InfoJustice Roundup – December 4, 2018
Promoting Education Rights in South African Copyright Reform
[Eve Gray and Desmond Oriakhogba] The publishing industry is making a mad dash to defeat South Africa’s adoption of a fair use rights in Parliament on Wednesday. Their latest effort includes an alarmist petition being circulated among authors. …It should also be noted that, while it is true that international publishers might have much to lose in the new law, local publishers, authors and students have much to gain. It is time to lower the heat and concentrate on the facts and context of what is before Parliament. Click here for more.
Defending Fair Use in South Africa
[Sean Flynn, Peter Jaszi, and Michael Carroll] On Wednesday the South African National Assembly vote on the Copyright Amendment Bill, which includes a new “fair use” right. The publishing industry is marking the occasion by circulating an alarmist petition that the legislation will have a “direct and detrimental impact on all South African authors.” Learned professors at the University of Stellenbosch have taken to calling the bill “shambolic”, and “an abomination.” It is certainly time for a little light to go with the heat. Click here for more.
New Database Documents the Power of TRIPS Flexibilities
[Ellen ‘t Hoen] Medicines Law & Policy has published an on-line database of instances of the use of TRIPS flexibilities in public health contexts, titled the TRIPS Flexibilities Database. The publication of the TRIPS Flexibilities Database merits sharing a bit of its history because it has been a work in progress for some time. The database includes cases of actual use of TRIPS flexibilities and instances in which countries planned or threatened to use them. Click here for more.
TERA Presentation at SCCR 37 Workshop: “Toward Action with Respect to the Limitations and Exceptions Regime”
[Sean Flynn] Jon Band and I were asked by the education and research beneficiary groups to work with them to draft model instruments that would reflect the work of the SCCR thus far and contribute to the development of an international instrument on education and research exceptions to copyright. The result of this project is the Civil Society Proposed Treaty on Educational and Research Activities (TERA). We release the Draft Treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights for the first time today. Here I describe briefly our methodology in creating the draft and the main provisions of it. Click here for more.
See also:
- Communia Association Statement at WIPO’s 27th SCCR. Link.
- Statement of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights at WIPO’s 27th SCCR. Link.
U.S. Canada and Mexico Sign Re-Negotiated NAFTA, Critics Still Seek to Alter Data Exclusivity Provisions
[Mike Palmedo] …According to Inside U.S. Trade (paywalled) President Trump told reporters “I don’t expect to have very much of a problem” with Congressional implementation of the deal. However, some Democrats in Congress and some civil society groups oppose key provisions and plan to block ratification unless certain provisions are changed. Among the issues are intellectual property concerns. Click here for more.
Canadian Copyright Reform- Maintaining Copyright’s Legitimacy and Credibility for the 21st Century
[Pascale Chapdelaine] Professors Pascale Chapdelaine and Myra Tawfik, and nine other Canadian intellectual property scholars [1] recently co-signed a brief submitted to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology in the context of the Statutory Review of the Copyright Act. [2] Animated by guiding principles of the need to maintain a balanced, distinctly Canadian copyright system, and to steer clear of “copyright exceptionalism,” the brief contains several recommendations of amendments to the Act. Here are excerpts from the brief and a summary of its key elements. Click here for more.
Issuance of Compulsory Patent Licenses and Expropriation in Asian BITs and FTA Investment Chapters: A Study of India, China, Malaysia and Thailand
[Prabhash Ranjan] Abstract: Given the increasing interface between intellectual property rights and international investment law, the aim of this chapter is to examine whether issuance of compulsory patent licenses could be challenged as indirect expropriation under investor state dispute settlement of investment treaties/free trade agreements of India, China, Malaysia and Thailand. Click here for more.
