Landmark Copyright Decision on Fair Dealing and Other Aspects of South African Copyright Law
[University of Cape Town IP Unit] On 5 May 2016, the Gauteng High Court delivered the long awaited decision in Moneyweb v Media24… the case dealt with, among other things, the alleged copyright infringement of 7 articles published by Fin24, a part of Media24. Moneyweb had argued that through publishing these articles, Media 24 infringed its copyright by unlawfully copying, appropriating and/or plagiarising articles previously published by Moneyweb. The dispute raised important issues regarding the substance and extent of copyright protection in news articles and the outcome clarified crucial aspects of South African copyright law, including fair dealing and the meaning of originality. Click here for more.
Indian Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Discussion Paper on Standard Essential Patents
[Nehaa Chaudhari] India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (“DIPP”) released in March, earlier this year, a discussion paper on standard essential patents and their availability on fair, reasonable and non discriminatory terms. DIPP should also be publishing all of the feedback that it receives… The deadline was submission of comments was (extended to) 29 April, 2016. Click here for more.
Productivity Commission’s Copyright Recommendations Welcomed by Australia’s Schools, Universities, Libraries & Technology Firms
[Jessica Coates] The Australian Digital Alliance (ADA) welcomes the sensible and much needed proposals for changes to Australia’s copyright law contained in the draft report of the Productivity Commission’s Intellectual Property Arrangement Inquiry, which was released today. The draft report finds that “Australia’s copyright arrangements are weighed too heavily in favour of copyright owners, to the detriment of the long-term interests of both consumers and intermediate users” and recommends major changes to the Australian copyright system. Click here for more.
Australian Productivity Commission: Pharmaceutical Patent Extensions Cost a Quarter Billion Dollars Annually
[Mike Palmedo] Previous infojustice posts about the Australian Government’s Productivity Commission’s Draft Report on Intellectual Property Arrangements have focused on its recommendation that Australia adopt fair use in its copyright law. This post highlights the findings regarding the extension of terms for pharmaceutical patents. Australia’s law, in effect since 1999, grants extensions to pharmaceutical firms to make up for time during which the patented drug is awaiting marketing approval. Total patent term may be extended up to a total of 25 years. Click here for more.
Colombian Civil Society Letter to the Chair of the 2016 CEWG, Describing Imatinib Compulsory License Efforts and Pushback
[Ifarma Foundation, Misión Salud and CIMUN] … Since November 2014 the undersigned organizations requested the Ministry of Health of Colombia to declare the access to Imatinib (Gleevec(R)) of public interest with compulsory licence purposes. After 15 months of an extended and accidented process, MOH acknowledged that access to imatinib is a matter of public interest, a prerequisite to move to a Compulsory license. Nevertheless there is an enormous pressure from developed countries, from Big Pharma and even from Colombian trade authorities trying to block the Public interest declaration and the Compulsory license. It combines inaccuracies, distortions of international trade rules and even threats of trade claims under the dispute settlement mechanism. We are waiting in the very next hours of days a final decision, but there are reasons to fear the worst. Click here for more.
Dos Nuevas Audiencias Durante el Caso del Biólogo Colombiano Diego Gómez (Two new hearings in the case of Colombian biologist Diego Gómez)
[Fundación Karisma] Dos nuevas audiencias tendrán lugar en mayo de 2016, dentro del proceso penal que enfrenta el biólogo colombiano Diego Gómez, por supuesta infracción al derecho de autor. “¿A quién se hace más daño cuando no circula información científica durante años? ¿Al autor? ¿Al país?” se preguntaba la abogada y activista Carolina Botero, de la Fundación Karisma en su columna “Compartir no es delito” en julio de 2014 cuando el caso de Diego se hizo público en los medios. El proceso penal que inició hace más de dos años ha continuado su curso y en los días 3 y 18 de mayo se llevarán a cabo dos nuevas audiencias en donde la defensa terminará de presentar sus argumentos. Click here for more.
EU Pushing Ahead in Support of Open Science
[Tim Vollmer] April saw lots of activity on the open science front in the European Union. On April 19, the European Commission officially announced its plans to create an “Open Science Cloud”. Accompanying this initiative, the Commission stated it will require that scientific data produced by projects under Horizon 2020 (Europe’s €80 billion science funding program) be made openly available by default. Making open data the default will ensure that the scientific community, companies, and the general public can enjoy broad access (and reuse rights) to data generated by European funded scientific projects. Click here for more.
Highlights From Two Global Copyright Days
[Teresa Hackett] In the digital environment, librarians deal with questions of copyright every day. But restrictive copyright laws can hinder the library’s efforts to provide access to knowledge. Two global copyright days – UNESCO’s World Book & Copyright Day that took place on 23 April, and WIPO’s World Intellectual Property Day on 26 April – presented a great opportunity to highlight the work that librarians in the EIFL network do to overcome copyright restrictions and serve library users. We marked the two days with a social media campaign, which also featured EIFL’s wide range of multi-language resources on copyright, and showed how librarians in EIFL partner countries are using the resources to advance their work. Click here for more.
