Copyright Week 2016: Making Copyright Work For The Public
[Parker Higgins] It’s hard to believe we’re almost three years into the U.S. copyright reform process kicked off with a call to Congress for the Next Great Copyright Act—and that we’re kicking off the third annual Copyright Week to boot. Once again, we’re working alongside great partners in the copyright space to make sure that the public—from technology users, to readers, to fans, to artists—get their voice heard in debates that are all too often limited to a few industry lobbies. Click here for more on eff.org.
Fair Use, MOOCs, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Frequently Asked Questions
[Brandon Butler] In October 2015 the Librarian of Congress issued an important new rule permitting faculty and staff creating MOOCs (massive open online courses) to copy short clips from video media protected by digital locks. The rule was the result of a petition brought by clinic students Mark Patrick and Sarah O’Connor on behalf of Peter Decherney, Professor of Cinema Studies and English at the University of Pennsylvania, the College Art Association (CAA), the International Communication Association (ICA), and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS). The rule may be the first official acknowledgment that MOOC courses are appropriate venues for the fair use of copyrighted media, including video content. Click here for more.
USTR Identifies TPP Implementation Process As Opportunity to Address Industry Concerns with Final Text
[Mike Palmedo] Officials from USTR have been signaling to businesses unhappy with the deal finalized last year that they may win extra concessions from TPP partner countries through the implementation process. Politico reports … Froman “is sending the message that he’s listening to calls from business groups and some members of Congress to address their complaints with TPP through the way it is implemented, as well as other avenues. ‘At this stage, we’re talking with stakeholders, members of Congress, and we’re looking at the various stages that TPP goes through, including, once it’s approved, there’s a period of time between approval and entry into force, to look at how it’s implemented’, Froman told reporters. Click here for more.
Court-Ordered Disclosure of the Negotiating Documents of Korea-U.S. FTA
[Heesob Nam] This is a rare victory. The court has long been reluctant to raise hands of individuals having rights to know, especially when it comes to trade agreements. Back in 2007 when the KorUS FTA talk was close to a conclusion, the court decided in favor of the Korean government to keep confidential draft texts of the FTA. We have two additional court decisions rejecting the request for information disclosure of negotiating documents of KorUS FTA in 2008 and in 2009. Click here for more.
Statutory Licenses as Enabler of Creative Uses
[Christophe Abstract: Abstract: In order to enable future creativity, some uses are traditionally kept outside the control of the right owner through limitations to the exclusive right. Uses covered by a limitation can lead to an obligation to pay a fair remuneration to the creator. In these cases, these “limitation-based remuneration rights” are often called “statutory licenses”. As these remunerations can provide significant revenues for creators, they constitute interesting tools for legislators in order to avoid the blocking effect of exclusivity, while at the same time ensuring that the creator can participate fairly in the creative reuse of their works. However, this option has so far been given relatively little consideration in the context of derivative works. This chapter is intended to fill that gap, exploring whether statutory licenses can offer a satisfying mechanism to enable and incentivize creative uses of copyrighted works. Click here for more.
The Medicines Patent Pool Signs First Sub-licences for Hepatitis C Medicine Daclatasvir
[MPP] The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) announced its first round of sub-licences for the generic production of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s daclatasvir, a novel direct-acting antiviral that is proven to help cure multiple genotypes of the hepatitis C virus. Generic companies Cipla, Emcure, Hetero and Natco have signed non-exclusive, royalty free agreements with Bristol-Myers Squibb and the MPP to produce and sell daclatasvir in 112 low- and middle-income countries. The sub-licences follow MPP’s announcement of its first hepatitis C licensing agreement, signed with Bristol-Myers Squibb in November 2015, and mark the first time that generic manufacturers have worked through a non-profit, public health organisation to increase access to new hepatitis C medicines for developing world patients. Click here for more.
17th EIPIN Congress in Strasbourg, on the topic “Intellectual Property and the Judiciary”
The Center for International Intellectual Property Studies is hosting, in partnership with the members of the EIPIN network and the Spangenberg Center for Law, Technology & the Arts (Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Cleveland USA), the 17th EIPIN Congress, which will be held in Strasbourg, from the 28th to 30th January, Palais universitaire. The topic of the Congress will be “Intellectual Property and the Judiciary”… The objective of the congress will be to study the role of the judiciary in the elaboration and implementation of IP law, to look at the way IP is applied in different court systems, be it in general courts, in specialized IP courts and quasi-judicial bodies as well as in specialized non-IP courts and to draw conclusions on how to ideally design courts in the future so that they can deal with IP in a balanced and most efficient way. Click here for more.
