USTR Requests Comments for the 2020 Special 301 Review
[Mike Palmedo] The U.S. Trade Representative has released its request for comments for this year’s Speical 301 Review, in which it lists countries that are deemed to “adequate and effective protection of intellectual property (IP) rights or deny fair and equitable market access to U.S. persons who rely on IP protection.” The deadline for written comments will be February 6 (for foreign governments, the deadline is February 20), and a public hearing will be held on February 26. Click here for more.
Second Medical Use Patents – Legal Treatment and Public Health Issues
[Clara Ducimetière] Abstract: This paper attempts to give an overview of the debate surrounding the patentability of new therapeutic uses for known active ingredients, both in developed and developing countries. After close scrutiny of international patentability standards, this paper concludes that second medical uses do not qualify per se for patent protection and have only been protected in several jurisdictions by means of a legal fiction. Click here for more.
Article 17 Stakeholder Dialogue (Day 4): It’s All About Transparency
[Paul Keller] The fourth meeting of the Article 17 stakeholder dialogue took place in the last week before the holiday break. Just like the third meeting, this meeting was dedicated to (more or less) technical presentations on content management technologies and existing licensing practices. In total there were 12 presentations from platforms (Facebook, Seznam, Wattpad), providers of content management tools (Audible Magic, Ardito, Fifthfreedom, Smart protection), rightholders (GESAC, Universal Music Publishing, Bundesliga) as well as by BEUC and the Lumen database. Click here for more.
What Is Left of User Rights? – Algorithmic Copyright Enforcement and Free Speech in the Light of the Article 17 Regime
[Sebastian Felix Schwemer and Jens Schovsbo] Abstract: Article 17 of the Directive on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market (the DSM Directive) has strengthened the protection of copyright holders. Moving forward, online content-sharing providers will be responsible for copyright infringement unless the use of works on their platforms is authorized or if they have made ‘best efforts’ to obtain an authorization and prevent the availability of unlicensed works. At the same time, the Directive has made it clear that users of protected works shall be able to rely on the existing limitations and exceptions regarding quotation, criticism and review and caricature, parody or pastiche. The Directive even casts these limitations and exceptions as user rights. Click here for more.
Do Large Pharma Companies Provide Drug Development Innovation? Our Analysis Says No
[Emily Jung, Alfred Engelberg and Aaron Kesselheim] Large pharmaceutical companies oppose legislation being considered by Congress to lower the prices of prescription drugs. Reducing their revenues, they contend, will reduce their investment in drug development and the discovery of new medicines, and thus lead to a decline in drug innovation. If that argument is credible, there should be evidence to show that the large pharmaceutical companies are responsible for discovering innovative new drugs. To test that claim, we examined the provenance of the highest-selling prescription medicines of Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, the two largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in 2018. Click here for more on StatNews.com.
Who Holds the Right to Exclude for Machine Work Products?
[Garry Gabison] Abstract: This article investigates whether the inventions and works created by Artificial Intelligence should be patent-able and copyright-able and if so, who should be assigned these rights. This article uses US case law and incentive economics to answer these questions. This article discusses who of the machine, its creators, owners, or operators should be assigned the rights to exclude others if policymakers want to promote the progress of science and useful arts. All four candidates raise legal problems. Click here for more.
