Global Congress #IPWeek2021 – Call for Proposals

From July 26 to September 10, the call for proposals will be open for the collaborative agenda of #IPWeek2021, Intellectual Property Week, the Public Interest, and COVID-19: learnings, discoveries, and challenges. This new version of Intellectual Property, Public Interest and COVID-19 Week will address the lessons and discoveries that the COVID-19 pandemic left to society, and future challenges in the post-pandemic period, in the relationship framework between intellectual property and the public interest. Click here for more.

Now Available: Open Educational Resource of Building Legal Literacies for Text Data Mining

[Timothy Vollmer] Last summer we hosted the Building Legal Literacies for Text Data Mining (LLTDM) institute… the participants and project team reconvened in February 2021 to discuss how participants had been thinking about, performing, or supporting TDM in their home institutions and projects with the law and policy literacies in mind. To maximize the reach and impact of Building LLTDM, we have now published a comprehensive open educational resource (OER) of the contents of the institute. The OER covers copyright (both U.S. and international law), technological protection measures, privacy, and ethical considerations. Click here for more.

New Book: Intellectual Property Law and Access to Medicines: TRIPS Agreement, Health and Pharmaceuticals

[Srividhya Ragavan] Amaka Vanni and I are pleased to share our new book, Intellectual Property Law and Access to Medicines: TRIPS Agreement, Health, and Pharmaceuticals. The book maps 25 years of TRIPS from the perspective of access to medication discourse by looking at  three generations of access to medication debate… Part I titled International Norm Setting and Patent Metamorphosis: First Generation shows the institutions and actors involved in the metamorphosis of pharmaceutical patents, both at the international and domestic levels. We call it first generation because it details key episodes in the pharmaceutical patent trajectory to tease out how the story and dialogue changed and the new fault lines that have been drawn leading to a notable divergence between IP rights in the pharmaceutical industry and those in any other industry. Click here for more.

The Corruption of Copyright and Returning It to Its Original Purposes

[Michelle M. Wu] Abstract: Since its inception, Copyright has had two purposes: the private interest of the author in being paid for her work and the public interest served by the dissemination of these works. Within the last two decades, though, some industries have systematically undermined both of those interests, redirecting the benefits of copyright towards themselves instead of the intended beneficiaries. This paper looks at the book, music, and entertainment industries, examines how copyright has been used to suppress the uses it was intended to foster, and explores ongoing and proposed avenues for course correction. Click here for more.

The TRIPS Covid-19 Waiver, Challenges for Africa and Decolonizing Intellectual Property

[Yousuf Vawda] The intellectual property (IP) regimes of African countries are a function of their colonial past, which imposed strong protections, and which have been entrenched through the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement). This has had a devastating effect on their ability to access necessary health products both before and during the current COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to reflect on the challenges that African countries face, before considering the implications of the WTO TRIPS waiver on COVID-19 (henceforth, waiver). In assessing the challenges faced by these countries, as well as the possibilities of improving access, this paper argues that while the waiver offers the best available solution to overcome the current supply shortages of a range of COVID-19 health products, in the longer term a break from this past—the decolonization of IP regimes—is necessary. Click here for more.

Interfaces and Interoperability After Google v. Oracle

[Mark A. Lemley and Pamela Samuelson] Abstract: We address an important issue the Supreme Court left unaddressed this spring in its blockbuster Google v. Oracle decision: are computer interfaces copyrightable at all? We argue that they aren’t, and that the Federal Circuit’s decision to the contrary is an aberration that should not undermine a quarter century of consensus on the importance of interoperability and open APIs. In our view, denying copyright protection for APIs and encouraging interoperability is important not only for innovation in the software world but for restoring competition to a technology industry dominated by a few incumbent firms. Click here for more.

The WTO TRIPS Waiver Should Help Build Vaccine Manufacturing Capacity in Africa 

[Faizel Ismail] The current global health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has re-focused our attention on the inadequacy of the TRIPS agreement and the patent system to address global public health crises. This time, developing countries must ensure that the TRIPS waiver succeeds in creating the impetus for the building of manufacturing capacity in the poorest countries, especially in Africa, for vaccines, pharmaceuticals and other health technologies. This is the only effective way in which African countries can reduce their dependence on imports of essential medicines and build their health security, contributing to the achievement of the sustainable development goals, for the poorest countries. Click here for more.

Vaccine Nationalism

[Prof. Ujal Singh Bhatia ] Abstract: The author posits that the global public health impact of the Covid-19 pandemic along with the economic and distributional aspects of vaccines and treatments, involves a market failure without the underlying institutional safety nets for an effective, globally coordinated response. He proposes strong, self-standing institutions with clear mandates and resources to make effective interventions at three levels: political, financial and regulatory. Also, the WTO rules regarding export restrictions are at present too accommodative to allow for a quick response. For Intellectual Property, both manufacturing and licensing, and relaxation of IP rules should be considered. Click here for more.