Infojustice Roundup

Intellectual Property and the Public Interest
Call for Papers: Toward a Positive Agenda in International Intellectual Property Law

American University Washington College of Law’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property is seeking contributions to the online PIJIP Working Paper Series and for a Focus Issue of the American University International Law Review. The theme of the joint publication series is on promoting the public interest in international or comparative intellectual property law. Submissions will be considered for both publications. Click here for more.

Sao Paulo Passes Open Education Resources Law

The city of Sao Paulo has adopted a law supported by REA-Brazil that requires the city to purchase open education resources. Specifically the resources must be available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike license (CC-BY-NC-SA).  The law will also require future contracts with the city to include a clause stating that all resources created with public funding be licensed openly. Click here for more.

EU Greens /EFA Position Paper on “Creation and Copyright in the Digital Era”

A new EU Greens/ European Free Alliance position paper starts from the premise that copyright should guard against unauthorized commercial use, but individuals should be able to copy and share works as long as the author is cited.  It proposes specific changes to copyright in the EU –  “to share copies, or otherwise spread or make use of somebody else’s copyrighted work, should never be prohibited if it is done non-commercially and without a profit motive”; DRM circumvention should be legal, and the EU should consider a ban on “DRM technologies that restrict legal uses of a work”; copyright terms should be dramatically shortened to five years; copyright registration should be required in order for authors to “enjoy commercial exclusivity”;  clear limitations and exceptions should be put in place “to allow remixes and parodies, as well as quotation rights for sound and audiovisual material”;  and the European commission should work advocate in WIPO  for a legal norm that would ensure people with disabilities can “enjoy access to cultural materials in accessible formats.”  Click here for more.

Spanish Translation of the Washington Declaration on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest

Susana Muños and Luis Villarroel at Innovarte have translated the Washington Declaration into Spanish.  The translation (as well as two translations of the document into Portuguese) are available at infojustice.org.  To date, the Washington Declaration has 814 signatures.  Click here for the translations.

Stakeholders Weigh In on USTR White Paper on a New Approach to Trade and Access to Medicines  in the TPP

Congressional Democrats, the branded drug industry, and public health groups have commented on USTR’s approach to intellectual property in the Trans Pacific Partnership described in its recently published white paper on trade and access to medicines.   Speaking to Inside US Trade, Rep. McDermott said that USTR’s “intention is clearly to erode the May 10 agreement,” referring to a 2007 policy agreement to place limits on TRIPS-Plus intellectual property provisions that affect the availability of generics.  Click here for more.

California Enforcement Law Allows Warrantless Searches of CD Plants

California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla that would allow police to search disk manufacturing plants without a warrant, and seize equipment used to manufacture illegal copies.  Excerpt from S.B. 550: “Officers performing inspections may do so without providing prior notice or obtaining a warrant, and shall have the authority to do all of the following… (4) Inspect, remove, and detain for the purpose of examination for as long as reasonably necessary any optical disc, production part, or record, book, or document maintained under Section 21807. (5) Seize any optical disc or production part manufactured in violation of this chapter.”  Click here for more.

 

Events and Deadlines