U.S. International Trade Commission Releases Report on “Trade, Investment, and Industrial Policies in India”

[Mike Palmedo] The U.S. International Trade Commission has released its report on Indian trade, investment and industrial policies, including but not limited to intellectual property rights… The letter from four current and former Congressional leaders (Baucus, Hatch, Camp and Levin) which requested the report had stressed problems in the trade relationship between India and the U.S.  However, the data presented in the report indicates that American companies see business with India growing. Click here for more.

Google News Shuttered in Spain Thanks to “Ancillary Copyright” Law

[Jeremy Malcolm] Google has announced that it will be permanently shutting down the Spanish version of Google News, effective from December 16, 2014. The shutdown comes in direct response to amendments to the Spanish intellectual property law (Ley De Propiedad Intelectual) imposing a compulsory fee for the use of snippets of text to link to news articles, by online news aggregators that provide a search service. Click here for more.

India’s Draft National IPR Policy Released for Comments

[donttradeourlivesaway.net] The IPR Think Tank set up by Ministry of Commerce in India has released the first draft of national IPR Policy for discussions from stakeholders. The comments to be mailed to ipr@nic.in on or before 30th January, 2015. The draft IPR policy can be accessed here

Queremos construir junto a ustedes las recomendaciones para #LeyLleras

[Nathalie Espitia]  Como ya les habíamos contado, en nuestra entrada sobre el “Foro de Gobernanza de Internet” y “Un repaso sobre  la Ley Lleras” hemos estado trabajando en un documento a partir de la revisión de algunas iniciativas internacionales sobre leyes relacionadas con la responsabilidad de los intermediarios y que apuntan a una línea garantista de los derechos de los usuarios y usuarias, además hemos pensando en estrategias para que participemos en el debate. Click here for more.

U.S. Copyright Office Releases the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition

[US Copyright Office Press Release] … The Compendium serves as a technical manual for the Office’s staff, as well as a guidebook for authors, copyright licensees, practitioners, scholars, the courts, and members of the general public. More than three times the size of the previous edition, the Third Edition represents a comprehensive overhaul and makes the Office’s practices and standards more accessible and transparent to the public. As in the past, it addresses fundamental principles of copyright law, such as creation, publication, registration, and renewal. It addresses routine questions such as who may file an application and who may request copies of the Office’s records. It describes recent changes to the Office’s recordation practices, such as the new option for submitting titles and registration numbers in electronic form. It also contains a new Table of Authorities that lists the cases, statutory provisions, and other legal authorities cited in the Third Edition and the relevant section where each citation may be found.  Click here for more.

Does Cheap Access Encourage Science? Evidence from the WWII Book Replication Program

[Barbara Biasi and Petra Moser] Policies that reduce the costs of accessing prior knowledge (which is covered by copyrights) are becoming increasingly prominent, even though systematic empirical evidence on their effects continues to be scarce. This paper examines the effects of the 1942 Book Republication Program (BRP), which allowed US publishers to replicate science books that German publishers had copyrighted in the United States, on the production of new knowledge in mathematics and chemistry.   Click here for more.