PIJIP Webinar – IP at the Supreme Court Series: Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc.
[April 21, 2021 | 5:00pm EST]| American University Washington College of Law regularly invites counsel of record and counsel for selected amici to offer post-argument reflections in intellectual property (and related) cases heard by the Supreme Court. These events are held on the afternoon of oral argument before the Court. The issue before the court in Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc. is whether a defendant in a patent infringement action who assigned the patent, or is in privity with an assignor of the patent, may have a defense of invalidity heard on the merits. Click here for more.
PIJIP Webinar – The Open COVID Pledge at One Year: Looking Back and Looking Ahead
[April 28, 20201 | 12:00-3:00pm EDT] Please join us for a one year retrospective of the Open COVID Pledge. We will examine the origins of the pledge and the reasons for pledgors to take the pledge, the potential of pledges to serve the public interest and future opportunities for pledges to promote innovation that serves the greater good. Click here for more.
175 Former Heads of State and Nobel Laureates Call on President Biden To Waive Intellectual Property Rules for COVID Vaccines
[Sign on letter sponsored by the People’s Vaccine Alliance] We the undersigned former Heads of State and Government and Nobel Laureates are gravely concerned by the very slow progress in scaling up global COVID-19 vaccine access and inoculation in low- and middle-income countries… But we are encouraged by news that your Administration is considering a temporary waiver of World Trade Organization (WTO) intellectual property rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, as proposed by South Africa and India, and supported by more than 100 WTO member states and numerous health experts worldwide. A WTO waiver is a vital and necessary step to bringing an end to this pandemic. It must be combined with ensuring vaccine know-how and technology is shared openly. This can be achieved through the World Health Organization COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, as your Chief Medical Advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has called for. This will save lives and advance us towards global herd immunity. Click here for more.
Letter from 250 Civil Society Organizations to WTO DG Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on the Voluntary Licenses for the Fight Against Covid-19
Civil society organizations signed on to this letter are encouraged that you would like to contribute to addressing the global challenges of inadequate supply and inequitable access to COVID-19 medical products, especially vaccines. However, we would also like to express our concern over the emphasis on industry-controlled bilateral agreements as the primary approach to addressing global production constraints and supply shortages… While the objective of this proposal may be well-intended, the proposed approach is also mainly centred on bilateral agreements controlled by corporate rightsholders. The same strategy has already been used by the pharmaceutical industry for the past year, including the oft-cited Oxford/AstraZeneca agreement with the Serum Institute of India. There is considerable experience on the constraints such agreements put on local production and equitable worldwide access to life-saving pharmaceuticals. Click here for more on twn.my.
The Missing Goal-Scorers in the Artificial Intelligence Team: Of Big Data, the Fundamental Right to Research and the Failed Text and Data Mining Limitations in the CSDM Directive
[Christophe Geiger] Abstract: This article argues that recent strategies of the European Union in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) resemble a football team missing a goal-scorer to win any of the competitions with other jurisdictions having more flexible limitations to copyright, in particular with those allowing robust text and data mining (TDM) activities. It analyses the TDM limitations newly introduced in EU copyright law by the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market to show that these provisions not only fail to take duly into account the right to research grounded in the fundamental right to information, but also will not allow the European Union to provide a competitive environment for the development of AI and data-driven innovations. As a conclusion, the article calls for a prompt revision of the copyright framework for TDM activities at EU and international levels, combined with an implementation of the directive by Member States that would be compliant with the fundamental rights framework of the EU and the objective advanced by European policy makers. Click here for more.
Misappropriation of Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge: Challenges Posed by Intellectual Property and Genetic Sequence Information
[Nirmalya Syam and Thamara Romero] Improper acquisition of genetic resources (GRs) and associated traditional knowledge (TK) without prior informed consent and on mutually agreed terms, in accordance with national laws of the country providing the GR and associated TK, as well as without any fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived from their utilization, has been a significant concern for developing countries. Intellectual property (IP) rights can serve as one of the means of such misappropriation. Click here for more.
IFLA Submits Comments on Canada, Singapore Copyright Reforms
[International Federation of Library Associations] IFLA has contributed to consultations on reforms to copyright laws in Canada and Singapore, making recommendations designed to give the best possible opportunities for libraries and their users to access and use information. In addition to its work at the World Intellectual Property Organization, IFLA has a strong focus on supporting copyright reforms at the national level that libraries to fulfil their missions. Through sharing good practices from other countries, we aim to increase the possibilities for libraries to carry out key activities in support of preservation, research, education and cultural participation. Click here for more.
Artificial Intelligence and Intellectual Property Law – Position Statement of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition of 9 April 2021 on the Current Debate
[Josef Drexl, Reto Hilty Luc Desaunettes-Barbero, Jure Globocnik, Begoña Gonzalez Otero, Jörg Hoffmann, Daria Kim, Shraddha Kulhari, Heiko Richter, Stefan Scheuerer, Peter R. Slowinski, and Klaus Wiedemann] Abstract: This Position Statement presents a broad overview of issues arising at the intersection of AI and IP law based on the work of the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition research group on Regulation of the Digital Economy. While the analysis is approached mainly from a perspective de lege lata, it also identifies questions which require further reflection de lege ferenda supported by in-depth interdisciplinary research. The scope is confined to substantive European IP law, in particular, as regards copyright, patents, designs, databases and trade secrets. Click here for more.
66 Health and Development Orgs: Biden Must Launch A Global Vaccine Manufacturing Program to End the Pandemic
[Public Citizen Press Release] Public Citizen and 65 other global health, development and humanitarian organizations today called on President Joe Biden to announce and implement a global vaccine manufacturing program to end the pandemic and build a globally-distributed vaccine infrastructure for future pandemics. “Much more ambitious U.S. leadership is needed to end the global pandemic,” said Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines program. “The U.S. government should establish, urgently, a manufacturing operation for the world, that would share vaccine recipes and work with the World Health Organization to alleviate suffering and bring billions of additional vaccine doses to humanity.” Click here for more.
