Save the Date: Global Congress – August 13-15, 2020

[Karisma] The Karisma Foundation, hosts of the 2020 Global Congress on Intellectual Property in the Public Interest, has announced the dates: August 13-15, 2020. The Congress will be held at the Hilton Hotel, El Laguito, in Cartagena, Colombia. For updates, see GlobalCongressIP.org.

USTR Launches Review of South African GSP Benefits

[Sean Flynn] The USTR has announced that its next GSP review hearing will include consideration of the complaint by the IIPA alleging that South Africa’s adoption of a US style fair use right would violate the adequate and effective intellectual property requirement for GSP (19 U.S.C. 2462(c)(5)) primarily due to passage (but not yet signed into law) Copyright Amendment Act. Click here for more.

Breaking the Impasse: Copyright Indaba – 2 December 2019, Wits University

[PIJIP] Join us at an Indaba where IP experts, academics, authors, creators and other stakeholders will debate the issue around the constitutionality of the Copyright Amendment Bill. Click here for more.

See also:

  • Creative Workers’ Union Letter to President of South Africa, Re: Copyright Amendment Bill. Link.
  • André Myburgh  in the Mail and Guardian. Does the Copyright Bill promote access? Link.
  • Linda Daniels in the Maverick Citizen. US at odds with SA over ‘fair use’ in proposed new copyright law. Link.

90 Organisations Demand Reform of African Regional Patent Office (ARIPO) to Improve Access to Medicines

[Joint Press Release. Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS, and Health GAP] More than 90 civil society organisations are today calling for urgent reform of the Harare Protocol of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) in order to ensure people have access to more affordable medicines. The organisations demand that Ministers representing ARIPO Member States — who are meeting for the ARIPO Administrative and Ministerial Councils from 18 to 21 November in Liberia to change how they grant patents on medicines, in order to promote cost cutting generic competition. Click here for more.

Cracking the Copyright Dilemma in Software Preservation: Protecting Digital Culture Through Fair Use Consensus

[Brandon Butler, Patricia Aufderheide Peter A. Jaszi, and Krista Cox] Abstract: Copyright problems may inhibit the crucially important work of preserving legacy software. Such software is worthy of study in its own right because it is critical to accessing digital culture and expression. Preservation work is essential for communicating across boundaries of the past and present in a digital era. Software preservationists in the United States have addressed their copyright problems by developing a code of best practices in employing fair use. Click here for more.

United States v. Gilead: Can a Lawsuit Yield Better Access To PrEP?

[Christopher Morten and Amy Kapczynski]  On November 6, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Gilead), “seeking damages for Gilead’s infringement of HHS patents related to pre-exposure prophylaxis (or PrEP) for HIV prevention.”  The lawsuit comes after a wave of pressure, beginning in Spring 2019, from a coalition of activists, HIV care providers, and civil society groups organized by the PrEP4All Collaboration (PrEP4All), urging HHS and its constituent agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to assert government-owned “patents for PrEP” against Gilead.  HHS and CDC rebuffed questions about the patents for months, so the lawsuit came as a surprise to many. Click here for more in the Journal of Health Affairs.