Statement of Suzan Shown Harjo on the Retirement of the Washington Football Team’s Racist Name
[PIJIP] Today, Suzan Shown Harjo issued the following statement. The WCL IP Clinic is proud to have represented Harjo in the controversy surrounding the Washington football team’s trademarks. “…This day of the retirement of the R*dsk*ns slur and stereotypical logo belongs there all those Native families (including mine and that of Amanda Blackhorse, my sister target number one), who bore the brunt of and carry the scars from the epithets, beatings, death threats and other emotional and physical brutalities resulting from all the “Native” sports names and images that cause harm and injury to actual Native people. It does not belong to a change of heart by the team’s energy or to this who are bandwagoning and in line to cash in on our hard-fought and hard-won success. ” Click here for more.
South African President Fails to Support Constitutional Reservations Over Copyright Bill
[Sean Flynn] The President of South Africa recently exercised his power to return the long considered Copyright Amendment Bill back to Parliament because of reservations about its constitutionality. Specifically, the South African President declared unconstitutional the provisions in the bill that would require contracts with creators to include royalty payments, the reversion of ownership rights back to creators, and the introduction into South Africa of a fair use right and other common exceptions to copyright. The move was immediately heralded by representatives of collecting management organizations, multinational publishers and music labels as a win for creators. In fact, the provisions declared unconstitutional by the President serve the interests of individual creators vis a vis these well-heeled intermediaries who lobbied extensively against the bill. This note analyzes the specific constitutional reservations given by the President for his referral and concludes that all of them are acutely unsupported. Click here for more.
See also: Parliament Can Uphold the Constitution By Passing the Copyright Amendment Bill — Again. Link.
Statement at the Second Session of the WIPO Conversation on IP and Artificial Intelligence
[Sean Flynn] I speak on behalf of a number of copyright academics that recently released a statement on Implementing User Rights for Research in the Field of Artificial Intelligence: A Call for Action at International Level… Many countries have rights to reproduce materials for research purposes that are broad enough to permit text and data mining to train AI and for other purposes. But many laws are inadequate because they are restricted to non-commercial uses, excerpts of works, or do not extend to the communications between researchers necessary to enable collaboration and validation. Click here for more.
See also: Andres Izquierdo. Statement to WIPO Conversation, re: Current Litigation on AI and Machine Learning. Link.
Contribution of Piracy to the Purchase of Copyrighted Content
[Heesob Nam] Piracy is a political term used to label to every unauthorized use of copyrighted content as “illegal looting,” and to justify strengthened copyright enforcement . The copyright industries, including MPAA, BSA and IFPI, have estimated huge economic harms caused by piracy. Yet some literature show piracy having a positive effect on legal purchases of cultural products. Here is one example, which comes from a Korean public agency. Click here for more.
Special Section 301: U.S. Interference with the Design and Implementation of National Patent Laws
[Carlos Correa] … This paper examines the patent-related claims made by the USTR in relation to the developing countries on the USTR Priority Watch List. It argues that the regulations and practices identified by the USTR show a legitimate use of the flexibilities provided for by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), and that the ignorance of the public interests of the countries concerned (for instance, with regard to access to affordable medicines) has contributed to the discredit (and ineffectiveness) of the Special Section 301. Click here for more.
COVID-19 Trade Secrets and Information Access: An Overview
[David Levine] The unprecedented Covid-19 (Covid) virus has brought to the forefront many challenges associated with exclusive rights, information sharing, and innovation. How do we get effective diagnostics, treatments and vaccines quickly and safely to the public? More specifically, how do we ensure that sufficient quantities are produced, that health products are affordable, and that they are equitably distributed globally? Among many challenges on the road to this outcome is the difficult question of how to handle trade secrets, namely, information that is valuable because others do not know it… For the public at large, Covid trade secrets raise two primary issues: (a) When do you have a Covid trade secret, and (2) Should access to that trade secret extend to competitors, civil society groups, and/or the public? Both are challenging questions, and the below presents a general overview of the framework for addressing each question. Click here for more.
COVID-19 Challenges Copyright Law and Library Lending
[Matthew Rimmer] Major publishing houses including HarperCollins and Penguin are suing the non-profit Internet Archive for its National Emergency Library, set up to provide access to books during the COVID-19 shutdown. The Authors Guild has supported the publishers’ copyright action. Click here for more.
Who Is Facilitation Fair Use in the Time of a Pandemic?
[Mehtab Khan] The pandemic has put several pressures on the scope of fair use. Within a matter of weeks, millions of people lost physical access that they normally would have had through libraries and cultural institutions. Fair use was built to be flexible for circumstances like these. But now that users have changed the way that they are accessing copyrighted works, primarily through intermediaries, this has implicated copyright and fair use in novel ways. Click here for more.
Webinar: The Global Health Impact – Extending Access to Essential Medicines
[Presentation and Discussion with Professor Nicole Hassoun, Binghamton University – July 15, 2020 | 5:00-6:00 pm EST] In Global Health Impact – Extending Access to Essential Medicines, Professor Nicole Hassoun proposes a novel approach to evaluate the impact of pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical companies. The approach: Addresses questions and relies on methodology that is interdisciplinary in nature, covering fields of study including economics, political science, public policy, sociology, geography, and philosophy; Emphasizes empirical evidence as critical to assessing the capabilities and capacities of agents and institutions and valuing how facts inform political theory, and; Considers the obligations of pharmaceutical companies and the case for a new kind of ethical investment and consumption to promote global health from the perspective of bioethicists and business ethicists. Click here for more.
Remdesivir in Argentina: New Patent Opposition Filed by Fundación GEP Intends to Stop Gilead’s Abusive Behaviour
[Fundación GEP] Fundación GEP has filed a new opposition against a patent application that Gilead has filed in Argentina. Remdesivir is the first drug approved globally to treat people infected with COVID-19. If the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) rejects the patent, Argentina will give a step forward toward the access to this drug, because it would be possible to manufacture it locally at a reduced price. Click here for more.
Digital Pirates: Policing Intellectual Property in Brazil
[Alex Dent] Digital technology has created an intellectual property standoff. One one side, the IP protectors (or “maximalists”) fear piracy. One the other, the pirates rail against patent trolls, large corporations, and acquisitive mega-stars. Such battles about digital textuality manifest in different ways around the globe, igniting local debates about policing, expression, and imitation. This book offers the idea of “circulatory legitimacy” as a way to explain how both sides are talking past each other. Its aim is to open new spaces for policy, creativity, and governance. Click here for more.
