Positive Agenda » infojustice

PIJIP and the AU Center for Social Media Release Set of Principles in Fair Use for Journalism

Posted by PIJIP on June 10, 2013 No Responses »

Jun 102013

[Reposted from pijip-impact.org] This document is a statement of principles to help journalists in the United States interpret the copyright doctrine of fair use. It is intended for anyone who engages in the set of practices that entails creating media of any kind that refers to real-life events of public interest, in service of public knowledge, whether that person is a full-time professional or an individual who takes it upon himself or herself to report about specific issues or events. In other words, the definition of “journalism” to which this document speaks is defined by acts, not titles, and is an inclusive one, reflecting (in part) the changing nature of the technologies that support and enable journalistic practice.

The project was coordinated by American University Professors Peter Jaszi (Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, Washington College of Law) and Patricia Aufderheide (Center for Social Media, School of Communication). Continue reading »

Testimony Prepared for the USTR Hearing on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Posted by Sean Flynn on May 28, 2013 No Responses »

May 282013

This submission is made in my personal capacity.

The central point of this submission is that the TTIP negotiation should exclude intellectual property issues. It should exclude IP issues because the US trade policy lacks IP proposals that have the kind of broad-based support necessary to be adopted in a trade negotiation of this kind – i.e. one that is ultimately multilateral, requiring consent by a wide range of diverse countries. This is the prime lesson that should be drawn from the failure of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), and the Free Trade Area of the Americas before it, as well as from the current deadlock in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiation. It is the prime lesson of the mounting evidence that our bilateral commitments do not contain sufficient flexibility to accommodate current proposals to amend our own intellectual property laws. US trade policy on intellectual property needs to be rethought. In the mean time, there should be a moratorium on any new efforts to negotiate IP commitments in trade forums that are not fully open, transparent and accommodating of the full range of inputs necessary to produce good policy. Continue reading »

Changes in U.S. Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Proposal Needed to Accommodate Copyright Policy Proposals

Posted by Sean Flynn on May 21, 2013 No Responses »

May 212013

As the Trans Pacific Partnership creeps toward an end game (which appears far off) it may be worth spending more time discussing positive proposals for amending the proposal in various ways. I have previously written on ideas for positive proposals from the perspective of the non-U.S. parties, both in the form of a short list of proposals and in a longer jointly-written article. This note focuses on copyright proposals for the TPP that should be of interest to U.S. negotiators in order to bring their proposal in line with their expressed policy goals as well as with recent copyright reform proposals discussed in Congress and by the Librarian of Congress. Continue reading »

Obama Administration Releases Historic Open Data Rules to Enhance Government Efficiency and Fuel Economic Growth

Posted by REPOST on May 9, 2013 No Responses »

May 092013

[White House press release, May 9, 2013] The Obama Administration today took groundbreaking new steps to make information generated and stored by the Federal Government more open and accessible to innovators and the public, to fuel entrepreneurship and economic growth while increasing government transparency and efficiency.

Today’s actions—including an Executive Order signed by the President and an Open Data Policy released by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Science and Technology Policy—declare that information is a valuable national asset whose value is multiplied when it is made easily accessible to the public. The Executive Order requires that, going forward, data generated by the government be made available in open, machine-readable formats, while appropriately safeguarding privacy, confidentiality, and security. Continue reading »

The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright

Posted by Michael Geist on May 2, 2013 1 Response »

May 022013

[Posted to michaelgeist.ca (CC-BY)(Link)] Copyright cases typically only reach the Supreme Court of Canada once every few years, ensuring that each case is carefully parsed and analyzed. As readers of this blog know, on July 12, 2012, the Supreme Court issued rulings on five copyright cases in a single day, an unprecedented tally that shook the very foundations of copyright law in Canada. In fact, with the decisions coming just weeks after the Canadian government passed long-awaited copyright reform legislation, Canadian copyright law experienced a seismic shift that will take years to sort out.

I am delighted to report that this week the University of Ottawa Press published The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law, an effort by many of Canada’s leading copyright scholars to begin the process of examining the long-term implications of the copyright pentalogy. Continue reading »

Op-ed on Publisher Lawsuit Against Delhi University: Why Students Need the Right to Copy

Posted by REPOST on April 28, 2013 No Responses »

Apr 282013

[Shamnad Basheer] Late last year, leading publishing houses including Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press brought a copyright action against Delhi University and a tiny photocopy shop licensed by it, seeking to restrain them from supplying educational course packs to students. This lawsuit sent shock waves across the academic community, leading more than 300 authors and academics including famed Nobel laureate Professor Amartya Sen to protest this copyright aggression in an open letter to publishers. Tellingly, 33 of the authors of various books mentioned specifically in the lawsuit (as having been copied in the course packs) signed this protest letter making it clear that they were dissociating themselves from this unfortunate lawsuit.

Click here for the full op-ed on thehindu.com.

A la demande générale, nous avons traduit en français le manuel sur l’usage loyal et l’utilisation équitable

Posted by Jonathan Band on April 17, 2013 No Responses »

Apr 172013

[By popular demand, we have created a French version of the Fair Use/Fair Dealing Handbook] Plus de 40 pays, qui comptent plus du tiers de la population mondiale, ont inscrit des dispositions d’usage loyal ou d’utilisation équitable dans leur législation sur le droit d’auteur. Ils sont dans toutes les régions du monde et à tous les niveaux de développement. La vaste diffusion de l’usage loyal et de l’utilisation équitable fait qu’il n’existe pas de fondement pour bloquer l’adoption encore plus généralisée de ces doctrines, avec les avantages que leur flexibilité représente pour les auteurs, les éditeurs, les consommateurs, les sociétés de technologie, les bibliothèques, les musées, les établissements d’enseignement et les gouvernements. Continue reading »

Convocatoria a Charlas (Cumbre Mundial de Creative Commons)

Posted by REPOST on April 15, 2013 No Responses »

Apr 152013

[Creative Commons Colombia (Link) (CC-BY)]La Cumbre Mundial de Creative Commons, que se realizará este año en Buenos Aires – Argentina, lanzó oficialmente la Convocatoria a Sesiones y Charlas, que harán parte del programa principal de la Cumbre.

“Los asistentes a la cumbre discutirán las estrategias para fortalecer Creative Commons y su comunidad en todo el mundo, aprender sobre los últimos acontecimientos en el movimiento mundial de bienes comunes, y mostrar los proyectos locales e internacionales que utilizan las licencias Creative Commons. Es un lugar ideal para reunirse y presentar sus ideas a la comunidad más amplia de Creative Commons. Más importante aún, esta será nuestra primera Cumbre con un apartado en español en el programa. Continue reading »

Open Education Around the World – A 2013 Open Education Week Summary

Posted by REPOST on April 8, 2013 No Responses »

Apr 082013

[Blog post by Creative Commons, (CC-BY)] Creative Commons congratulates all those who participated in the second annual Open Education Week March 11-15, 2013. It’s impressive to see how global open education has become with contributors from over 30 different countries showcasing their work and more than 20,000 people from over 130 countries visiting the Open Education Week website during the week. Open Education Week featured over 60 webinars open to participation from anyone and numerous local events and workshops around the world.

We thought we’d highlight a few Creative Commons global affiliate events from Open Education Week and share a list of urls for Open Education Week webinar recordings the Open Courseware Consortium has published. Continue reading »

How Flexibility Supports the Goals of Copyright Law: Fair use and the U.S. Library Experience

Posted by Elizabeth Hadzima on April 4, 2013 No Responses »

Apr 042013

[Excerpt from a white paper prepared by Elizabeth Hadzima, Alexandra Wood, Lila Bailey, and Jennifer Urban]

This briefing paper describes how the flexibility of the fair use doctrine in United States (U.S.) copyright law helps U.S. libraries fulfill their missions and offers suggestions for how flexible limitations and exceptions, when used in conjunction with purpose-specific exceptions or other approaches, might similarly benefit libraries outside of the United States. The experience of U.S. libraries may be beneficial in understanding the valuable role that flexibility can play in creating robust copyright frameworks that can assist libraries in performing their vital public responsibilities. Increasing libraries’ capacity to perform their key activities allows the public to realize its investment in libraries and also benefits society as a whole. Continue reading »

Trade Negotiator Probir Mehta Discusses “Binding Commitments” on Copyright Flexibilities in the TPP

Posted by Mike Palmedo on March 29, 2013 No Responses »

Mar 292013

Yesterday the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) held a panel on “21st Century Issues” in the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations, which featured speakers on e-commerce/telecommunications, SOEs, regulatory coherence, and intellectual property.

According to an account of the discussion on ustr.gov, IP negotiator Probir Mehta “stressed that the U.S. is pushing for binding commitments from TPP partners so that they also achieve a balance in their copyright systems in providing exceptions and limitations for scholarship, criticism, news reporting, research and other legitimate purposes — as in the United States.” During the Q&A, Mehta “reminded listeners that consistency with U.S. law means that the United States also wants to see reflected the wealth of exceptions and limitations that provide great benefits to American consumers, scholars, writers, artists, and others.” Continue reading »

National Human Rights Body Recommends Abolishing Three-Strike-Out Rule

Posted by Heesob Nam on March 28, 2013 No Responses »

Mar 282013

[Reposted from http://hurips.blogspot.kr] Today the National Human Rights Commissionof S. Korea published a special report on information human rights. It is the first report comprehensively discussing the progress of information and communication technologies in terms of human rights and providing recommendations for the protection, promotion, and enjoyment of information human rights. In this report, the information human rights covers four different categories: rights to information privacy; freedom of expression online; rights to access to information; and rights to culture and information. Continue reading »

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