Infojustice Roundup
Intellectual Property and the Public Interest
White House IP Czar Releases the 2011 Annual Report on Intellectual Property Enforcement
Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IP Czar) Victoria Espinel has published the 2011 Annual Report on Intellectual Property Enforcement. The report describes efforts to strengthen IP enforcement in the U.S. and overseas. Regarding legislation to fight piracy online, it states “the Administration will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk (including authority to tamper with the DNS system), or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet.” The report lists ACTA, bilateral FTAs, and various policy pledges from China as “significant accomplishments.” It describes an initiative to develop action plans with countries on the Special 301 Priority Watch and Watch lists for their eventual removal from these lists. Click here for more.
TPP v. ACTA – Line by Line
[by Carrie Ellen Sager] As the TPP heads for its next intersessional meeting on IP provisions in April, public concern about the agreement has been growing, often tied to the previous public outcry over SOPA/PIPA and ACTA. The enforcement provisions in the IP section of the TPP have been described as “ACTA-plus,” but to what extent is the TPP an ACTA clone? And how far beyond ACTA does the TPP go? One important difference is that the TPP proposal contains the DMCA notice and takedown provisions that were stripped from ACTA. Click here for more.
New Website for IER-Brazil Project
Last week, Carolina Rossini announced a new Open Educational Resources project website: “we aim to provide vast information on OER for Portuguese speakers. We have developed a large FAQ, pointed to reference documents, media, etc. We have also listed projects from Brazil and the world (let us know if you suggest other projects that we can include in the near future), pointing to their license scheme. We have also pointed to the current bills that aim to promote OER in Brazil if approved, and hope to engage society in the discussions and improvement of such policies. Soon we will have the main navigation links also in English.” Click here to visit http://rea.net.br/
European Parliament Votes Against ECJ Legal Review of ACTA
On March 27, the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (INTA) voted 21-5 to reject a request by MEP David Martin to refer the Anticounterfeiting Trade Agreement to the European Court of Justice. Martin wanted the Court to determine whether or not the agreement conflicts with EU law. The INTA will instead conduct its own ACTA review, and the full Parliament will vote on ACTA ratification in July. Click here for more.
PhRMA’s Special 301 Comments on Indian Compulsory Licensing Misinterpret TRIPS Obligations
PhRMA’s Special 301 comments to the U.S. Trade Representative include a section on the compulsory licensing provisions in India’s Patents Act. PhRMA recommends that “India should ensure that the CL provisions comply with TRIPS by… Eliminating price as a trigger to CL. (Section 84(1)(b) of the Indian Patent Act which would permit a CL if the patented invention is not available to the public at a reasonably affordable price’).” Click here for more.
As Colombian Senate Debates FTA Implementation Bill, Anonymous Takes Down Its Website
The Colombian draft bill for the implementation of the Colombia-US Free Trade Agreement obligations is creating strong reaction from Colombian society. Not only copyrights scholars oppose to this draft; the group Anonymous Colombia has unplugged the official website of the Senate to show its rejection to this draft. The Senate website has been unplugged since March 27. Click here for more.
