicines. Our Article contributes to this debate by illuminating an oft-overlooked facet of TRIPS: Article 31bis. Enacted following the Doha Declaration of 2001, this provision was designed to enable Members with inadequate manufacturing capabilities to import patented pharmaceuticals produced by generics manufacturers under an export compulsory license (ECL) issued by another Member. Initially welcomed with enthusiasm, ECLs have enjoyed minimal success. We propose an explanation for the current fallow state of Article 31bis and suggest approaches to fulfill its promise.

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The Implementation of Art. 17 DSM-Directive in Germany: A Primer with Some Comparative Remarks

Posted by | Feb 20, 2022 | , ,

[Matthias Leistner] Abstract: The implementation of the DSM-Directive in the European Member States is underway…. In regard to Art. 17, two basic models have emerged. Many Member States, in particular France, closely follow the wording of the Directive with only rather minor differences concerning the legislative technique and certain details, such as the definition of the OCSSPs. By contrast in Germany, the legislator, on the basis of an historic and contextual interpretation as well as interpretation in conformity with fundamental rights, has enacted a different system. Art. 17 is implemented in a balanced way providing for ex ante safeguards during the blocking and stay down procedure for certain contents which are not manifestly infringing (minor contents, user generated contents) and therefore regarded as presumably authorized by law. This effectively amounts to a collectively remunerated notice and delayed takedown system for such presumably legal contents.

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