Commission’s Proposal on Text and Data Mining: A Strategic Mistake
[Timothy Vollmer] Today we are publishing the second in a series of position papers dealing with the various parts of the European Commission’s proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (see our first paper on the education exception here). Today’s paper deals with the Commission’s proposal to introduce a mandatory exception that would allow research organisations to conduct Text and Data mining for scientific research purposes (you can download a pdf version of the paper here). From our perspective this exception is much too narrowly defined and has the potential to stifle the potential of Text and Data mining as a key enabler of social and scientific progress in Europe. For this reason our paper argues for expanding the proposed exception to allow Text and Data Mining by anyone for any purpose. Click here for more.
Copyright Reform: Why, How and For Whom?
[MEP Therese Comodini Cachia] Say ‘copyright’ and often citizens immediately think of how they are unable to access or share music, films, images and news and of the several times when they are faced with messages saying a particular content is not available in their country of residence. This reflects the failure in the market where analogue business models took their time in embracing the opportunities that the digital space provides. Citizens were quicker in changing their habits then most traditional business models were in adapting to new consumer demands. Copyright was caught in this upheaval. Click here for more.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Intellectual Property Protection and Access to Medicines
[Belinda Townsend, Deborah Gleeson, and Ruth Lopert] … Framed as an attempt to reassert ASEAN’s
position in response to the United States-led TPP, RCEP includes key players China and India, as well as several low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Leaked drafts of intellectual property provisions proposed by Japan and South Korea raise similar concerns for access to medicines in the Asia-Pacific region. This paper identifies TRIPS-Plus provisions in leaked negotiating texts and examines their implications for those LMICs that are not also parties to the TPP: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, China, and India. Click here for more.
Unknowingly Linking to Infringing Content Is Still Infringement, Court Rules
[Andy] A court in Germany has held the operator of a commercial website liable after it unknowingly linked to infringing content hosted elsewhere. The Hamburg Regional Court found that the link to a Creative Commons image, posted to another site without the correct attribution, amounted to a copyright infringement. Click here for more.
CEIPI/EAO Conference Film “Copyright Enforcement in the Online World” (Webcast)
[CEIPI] On Tuesday, 22nd November 2016, the Centre for International Intellectual Property Studies (CEIPI) of the University of Strasbourg had the honour of organizing, jointly with the European Audiovisual Observatory, part of the Council of Europe, a half-day conference in the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, on the topic of “Copyright Enforcement in the Online World”. The conference was held in the context of the 11thedition of the “Rendez-vous européens de Strasbourg” by the Pôle européen d’administration publique (PEAP) in Strasbourg (22-26 November 2016). During this event, Mr Andrus Ansip, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Single Digital Market, addressed the issue from the perspective of the ongoing copyright reform in the EU. Click here for more.
MSF intervention at the 25th WIPO Standing Committee on Patents
[Yuanqiong Hu] Médecins Sans Frontières welcomes the continuing discussions by the Standing Committee on the issues of health and patents, and the limitations and exceptions to patents. We urge the Committee to deepen these discussions to allow member states to explore policies to facilitate access to affordable medicines and implement public health safeguards in their patent laws. This Committee is being held at a critical time, and comes in the wake of the United Nations’ Secretary General having welcomed the final report that was delivered by his High Level Panel on Access to Medicines in September. Click here for more.
International Collaboration on IP and Access to Medicines: Birth of South Africa’s Fix the Patent Laws Campaign
[Brook Baker] In 2000, my colleague Yousuf Vawda and I became active in the global campaign to address intellectual property rights (IPRs), human rights, and barriers to access to affordable medicines for treating HIV and AIDS in South Africa. This paper details their academic collaboration, their activist-oriented “clinical” offering, and the vibrant campaign that it helped to spawn. It also situates the Fix the Patent Laws Campaign (the “Campaign”) within the global framework of pro-Pharma legal rules and diplomatic pressures, showing the connections between the global political economy and local reform efforts grounded in the right to health enshrined in the South African Constitution. Click here for more.
Round-Up of the Week at WIPO’s Copyright Committee
[Electronic Information for Libraries] EIFL joined a 13-strong team representing the world’s libraries, archives and museums advocating for an international treaty for fair access to knowledge at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/33), which met in Geneva from 14-18 November 2016. EIFL was represented at SCCR/33 by Copyright and Libraries Programme Manager, Teresa Hackett, and Pratyush Nath Upreti of Upreti & Associates in Nepal. In this blog, Teresa Hackett presents a round-up of the busy week at WIPO. Click here for more.
