Trans Pacific Partnership Ministers Report Progress in Talks

Trade Ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the TPP held talks last week in Sydney, Australia, and reported improved momentum. Inside U.S. Trade reports that Ministers this morning discussed “whether and how to transition countries from a lower level of intellectual property (IP) protection for drugs to the higher standard being discussed in TPP.”  The IP negotiating groups and chief negotiators will stay behind to continue talks.  TPP Comments:

  • Joint Statement of the Ministers and Heads of Delegation for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Countries. Link.
  • David Levine. Trade Secrecy and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Secret Lawmaking Meets Criminalization. Link.
  • Kimberlee Weatherall. Copyright in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Echoes Past Mistakes. Link.
  • Mike Palmedo. More on TPP Transition Period Thresholds: Per Capita Income for the Bottom 80% of People in Living in TPP Countries. Link.

A Note on TERA’s “The Economic Contribution of the Creative Industries to EU GDP and Employment”

[Joe Karaganis] TERA Associates has released a follow up to their 2010 study on the impact of “piracy” on creative industries in the European Union.  The new study, entitled “The Economic Contribution of the Creative Industries to EU GDP and Employment,” makes three arguments: 1) That the creative industries include 8.3 million “core” creative jobs and 5.7 million “interdependent” and “non-dedicated support” jobs, totaling 14% of the EU27 workforce and contributing 6.8% of GDP (€ 860 billion); 2) That between 2008 and 2011, piracy “destroyed” € 27.1 – 39.7 billion in economic value, resulting in a loss of between 64,089 and 955,125 jobs.  According to TERA’s forecast, these numbers are likely to climb to € 166-240 billion by 2015, with 600,000 to 1.2 million jobs lost; 3) That although economic depression and other factors may play a role in some sectoral changes, (such as retail), these job and economic losses are attributable to the failure of EU member states to adopt stronger IP enforcement measures. Click here for more.

Mapping Digital Media: Brazil

[Jhessica Reia and Antonia Azambuja] The 20th Century witnessed important technological and cultural transformations, which altered forms of production and consumption of content and news. As a result of an ever increasing process of digitization, media outlets are now faced with a new scenario and the need consider transforming their production processes, and even cutting back in some areas. However, not all countries came out of this digital transition in the same way, making it difficult to survey such a dynamic scenario and analyze the media of today and the media of tomorrow. As a result of the need to understand this moment and of the preponderant role that the access to abundant and reliable information must play in the establishing of democratic processes, a research and advocacy project arose, named Mapping Digital Media. Click here for more.

CopyrightX: Lessons from Networked Legal Education – A Discussion with Prof. William Fisher

[The Third Annual Peter Jaszi Distinguished Lecture on Intellectual Property] Professor Fisher will discuss his experiences in designing and teaching CopyrightX, a unique course that combines a traditional law school course with affiliated courses in other countries and an online course open to the public to provide instruction about copyright systems around the world.  Click here for more information, and to view the webcast.

New Open Access Button Apps Find Free Access to Scientific and Scholarly Research

[Open Access Button press release] The Open Access Button today launched a suite of new apps to help researchers, patients, students and the public get access to scientific and scholarly research. People use research everyday to create scientific and medical advances, understand culture, and fuel the economy, but articles can cost $30 or more to read each, even though much of the research is funded by the public in the first place. The new apps are available both for mobile phones and web browsers and can be downloaded at openaccessbutton.org. Click here for more.

La Evolución del Open Access en Chile

[Paz Peña] Se celebra la Semana del Open Access en el mundo y en Derechos Digitales nos unimos publicando un nuevo estudio sobre cómo se han desarrollado las políticas editoriales en Chile -y particularmente, el Acceso Abierto- desde la primera investigación que hicimos en el 2009. El  nuevo panorama de las revistas académicas puede ser sorprendente. Click here for more.

In Georgia State University E-Reserves Case, Eleventh Circuit Endorses Flexible Approach to Fair Use

[Krista Cox] On Friday, October 17, 2014, the Eleventh Circuit released its long-awaited decision in the Georgia State University (GSU) e-reserves case. Some key takeaways from the majority opinion include: Affirms that fair use is applied on a case-by-case basis; Rejects bright-line rules, such as using a ten-percent-or-one-chapter rule to allow fair use (a rule that the district court adopted);  Affirms that even if a use is non-transformative, a nonprofit educational purpose can still favor fair use;  Rejects the coursepack copying cases as applicable;  Finds that a publisher’s failure to offer a license will tend to weigh in favor of fair use in terms of the fourth fair use factor; and Gives weight to a publisher’s incentive to publish, rather than focusing on the author’s incentive to create. Click here for more.

See also:  Brandon Butler. Transformative Teaching after GSU. Link.

The Impact of Open Textbooks on Secondary Science Learning Outcomes

[T. Jared Robinson, Lane Fischer, David Wiley, and John Hilton III] Given the increasing costs associated with commercial textbooks and decreasing financial support of public schools, it is important to better understand the impacts of open educational resources on student outcomes. The purpose of this quantitative study is to analyze whether the adoption of open science textbooks significantly affects science learning outcomes for secondary students in earth systems, chemistry, and physics. Click here for the full article on sagepub.com.

DIPP Constitutes IPR Think Tank to Draft National Intellectual Property Rights Policy

[DIPP Press release] Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has constituted a IPR Think Tank to draft the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy and to advice the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion on IPR issues… The terms of reference of the IPR Think Tank will be as follows; i.To draft National Intellectual Property Rights Policy; ii. To identify areas in the IPRs where study needs to be conducted and to furnish recommendations in this regard to the Ministry; iii. To provide views on the possible implications of demands placed by the negotiating partners …  Click here for the full press release.