AUILR & Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest: User Rights Track Call for Papers

[PIJIP] The User Rights track of the Fourth Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (www.global-congress.org), Delhi, India, December 15-17, 2016, and a Focus Issue of the American University International Law Review seeks research contributions…This series will focus on how law and policy can play a key role in breaking down barriers to full participation in the digital economy through expansions of user rights — the rights of users to access, use and transform digital content to further social, economic, cultural and political purposes. Click here for more.

Potential Human Rights Impact of the Trans Pacific Partnership

[Sanya Reid Smith] This document summarises some of the ways in which the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) can harm human rights. The analysis below only examines the impact on recommendations and comments by United Nations (UN) Special Procedures mandate-holders[1] and other United Nations human rights bodies, so there are other human rights which are likely to be adversely affected by the TPP which are not covered here. Click here for more.

From TRIPS to Preferential Trade Agreements: Challenges for Emerging Countries

[Pedro Roffe, Sergio Escudero and Xavier Seuba] This report addresses recent developments in the area of intellectual property rights (IPRs) since the adoption of the TRIPS Agreement (1994) with particular emphasis on trends in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) and plurilateral initiatives such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), ACTA and the new agenda of the European Union (EU) on intellectual property. Click here for more.

Reaction of CEIPI to the Resolution on the Implementation of Directive 2001/29/EC on the Harmonisation of Copyright in the Information Society Adopted by the EP on the 9th July 2015

[Christophe  Geiger,  Oleksandr  Bulayenko,  Théo  Hassler,  Elena  Izyumenko, Franciska Schönherr, and Xavier Seuba] … While acknowledging the importance of many timely and innovative proposals voted by the Parliament, the Resolution can still be described as a missed opportunity to make a stronger statement on some essential issues of copyright law in the EU, such as its territoriality and the related consequences on cross-border access to copyright protected content. Click here for more.

Trade Ministers from to Meet on the Trans Pacific Partnership Negotiations Underway

TPP negotiators are wrapping up meetings in advance of tomorrow’s meeting of Trade Ministers.  As expected, intellectual property issues remain under debate, with important decisions being left for trade-offs at the Ministerial level. As of last Friday, Inside U.S. Trade listed the following IP issues as remaining undetermined: length of exclusivity for biologic drugs, definition of biologic drugs; length of transition period for developing countries to implement IP obligations; patent linkage and patent term extensions. The Mainichi has reported that minimum damages for copyright and trademark infringement are under negotiation.  Below are statements and press releases related to the negotiations.

  • Press Release from Rep. Blumenauer’s office. Representatives Blumenauer, Davis and Himes Urge Protection of Timely and Affordable Access to Medicines in TPP.
  • Press Release from from Sen. Brown’s office. In Advance of Latest Round of TPP Negotiations, Sen. Brown Raises Concerns Over Intellectual Property Chapter and Access to Medicines.
  • Public Knowledge Letter to Ambassador Froman on Trans Pacific Partnership Intellectual Property Concerns.
  • TPP Undermines User Control and That’s Disastrous for Accessibility. Link.
  • MSF press release. TPP negotiators must fix the most damaging trade agreement ever for global health.
  • Burcu Kilic & Courtney Pine, IP Watch. Decision Time On Biologics Exclusivity: Eight Years Is No Compromise.
  • Knowledge Ecology International. USTR proposals in TPP are in conflict with U.S. Supreme Court decisions on State Sovereign Immunity.
  • S. Chamber of Commerce. U.S. Chamber Reiterates Importance of Twelve Years Data Protection for Biologics in TPP. Link.

Amplifying the Impact of Open Access: Wikipedia and the Diffusion of Science

[Misha Teplitskiy, Grace Lu, and Eamon Duede] With the rise of Wikipedia as a first-stop source for scientific knowledge, it is important to compare its representation of that knowledge to that of the academic literature. This article approaches such a comparison through academic references made within the world’s 50 largest Wikipedias. Previous studies have raised concerns that Wikipedia editors may simply use the most easily accessible academic sources rather than sources of the highest quality or highest status. We test this claim by identifying the 250 most heavily used journals in each of 26 research fields (4,721 journals, 19.4MM articles in total) indexed by the Scopus database, and modeling whether topic, academic status, and accessibility make articles from these journals more or less likely to be referenced on Wikipedia. Click here for more.

As HIV Burden Overwhelmingly Shifts to ‘Middle-Income’ Countries, Access to Affordable Medicines is Under Threat

[Médecins Sans Frontières] At the International AIDS Society (IAS) Conference today, the international medical humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) warned that middle-income countries (MICs), which will be home to 70% of people living with HIV by 2020, face increasing threats to their ability to access affordable generic medicines, which are crucial to countries’ ability to reach the global UNAIDS 90/90/90* targets. Click here for more.