Open Letter from Global Academics in Support of Proposal to Amend Brazil’s Patent Law to Take Advantage of TRIPS-Compliant Flexibilities

[Brook Baker] As many of you may have heard, Brazil has been engaged in a long process of studying patent law reform and in August 2013 (originally scheduled for July 10, 2013) will be issuing a major report and proposed legislative reforms.  In sum, as detailed below in (1) an open letter and (2) its attached brief technical review which has the text of the proposed bill as an annex, Brazil is seeking to incorporate lawful TRIPS flexibilities, into its patent law including: eliminating patent term extensions and data exclusivity, restricting patents on new forms and new uses and tightening the the inventive step requirement (following the India example), adopting a government use procedures, and clarifying the role that ANVISA, its drug regulatory agency, plays in the patent examination system. Sean Flynn, Amy Kapczynski, and I have worked on an academics/experts letter and brief technical review, both of which are open for signatures.  Click here for more.

Two PIJIP Research Papers on Intellectual Property Reform in Colombia

PIJIP has published two working papers on copyright reform in Colombia written by students at the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Clinic in collaboration with Andrés Izquierdo and Fundación Karisma. The first paper argues that civil society must be involved in the crafting of FTA implementation legislation, that copyright reform must “protect freedom of expression,” must “balance author’s rights with the fundamental right to access to information,” and must “allow for limitations and exceptions.” The second focuses on ISP liability.  It warns that “overly restrictive ISP laws threaten the rights of due process, expression, information and privacy,” but it notes that the language of the Colombia-US FTA allows Colombia to craft implementing legislation that protects these rights, and makes specific suggestions on how the law could be crafted.  First Paper | Second Paper.

International AIDS Society Statement On the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and Access to Medicines (TPP)

[IAS Press Release] July 1: International AIDS Society President and President-Elect Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Chris Beyrer today expressed their support for community activists at the IAS 2013 Conference protesting at the potential upcoming restrictions in access to generic medicines for many diseases including HIV, ahead of the next round of negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and Access to medicines (TPP) taking place in Kota Kinabulu, Malaysia from July 15-25, and organized by the Government of the United States. Click here for more.

Global Fair Use and Fair Dealing Decisions Available Online

[Jonathan Band and Deborah Goldman] One of the arguments used by rights holders opposed to the adoption of open-ended fair use or fair dealing provisions outside of the United States is that those jurisdictions would lack a body of case law to guide judges, and it would take decades for such a body of case law to develop. This argument overlooks the fact that those jurisdictions could look to decisions in other jurisdictions with open-ended fair use or fair dealing provisions… Significantly, many of the opinions in these decisions are available online.  Click here for more.

FFII Comment on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: Openness and the Right to Participate

[Ante Wessels] The EU and US are negotiating a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Agreement, also known as Transatlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA). This FFII comment on the agreement has a focus on openness and the right to participate. We conclude that the negotiations will have to take place as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen. Open negotiations will lead to better results than secretive negotiations. Without openness, essential aspects of regulations – legitimacy, quality and balance – are at stake. Furthermore, we conclude that secrecy of the trade negotiations with the US violates the human right to participate of about 500 million Europeans. Click here for more.

See also: Leaked EC Initial Position Papers, posted by IATP

Copyright Trolls and Presumptively Fair Uses

[Brad Greenberg] Abstract: The “troll” label, long a staple of the patent system, had little connotation and even less application in the copyright context until 2010. That is when the copyright troll emerged to acquire unenforced copyrights being infringed in the digital marketplace. As they exploit copyright incentives without contributing to the market for creative works, trolls threaten to chill speech and discourage innovation. Despite the copyright troll’s conspicuous arrival, little scholarship has discussed how trolls undermine copyright policy goals or has addressed potential measures for mitigating the harms they impose. This Article is the first to hone in on the fair use doctrine as an internal limitation on the copyright-litigation business model. Click here for the full paper on SSRN