Infojustice Roundup

Intellectual Property and the Public Interest

Trans Pacific Partnership Negotiation News

Serbian IP Director: Country Will Ratify ACTA to Join the EU

Branka Totić, Director of the Serbian Intellectual Property Office, told reporters that Serbia is prepared to ratify ACTA as part of its efforts to join the European Union, assuming the existing Member States ratify the Agreement and it comes into force.  EuroActiv Serbia reports that: “Totić dismissed fears that ACTA could lead to infringement of citizen’s rights, privacy and data protection rules, arguing that national implementation and judicial review of cases of suspected copyright violations would guard against this.”  According to Totić, Serbian IP law is mostly strong enough to meet expectations, but enforcement of the laws is incomplete.  Serbian bloggers protested the agreement in Belgrade. Click here for more.

Did HADOPI Cause an Increase in iTunes Music Sales in France?

Brett Danaher, Michael D. Smith, and Rahul Telang have written a blog on infojustice responding to the way their study on HADOPI has been characterized in the press:  “The HADOPI legislation is a significant and controversial measure with passionate supporters and passionate detractors. As co-authors of a study analyzing the impact of the HADOPI law on music sales, we have watched with concern as our finding have been interpreted in ways that are removed from our original intentions. Because of this, we wanted to take a moment to clarify what we believe our study can say about the effectiveness of HADOPI, while also — and maybe more importantly — clarifying what our study cannot say about the broader policy questions raised by this and other similar legislative efforts to reduce piracy. In terms of what our study can say: simply stated, our research question is ‘did HADOPI cause an increase in iTunes music sales in France?’ In raising this question, we would like to first point out that as academics we have no philosophical or practical predisposition about what the answer is or what it should be. Our sole goal is trying to understand what the data say.” Click here for more.

Research Councils UK Plans to Extend Open Access Policy

(Reposted from Lincoln Research Blog, by Annalisa Jones). Research Councils UK (RCUK) have produced a draft policy paper which sees an amendment to open access policies whereby it will be mandatory for all RCUK-funded papers be made freely available six months after publication. The draft policy paper was published on the EnablingOpenScholarship website on 12 March. Click here for more.

Open Access and Scholarly Publishing:   Opportunities and Challenges to Nigerian Researchers

Oghenetega Ivwighreghweta and Oghenovo Kelvin Onoriode, from the Western Delta University in Nigeria have a new paper on open access and scholarly publishing.  Abstract: “The study examined the extent of researchers’ appreciation of open access scholarly publishing. It discussed the opportunities and the benefits of open access to scholars worldwide. Challenges of OA were discussed and solutions suggested. Four research questions were raised. The population of this study was 140 lecturers from the University of Benin, Nigeria. The study revealed that the respondents had cited open access journals articles and that the major benefit derived from using open access journals is that it provides free online access to the literature necessary for research.” Click here for the Full Paper

Siyavula – Free Textbooks in South Africa

The Sunday Times has reported on Siyavula, a project started by Mark Horner that has provided over 2.4 million textbooks to high schools in South Africa.  Siyavula volunteers write textbooks for 10th-to-12th grade math and science classes, which are published under a creative commons license.  Schools and students can download them for free, and the government can print at a nominal cost. Click here for the Sunday Times story.

Ukraine Launches WTO Dispute Claiming Australian Tobacco Packaging Rules Violate TRIPS

On Tuesday, the Ukraine initiated a formal trade dispute with Australia through the WTO’s Dispute Settlement System.  The Ukraine alleges that Australia’s Plain Packaging Act, which provides that “[n]o trade mark may appear anywhere on a tobacco product” violates TRIPS (and other trade agreement) rules on trademarks. Click here for more.

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