Draft South African Copyright Amendments Bill Published for Public Comment

[Denise Nicholson] As you may know, we have been lobbying since 1998 for better copyright laws.  On 27 July 2015, the Department of Trade and Industry published a new Copyright Amendment Bill for public comment.  Now you have the chance to comment and ensure that the Copyright Bill provides adequate provisions for education, research, libraries, archives, persons with disabilities, digitisation, etc. Click here for more.

See also:  Two events this week on South African copyright reform

  • Internet Rights, Cultural Development and Balancing Features  in South African Copyright Reform (workshop between academic, civil society, and government officials). Link.
  • Roundtable Discussion in Johannesburg with South African and U.S. Copyright Experts. Link.

Newly Leaked Trans Pacific Partnership Intellectual Property Chapter

Knowledge Ecology International has leaked the Trans Pacific Partnership draft chapter on intellectual property, dated May 11, 2015. They have also posted Director James Love’s initial comments on the patents and test data provisions, as well as his comments on the copyright provisions. Other analyses on the text have been posted by Médecins Sans Frontières, Latrobe University Prof. Deborah Gleeson, University of Ottawa Prof. Michael Geist and Northeastern University Prof. Brook Baker.

The Untold Story of Colombian Copyright Law as an Overprotective Law and the Problems of its Application in the Digital Environment

[Marcela Palacio Puerta] The current Colombian copyright law appears to be a traditional copyright framework that seeks to protect authors and provides an enforcement mechanism for those rights while at the same time providing limitations and exceptions in favor of public interests according to international standards. A closer view of the law, however, reveals that Colombian copyright law favors authors’ protections and undermines public interest uses, especially in the digital environment. This regulatory framework does not favor the incorporation of technology in education. Click here for more.

Over 100 Organizations Ask President to Ensure Federally Funded Educational Resources Are Made Freely Available Under Open Licenses

[Mike Palmedo] Creative Commons USA and over 100 other groups have signed onto a letter to President Obama urging a policy that ensures “educational materials created with federal funds… are made available to the public as Open Educational Resources to freely use, share, and build upon” through the use of open licenses… The coalition notes that the federal government has spent billions of taxpayer dollars through various programs to create educational materials, but these materials “are generally not open to the members of the public who paid for them.” Click here for more.

SPARC Applauds Senate Committee Action on Public Access Legislation

[Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition] The Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) today passed S. 779, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act, unanimously by voice vote and moved it to the full Senate for consideration. This marks the first time the Senate has acted on a government-wide policy ensuring public access to the results of publicly funded research, and is an important step towards codifying the progress made by the 2013 White House OSTP Directive. Click here for more.

Peru’s Ministries of Health and Commerce at Odds Over TPP Data Protection Rules

[Marcela Palacio Puerta] In Peru, there is an internal confrontation between ministries due to the data protection provisions of the TPP. The Ministry of Health opposes to the extension on data protection due to the effects than it can have on access over medicines for Peruvians, as many international organizations such as Medicos Sin Fronteras have claimed. Nonetheless, the Ministry of Commerce, in a document published puts this statement in doubt. The document contains 105 questions about TPP. Regarding access to medicine the document raises a question: will the TPP affect public health? Then the document states that the same concern was made during the Peru-U.S. FTA negotiation, but that to the moment those concerns have not been rejected or accepted by the Ministry of Commerce. Click here for more.

Copyright in the Digital Ecosystem: A User Rights Approach

[Niva Elkin-Koren] Abstract: The rights of users of copyrighted materials are growing in significance. This is the result of fundamental changes in the creative ecosystem that pull in opposite directions: on the one hand, the flourishing of user-generated content places individual users at the forefront of creative processes, strengthening the need to facilitate unlicensed use of creative materials. On the other hand, digital distribution, cloud computing and mobile Internet strengthen restrictions on the freedom of users to access, experience, transform and share creative materials. Click here for more.

UNITAID and Medicines Patent Pool Publish HIV Drug Patent Survey

[UNITAID] UNITAID and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) today published an updated survey of the patent status of WHO-recommended and new HIV medicines in developing countries that helps countries and international health organizations plan the best possible treatment options for the people they serve. The second edition of Patents and Licenses on Antiretrovirals: A Snapshot Report  gives an overview of patents and licenses of specific antiretrovirals covering more than 86 developing countries and lists patent expiry dates, licenses to date, and information about relevant combinations of drugs. Click here for more on unitaid.org.