Letter from 376 Civil Society Groups Supporting an Extension of the TRIPS Waiver for Least Developed Countries
[Sangeeta Shashikant] Attached is a letter from hundreds of civil society groups (representing millions of people worldwide) to members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) urging them to support the request and draft decision text proposed by the Least developed Countries (LDCs) to the WTO on extending the waiver that exempts LDCs from implementing the WTO-TRIPS agreement until they “graduate” from LDC status. A lot is at stake for LDCs as TRIPS rules undermine human rights, development and health in developing countries. LDCs being the most vulnerable community should not be required to provide and maintain monopolies on essential goods. Click here for more.
See also: statements in support of the letter from UNAIDS, UNDP, the Computer and communications Industry Association, and Electronic Information for Libraries.
Is Colombia Regulating Orphan Works?
[Carolina Botero] The issue of orphan works has been systematically ignored in Colombia, but it has suddenly appeared as part of draft legislation to reform to the country’s system of Copyright Collecting Societies. The reform – Draft Law 202 – was presented to the Congress in 2012. It has passed two debates and will continue when the Congress starts their work on March 16th. Reviewing the last approved version, we found that this draft has a disturbing provision in Article 39… [which would] allow companies managing copyright royalties (such as Sayco) to distribute royalties collected on behalf of works by unidentified right holders after 5 years of trying unsuccessfully to locate those right holders. Click here for more.
Creative Commons and the Openness of Open Access
[Michael Carroll] The Internet has inspired multiple movements toward greater openness — most prominently, open access, open data, open science, and open educational resources. None of these is based on the belief that there should be such a thing as a free lunch, but each recognizes that the Internet changes the economics of publication and digital-resource sharing so that changes can feasibly be made to traditional practices that are in some ways “closed,” requiring payment for access to information or prohibiting myriad reuses of accessible information. The quality of “openness” applies to both the terms of access and the terms of use. Advocates in each movement — and I am one, serving on the boards of directors of two organizations promoting open access, Creative Commons and the Public Library of Science (PLOS) — share an understanding that an open resource is freely accessible over the Internet. Opinions vary about the terms of use necessary for a resource to be open. Click here for more.
Detailed Analysis of the Medicines Patent Pool-ViiV Pediatric ARV License and Memorandum of Understanding
[Brook Baker] On February 27, the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) and ViiV Healthcare UK Limited (ViiV) announced their License Agreement on an older antiretroviral (ARV), abacavir (ABC), for pediatric treatment only, in 118 countries where 98.7% of child living with HIV live. They also entered into a separate, non-binding Memorandum of Agreement (MoU), which promises collaboration on pediatric licensing of pipeline ARVs, development of novel combination pediatric formulations, and availability of novel pediatric formulations outside of the licensed territory. Click here for more.
See also statements from the Medicines Patent Pool, the Global Network of People Living with HIV, Knowledge Ecology International, and Health Action International – as well as the governments of France and the United States.
WHO/WIPO/WTO Trilateral Report: Human Rights, De-Linkage and the R&D Treaty
[Thiru Balasubramaniam] As mentioned in a previous piece, the trilateral report by the secretariats of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation: Intersections between public health, intellectual property and trade, covers a lot of ground … At the launch of the report, a Geneva-based diplomat drew KEI’s attention to the report’s treatment of human rights, particularly in the context of the right to health. The diplomat noted that the report’s references to the obligations to safeguard the right to health in the context of public health and trade rules would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Click here for more.
Newly Implemented Korean Fair Use and the Three Step Test
[Jaewoo Cho] There is a debate whether the three-step test is primarily designed to be restrictive to copyright limitations and exceptions or meant to be open and flexible…The new South Korean copyright registration shows that it is not impossible to incorporate the three-step test with an open and flexible fair use clause. Click here for more.
TPP Enters Sixteenth Round of Negotiations
[Mike Palmedo] The eleven countries negotiating the TPP will hold negotiations in Singapore from March 4 through 13. The formal stakeholder outreach will take place on Wednesday the 6th. Inside U.S. Trade has reported that industry sources expect the American negotiators to informally “verbalize” ideas related to new text on intellectual property and access to medicines. USTR’s earlier proposal for an “access window” met with strong opposition in previous rounds. Click here for more.
France Examines Even Tougher Anti-Piracy Laws
[Rhonda Richford for the Hollywood Reporter] Already home to some of the strictest anti-piracy laws for users, France’s Internet Authority (HADOPI) has issued a new report examining ways to curb usage of streaming and direct download sites. Looking to stop piracy at the source, the report suggests a combination of techniques including site blocking or domain seizures if operators do not comply. The authority suggests the implementation of content recognition by site owners, including digital fingerprinting technology. These systems could be used to remove content upon the request of copyright holders, similar to YouTube or DailyMotion, or restrict user access based on location. If site operators are unwilling to add these mechanisms or if illegal content reappears on the site, the report suggests initial steps such as search engine de-listings. If sites fail to comply with the warnings, HADOPI suggests it could also resort to involving the courts in order to seize or permanently block the domains. Click here for the full story on Billboard.com.
