Are Contracts Enough? An Empirical Study of Author Rights in Australian Publishing Agreements

[Joshua Yuvaraj and Rebecca Giblin] Abstract: A majority of the world’s nations grant authors statutory reversion rights: entitlements to reclaim their copyrights in certain circumstances, such as their works becoming unavailable for purchase. In Australia (as in the UK) we have no such universal protections, leaving creator rights to be governed entirely by their contracts with investors. But is this enough? We investigate that question in the book industry context via an exploratory study of publishing contracts sourced from the archive of the Australian Society of Authors. Click here for more.

Access to Medicines Activism: Collaboration, Conflicts, and Complementarities

[Brook Baker] Abstract: This chapter address three phases of access to medicines [A2M] advocacy. The first phase started in the late 1990s and continuing into at least the mid 2000s when global cooperation and collaboration between A2M advocates grew as they confronted the terrible scourge of HIV compounded by the refusal of pharmaceutical companies and rich country governments to take measures to increase affordability of newly effective ART. Click here for more. 

WIPO Elections: Member States Get Ready to Settle on a New Director General

[Juan Ramón Rangel Silva] As the sun sets on the second term of Australia’s Francis Gurry, WIPO’s 83-member Coordination Committee will elect the organization’s next Director General in less than a week. This is a hotly contested and high stakes election that initially began with 10 candidates. At the present time, only 6 candidates remain in the running. Based on articles published in specialized journals and magazines regarding the performance of the candidates during a closed interview session which took place with Member States on February 6 and 7, 2020, three candidates it appears are the likely front runners. Click here for more.

Dissecting the ISOC/PIR/Ethos Transaction

[Benjamin Leff] Significant concern and confusion has been generated by the relatively recent announcement by the Internet Society (“ISOC”) that it will “sell” its subsidiary, Public Interest Registries (“PIR”), to the private equity firm Ethos Capital for more than 1.1 billion dollars.  Among other things, PIR operates the .ORG domain registry, which generates tens of millions of dollars of revenue every year.  ISOC is a nonprofit charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, as is PIR. Click here for more.

Medicines and Intellectual Property: 10 Years of the WHO Global Strategy

[Germán Velásquez] Abstract: The negotiations of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (IGWG) (2006-2008), undertaken by the Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO), were the result of a deadlock in the 2006 World Health Assembly where the Member States were unable to reach an agreement on what to do with the 60 recommendations in the report on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property submitted to the Assembly in the same year by a group of experts designated by the Director-General of the WHO. Click here for more: http://infojustice.org/archives/41905

Call for Proposals Open for the 2020 Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest

[Carolina Botero] We in Colombia are looking forward to welcoming you to Cartagena for the 6th Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest, August 13-15. From this week on the registry and call for session proposals is open! It includes the request for scholarships. We will have three main tracks on Medicines, Digital Rights, and Copyright Reforms and Open Policies. We will also have two cross-cutting tracks: Traditional Knowledge and Trade Agreements. Click here for more.