WEBINAR – Global Mandatory Fair Use: Book Talk With Authors Tanya Alpin and Lionel Bently

[Hosted by PIJIP | January 29, 2021 | 10:00am EST | 15:00pm UTC] In “Global Mandatory Fair Use: The Nature and Scope of the Right to Quote Copyright Works”, Tanya Aplin and Lionel Bently make the case that the quotation exception in Article 10 of the Berne Convention constitutes a global mandatory fair use provision. It is global, they argue, because of the reach of Berne and TRIPS, and its mandatory nature is apparent from the clear language of Article 10 and its travaux. It relates to ‘use’ that is not limited by type of work, type of act or purpose, and it is ‘fair’ use because the work must be made available to the public, with attribution, and the use must be proportionate and consistent with fair practice. By explaining the contours of global mandatory fair use – and thus displacing the ‘three-step test’ as the dominant, international copyright norm governing copyright exceptions – this book creates new insights into how national exceptions should be framed and interpreted. Click here for more. 

WEBINAR – COMMUNIA Salon on the Role of Ex-Ante User Rights Safeguards in Implementing Article 17
 
[Hosted by COMMUNIA | January 26 | 1530 (CET)] The first COMMUNIA salon of 2021… will focus on the most controversial question of the discussions surrounding the implementation of Article 17: the need to introduce ex-ante user rights safeguards in national implementations of the directive, to ensure that legitimate uses of third party works cannot be automatically blocked. …During the upcoming COMMUNIA salon, we will be discussing these proposals with Julia Reda (former MEP and project lead at GFF), Viveca Still (Senior Copyright Advisor, Ministry of Culture, Finland), Marco Giorello (Head of Copyright Unit, European Commission) and Tobias Holzmüller (General Counsel, GEMA). The Salon will be moderated by Alek Tarkowski (COMMUNIA/Open Future). The presentations will be followed by an informal question and answer session and concluding remarks by Paul Keller (COMMUNIA/Open Future). Click here for more. 

Reconsiderations on Global and Local Manufacturing of Medical Products After COVID-19

[Germán Velásquez] The unprecedented global health crisis caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic since the first quarter of 2020 has reopened the now-urgent discussion about the role of local pharmaceutical production in addressing the health needs in developing countries. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the interdependencies in the global production of pharmaceuticals—no country is self-sufficient. Many industrialized countries are making the decision to repatriate or initiate the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and medicines. Governments are beginning to talk about “pharmaceutical sovereignty” or “health security”. If this becomes a reality and the production of pharmaceuticals is led by nationalistic policies, developing countries that still lack manufacturing capacity will have to start or expand the local production of pharmaceuticals, whether at the national or regional level. The war to get access to the future vaccine for COVID-19 does not look easy with these new developments. Click here for more. 

COVID-19: Global “Moral Failure” in Distribution of Vaccines, says WHO Director General

[D. Ravi Kanth] The dire warning issued by the WHO director-general on 18 January that the world is on the verge of a “catastrophic moral failure” due to the denial of COVID-19 vaccines to developing and poorest countries has come as a shot in the arm for the proponents of a TRIPS waiver in combating the deadly pandemic and for putting human lives before profits and patents of Big Pharma, sources told the SUNS. The proponents of the waiver for suspending several provisions in the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement had already cautioned in November last year about the rising wave of “vaccine apartheid” in the distribution of vaccines. Click here for more on twn.my.
 
Permitted Uses in Copyright Law: Research Team Develops “International Instrument”

[Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition] …With the aim of creating at international level a more balanced system regarding the scope of copyright protection, an academic initiative coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition developed the “International Instrument on Permitted Uses in Copyright Law”. …the Instrument includes concrete provisions to form an international treaty establishing a core of minimum permitted uses of works. By signing such a treaty, prospective Contracting Parties would be obliged to implement the minimum permitted uses in their national legislations. Click here for more on ip.mpg.de. 

Open Education Lightning Talks: Recordings and Slides

[Cable Green] In December, the CC Open Education Platform hosted a series of open education “lightning talks” (7 minutes + Q&A) in which open education practitioners discussed their work and answered questions with a global audience. We are grateful to all 24 speakers for sharing their open education work. To maximize access, we recorded all of the talks with the permission of the speakers. Many of the speakers have also shared their slides and other resources. Click here for more.