Registration Open for the 3rd Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest, Cape Town, December 9-13: Registered Attendees Have One Week Remaining to Propose a Presentation or Workshop
[Global Congress/Open Air] In December 2013, delegates from national and international governmental entities, the private sector, civil society and academia will gather for five days of interconnected events in Cape Town, South Africa. Hosted by the University of Cape Town (UCT), participants will engage with diverse perspectives and future scenarios for intellectual property (IP), innovation and development during the combined 3rd Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest and Open A.I.R. Conference on Innovation and IP in Africa, running from 9 to 13 December 2013 in Cape Town… Registered participants have until 31 August 2013 to submit a proposal to deliver a presentation or paper and/or lead a workshop. Click here for more.
Brazilian Copyright Act Amended: Focus on Collective Management Organization (CMO) Regulations
[Allan Rocha de Souza] Almost six years after Brazil started publicly discussing its Copyright Bill, the first concrete changes start turning into law. On August 15, the sanctioned Amendment got published under number 12.853. It focuses on the regulation of Brazilian Music CMO (ECAD) – but affects all others CMOs – and implements some important changes such as the creation of a supervision, mediation and arbitration government body; strict transparency rules for CMOs; price setting criteria; liability rules for directors and managers; put a cap (15% in 4 years) on the administrative fee charged by CMOs; and limits the Directors’ terms. Click here for more.
New Infographic Tells the Good News Story About Fair Use and Libraries
[Brandon Butler] The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries was developed by and for academic and research librarians, in collaboration with the Association of Research Libraries, the AU Center for Social Media and PIJIP. The Code is one of the latest in the fast-growing body of best practices codes and statements helping communities describe and take ownership of their own fair use norms… A new infographic released today tells the story of library fair use and the Code in a clear and compelling way. Click here for more.
Chilean, Malaysian, and U.S. Government Officials Weigh in on Intellectual Property and the TPP
[Mike Palmedo] The nineteenth round of Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations will begin this weekend in Brunei Darussalam. In the last few weeks, legislators and other government officials in some of the TPP countries have raised concerns over the intellectual property provisions. In Chile, Senators Navarro, Gomez and Tuma introduced a proyecto de acuerdo that formally requests an open, public debate on the agreement. As noted in a previous post, the Senators quote the recommendation of former Chilean TPP negotiator Rodrigo Contreras that Chile should “avoid limits on access to knowledge available on the Internet, and not exacerbate the intellectual property protection of downloaded online content. Nor should we accept the over-extension of the term of protection of copyright for books, movies or music that limit their availability in libraries and schools, and that would make them more expensive for lower income people.” Click here for more.
India Pharmaceutical Alliance Continues Communication with Pfizer Over Pharma Innovation Policy Dispute
[Swaraj Paul Barooah] Readers may remember the posts we did on Pfizer’s testimony before the US House of Representatives and the ensuing series of correspondence regarding it. While that was part of the larger issue of US putting pressure on India to change its pharma patent policies, it has been useful in that the exchange of communication has resulted in an actual articulation of reasons behind allegations, rather than mere unilateral claims and allegations… As mentioned in one of those earlier posts, Pfizer had responded to Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance’s (IPA) criticism on May 23rd with their 5 page letter… Last week, on 19th August, the IPA responded with an 8 page letter of their own. We have made the letter available. Click here for the full blog on Spicy IP.
Resources on Copyright Reform and Flexible User Rights
[Sean Flynn] There are a series of meetings at the Creative Commons Global Summit this week on promoting the public interest and protection of the public domain in copyright reform. PIJIP has been working for two years on research and advocacy promoting the incorporation of open and flexible general limitations and exceptions into copyright reform proposals. Below is a collection of links to related resources for easy access. Click here for more.
USTR Requests Comments for 2014 NTE Report on Foreign Trade Barriers
[Mike Palmedo] Earlier this week, the U.S. Trade Representative issued a request for public comments regarding the 2014 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE Report). Comments may be submitted by “any interested person,” and they are due on October 22, 2013. The NTE report is defined as an annual report that “sets out an inventory of the most important foreign barriers affecting U.S. exports of goods and services, U.S. foreign direct investment, and protection of intellectual property rights. The inventory facilitates U.S. negotiations aimed at reducing or eliminating these barriers.” Click here for more.
