Twelve South African Civil Society Groups Demonstrate for Copyright Reform on International Human Rights Day
[Mike Palmedo] On December 10, International Human Rights Day, twelve South African civil society groups called on the government to modernize its copyright law. The groups led a march from the Department of Trade and Industry to the Union Buildings and delivered a memorandum demanding the passage of copyright reform to protect vital rights. Click here for more.
TRIPS Waiver Gains More Support Despite Efforts to Stall Its Passage
[D. Ravi Kanth] Attempts to avert an emerging “vaccine apartheid” through a TRIPS waiver for combating the COVID-19 pandemic has gained support from more countries at the WTO as well as international civil society groups, exposing what appears to be the alleged repeated false claims advanced by the United States and a handful of its allies in protecting the monopoly profits of the leading Western pharmaceutical companies over the lives of people, trade negotiators told the SUNS. Click here for more on twn.my.
See also: Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Urgently Waive Intellectual Property Rules for Vaccine. Link.
Can Scholarly Pirate Libraries Bridge the Knowledge Access Gap? An Empirical Study on the Structural Conditions of Book Piracy in Global and European Academia
[Balázs Bodó, Dániel Antal, and Zoltán Puha] Abstract: Library Genesis is one of the oldest and largest illegal scholarly book collections online. Without the authorization of copyright holders, this shadow library hosts and makes more than 2 million scholarly publications, monographs, and textbooks available. This paper analyzes a set of weblogs of one of the Library Genesis mirrors, provided to us by one of the service’s administrators. We reconstruct the social and economic factors that drive the global and European demand for illicit scholarly literature. In particular, we test if lower income regions can compensate for the shortcomings in legal access infrastructures by more intensive use of illicit open resources. Click here for more.
One Product, Many Patents: Imperfect Intellectual Property Rights in the Pharmaceutical Industry
[Charu N. Gupta] Abstract: Economists’ standard notion of intellectual property rights considers a single patent per product, with a clearly defined scope, certain enforcement, and a fixed term of monopoly protection. Yet common across industries are “imperfect” intellectual property rights: More than one patent may cover a single product, with the scope and enforcement of each uncertain, contributing to an indeterminate period of monopoly protection. Using data on the pharmaceutical industry, I systematically document the presence of imperfect intellectual property rights and provide the first evidence on the extent to which they impact competition. Click here for more.
WIPO’s Missed Opportunity to Produce Guidance on Copyright Exceptions Hits Education During Pandemic
[Education International] A legal instrument on copyright exceptions for the use of materials for teaching, learning, research, and the work of cultural heritage organisations is still not available. According to Education International, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) missed an opportunity at its recent Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) to show leadership on this issue. Click here for more.
USTR to Announce 2021 Special 301 Review
[Mike Palmedo] The U.S Trade Representative will announce the 2021 Special 301 Review tomorrow. This is the annual review required by the Trade Act which identifies countries that “deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property (IP) rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on IP protection.” The review is based partially on comments received from “interested parties” to the interagency Special 301 Subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee. Click here for more.
