Fair Use in the U.S. Economy: The Economic Contribution of Industries Relying on Fair Use
[Computer & Communications Industry Association] Executive Summary: In 2007, CCIA released a report prepared by Capital Trade, Inc. that was the first comprehensive study quantifying the U.S. economic contribution of industries relying on fair use and related legal provisions. The current report is the third update of the size and performance of the fair use economy. This study finds that in 2014, value added by fair use industries was 16 percent of the U.S. economy, employing 1 in 8 U.S. workers, and contributing $2.8 trillion to U.S. GDP. Meanwhile, the combined value added by industries that are the most reliant on fair use and other limitations and exceptions to copyright protections has more than tripled in size over 2002. From 2012 to 2014, the real output of these primary core industries accounted for 6.7 percent of real GDP growth, six times their current weight in the U.S. economy. Click here for more.
Time to Unveil the Costs of Drugs
[Tabitha Ha] In the past month, I joined two major global gatherings for multiple stakeholders, including high-level government representatives, to tackle the issue of high drug prices as well as access to medicines more broadly. What struck me were the overwhelming calls for transparency, as a recognised democratic principle, to underpin the research and development (R&D) of medicines, especially when it comes to the costs of R&D, drug prices and being able to trace public funds involved in R&D. The Fair Pricing Forum, held by the Netherlands and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in early May was notably attended by many governments from high-income countries who are increasingly struggling with the burden of high drug prices. Later in May, thousands of delegates descended on Geneva for the 70th World Health Assembly, where the debate on access to medicines and R&D continued to rage as part of the formal proceedings and in several side events. Click here for more.
US Supreme Court Adopts International Exhaustion For Patents
[Frederick Abbott] The Supreme Court of the United States on May 30, 2017 adopted a rule of international exhaustion of patent rights for the United States in Impression Products v. Lexmark International, No. 15-1189. The near-unanimous decision authored by Chief Justice Roberts is unambiguous and unequivocal.[1] The Court paid short shrift to contrary decisions of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Jazz Photo Corp. v. International Trade Commission, 264 F. 3d 1094 (Fed. Cir. 2001) and in this case on certiorari, Lexmark International v. Impression Products, 816 F.3d 721 (Fed. Cir. 2016). Click here for more.
New Timeline for Review of South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill
[Mike Palmedo] The South African Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, which is currently considering the Copyright Amendment Bill [B13-2017], has extended the deadline for the public to submit comments, and has postponed the public hearings which will now be held in August. The formal notice seeking comments on the legislation – with the new dates is available here (PDF). The email sent from the Committee to stakeholders informing them of the change is below. Click here for more.
EFF to USTR: IP Doesn’t Belong in NAFTA. For the Rest, Talk To Us
[Jeremy Malcolm] The dust has barely settled from the collapse of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and already a new trade battle is ahead of us: the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). President Trump called the controversial 1994 agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico “the single worst trade deal ever approved in this country.” But compared to the TPP, there’s a lot to like about the original NAFTA from a digital rights perspective: it doesn’t extend the term of copyright, it doesn’t require countries to prohibit DRM circumvention, and it doesn’t include new and untested rules to regulate the Internet. That could all change soon. Click here for more.
Internet Intermediary Liability: WILMap, Theory and Trends
[Giancarlo F. Frosio] Abstract: To better understand the heterogeneity of the international online intermediary liability regime—with the collaboration of an amazing team of contributors across five continents—I have developed and launched the World Intermediary Liability Map (WILMap), a detailed English-language resource hosted at Stanford CIS and comprised of case law, statutes, and proposed laws related to intermediary liability worldwide. Click here for more.
