Multiple News Agencies Confirm Press Publishers right Will Be Used to Limit Freedom to Link
[Communia Association] Within the new industry, news agencies fill the role of the objective gathers of facts. Agencies like DPA, AFP or ANP collect information and make them available to publishing companies who sometimes publish the information as is, but mostly use the information that they get from the agencies as an ingredient for their own reporting. Journalists rely on news agencies to confirm the accuracy of information they use in their reporting. Click here for more.
MSF Challenges Gilead’s Patent Application for Hepatitis C Combination Treatment in China, To Bring Down Prices
[MSF] The international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has filed a legal patent challenge in China against US pharmaceutical corporation Gilead’s patent application for the combination of two crucial oral hepatitis C medicines, sofosbuvir and velpatasvir. This combination is the first direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment to be registered for use against all genotypes of the disease. Rejection of patents for this combination would pave the way towards the availability of affordable generic versions of this treatment that millions of people need in China and around the world. Click here for more.
The Impact of Copyright Exceptions for Researchers on Scholarly Output
[Mike Palmedo] Surveys of scholars in the science and health fields have identified high journal prices to be one of many impediments to the writing and publishing of new works. One possible solution to this problem is the expansion of copyright exceptions that allow unauthorized access to copyrighted works for the purpose of conducting further research. This paper tests the link between copyright exceptions for researchers and the publishing output of health and science scholars at the country-subject level, using data on change in copyright law from the PIJIP Copyright User Rights database. Click here for more.
Colombian Appellate Court Affirms: Diego Gomez Not Guilty for Sharing Research Paper Online
[Timothy Vollmer] …the Tribunal de Bogotá—the Colombian appellate court—has affirmed the lower court’s acquittal of Diego Gómez. Gómez is a scientist from Colombia who has been criminally prosecuted for the last three years for sharing an academic paper online. When Diego was a student in conservation biology in Colombia, he had poor access to many of the resources and databases that would help him conduct his research. He found and shared an academic paper online so that others could read and learn from it. Gómez didn’t get permission to reshare the article, and subsequently was prosecuted for copyright infringement. He faced up to eight years in prison, along with a substantial monetary fine. Click here for more.
UACT Urges NAFTA Delegates to Protect and Expand Access to Affordable Medicines
[Manon Ress] Dear NAFTA Delegates – The Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment (UACT), created in 2014, is a union of people affected by cancer, their family members and friends, people who take care of people with cancer, health care professionals and cancer researchers committed to increasing access to effective cancer treatment and care. We are particularly concerned about the rapidly escalating cost of cancer medication. We are writing to ask you to ensure that the renegotiations of NAFTA do not result in higher prices for cancer patients and payers such as governments or private payers. If pharmaceutical industries are given stronger monopoly protections for pharmaceutical drugs, vaccines or medical devices, it will make it even more difficult –if not impossible– to address pricing abuses in the United States. Click here for more on uact.org.
Copyright Reversion to Authors (and the Rosetta Effect): An Empirical Study of Reappearing Books
[Paul Heald] Abstract: Copyright keeps out-of-print books unavailable to the public, and commentators speculate that statutes transferring rights back to authors would provide incentives for the republication of books from unexploited back catalogs. This study compares the availability of books whose copyrights are eligible for statutory reversion under US law with books whose copyrights are still exercised by the original publisher. It finds that 17 USC § 203, which permits reversion to authors in year 35 after publication, and 17 USC § 304, which permits reversion 56 years after publication, significantly increase in-print status for important classes of books. Click here for more.
