Consumers International has published its third annual IP Watchlist, which “assesses the fairness of the world’s intellectual property laws and enforcement practices from an important yet under-represented perspective: that of an ordinary consumer.” The best-rated countries are Moldova, the U.S., India, Lebanon and New Zealand. The worst-rated countries are Thailand, Chile, the UK, Brazil and Belarus.
The report highlights some best practices related to intellectual property, such as South Africa’s Free and Open Source Software policy. It also highlights some worst practices, such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s decision to exclude creative-commons licensed music from its podcasts, and an Australian law requiring educators to “pay for the materials that they copy for their students from freely-accessible public websites.” The report highlights areas where consumer protections are missing from the majority of countries’ laws surveyed, such as “any protection for consumers who non-commercially remix or mash up copyright works.”
In a press release, Consumers International IP Programme Coordinator Jeremy Malcom says:
“By bringing the shortcomings of the world’s intellectual property regimes to light, we hope to help create the impetus for their reform. It is encouraging that a number of countries have proposals on the table to make copyright law fairer for consumers. But there are also moves to do the opposite – including a push from industry to convict alleged copyright infringers without a trial. That’s why consumers need to remain vigilant about their rights to access educational and cultural products.”
