Author: REPOST

Australian Digital Alliance: Extension of Safe Harbour Welcomed as an Incremental Step

Posted by | Jun 27, 2018 |

[ADA] Important changes to Australian copyright law passed today will protect Australia’s education, cultural and disability organisations and help them provide better services to our communities. Under the Copyright Amendment (Service Providers) Act 2018 Australian disability organisations, education providers and cultural institutions will now be covered by the copyright safe harbour scheme, which will protect them from being held liable when their online services – from public access computers to digital hubs – are used by others to infringe copyright.

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Time Is running Out to Defend User Rights Online

Posted by | Jun 24, 2018 | ,

[Wikimedia Policy Team] This week, a dangerous copyright proposal passed a critical committee vote in the European Parliament. Article 13 of the proposed new copyright directive would require websites that host large amounts of user-generated content to apply mandatory filters to every user upload, searching for copyright infringements. This would institute new automatic gatekeepers between a user’s creation and their chosen platform, threatens internet users’ right to free expression and creates a system ripe for abuse and censorship.

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Klobuchar, Grassley Urge Federal Trade Commission to Examine Whether “Pay for Delay” Tactics Are Keeping Cheaper Biosimilar Medicines Off the Market

Posted by | Jun 22, 2018 |

[Office of Sen. Klobuchar, Press Release] U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to examine whether makers of biologic medicines are using strategies like “pay for delay” to hinder or delay biosimilars from entering the market. Biologics are a fast-growing class of medicines that are often more expensive than traditional pharmaceutical products. The use of “pay for delay” deals—the practice of brand-name and generic drug companies using pay-off agreements to delay the introduction of cheaper substitutes—and other anti-competitive tactics for biologics could make some critical prescriptions unaffordable for patients.

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JURI Vote Results: A Better Educational Exception with a Poisoned Pill Within

Posted by | Jun 20, 2018 |

[Lisette Kalshoven] This morning the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (JURI) voted on the report on the proposed Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive… We are happy that the Commission’s flawed proposal for an exception that secures digital uses for education purposes has been fixed. Educators are given clarity about uses in digital environments, and the scope of the exception has been increased beyond educational establishments and their premises. There is also improved text that makes a contractual override of the exception impossible. Yet, the poison pill remains: the Commission’s proposal in article 4(2) to give priority to licenses over the exception was adopted.

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MSF Challenges Gilead’s Unmerited Patent in China for Lifesaving Hepatitis C Medicine

Posted by | Jun 19, 2018 |

[MSF Press Release] The international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today filed a legal patent challenge at China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO), requesting the invalidation of the patent granted to US pharmaceutical corporation Gilead Sciences for the oral hepatitis C medicine velpatasvir. The patent is being contested on the grounds that it involves well-known technologies, rendering it an unmerited patent under China’s patent law, which is consistent with the World Trade Organization rules.

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Action at WIPO!

Posted by | Jun 15, 2018 | ,

[Teresa Hackett] …The 36th meeting of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the global body that sets international copyright law and policy, …took place from 28 May to 1 June 2018. During the busy week, EIFL engaged in discussions on libraries and archives, made interventions in plenary sessions, met with member state delegates and collaborated with NGO partners. During SCCR/36, member states approved an action plan on libraries, archives, museums, and education, delegates heard about the ‘teachers’ dilemma’ for quality education, NGOs issued an open letter to negotiators on the proposed broadcast treaty, and the Secretariat held a consultation meeting on the WIPO Good Practice Toolkit for CMOs.

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Sustainability of Article Publishing Charge to Further Open Access

Posted by | Jun 11, 2018 |

[Prathima Appaji, Creative Commons USA] In the field of academic publishing, there are a variety of models. Many journals use ‘reader-pay’ model wherein readers pay a fixed price to access to read. Increasingly, open access journals and hybrid journals are using an ‘author-pay’ model where the author pays a fixed Article Publishing Charge (APC) and the article is made accessible to all readers for free… in many cases, APCs have grown from a small fee to a major one. Click here for more.

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EU Files WTO Case Against China Over Intellectual Property Rights Protection

Posted by | Jun 11, 2018 | ,

[William New, IP Watch] The European Union has filed a World Trade Organization dispute settlement complaint against China for unfair treatment of foreign intellectual property rights holders. The case follows a similar filing by the United States against China. The EU says in its filing, available here, that a series of measures employed by China violate the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

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Letter from 147 Organisations EU Member State Ambassadors Asking Council to Stop a Rushed EU Copyright Reform

Posted by | Jun 5, 2018 | ,

We, the undersigned, are writing to you ahead of your COREPER discussion on the proposed Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market. We are deeply concerned that the text proposed by the Bulgarian Presidency in no way reflects a balanced compromise, whether on substance or from the perspective of the many legitimate concerns that have been raised. Instead, it represents a major threat to the freedoms of European citizens and businesses and promises to severely harm Europe’s openness, competitiveness, innovation, science, research and education.

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Authors Alliance Supports Consideration of Termination of Transfer Provisions in South Africa

Posted by | May 30, 2018 |

[Authors Alliance] The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is currently considering the Copyright Amendment Bill, an update of the country’s 1978 copyright legislation. The proposed bill includes a provision for termination of transfers. Today, we submitted a letter to South Africa’s Members of Parliament in support of a carefully drafted termination provision that would allow authors to regain rights that they previously signed away.

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Joint NGO Letter on the Proposed WIPO Treaty on Broadcasting

Posted by | May 29, 2018 |

[Letter signed by 14 NGOs] We are concerned that negotiations on a broadcasting treaty have not clarified a number of important issues, nor addressed core concerns from civil society and copyright holders. At the outset, we are supportive of measures to address the legitimate concerns of broadcasters as regards piracy of broadcast signals. We are looking forward to seeing appropriate measures to address such challenges, provided they are well defined and limited to solving those problems, and avoid unintended consequences to impede access to and use of works, or harm copyright holders. Our primary concerns are the following:

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The Medicines Patent Pool Presents New Five-Year Strategy For Improving Access To Priority Treatments In Developing Countries

Posted by | May 25, 2018 |

[MPP Press release], Geneva, 24 May 2018 — The Medicines Patent Pool Foundation (MPP) released its five-year strategic plan during a side event at the 71st World Health Assembly this evening. … the plan supports the expansion of the MPP model to other patented medicines with high medical value, starting with small molecules on the World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines (EML).

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South African Cabinet Approves New Intellectual Property Policy

Posted by | May 24, 2018 |

[Fix the Patent Laws Coalition, Link] The Fix the Patent Laws Coalition (FTPL) welcomes the news today that the Cabinet of the Government of South Africa has approved the new Intellectual Property (IP) Policy. After nine years of policy development, two different draft policies and various rounds of public consultation, we now finally have an agreed-upon government policy that can guide much-needed law reform. Though we await seeing the final policy until it is gazetted by government, we are optimistic that the policy will herald a new era for access to medicines in South Africa by prioritising people’ lives over the profits of pharmaceutical corporations.

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Brazilian Ministry of Education Publishes OER Ordinance

Posted by | May 18, 2018 |

[Iniciativa Educação Aberta] The Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) published an ordinance on the 16th of may, that determines that any educational resources paid for by the Ministry, which is to be used for basic education (K-12) should be open educational resources, giving permissions for anyone to “access, use, adapt and distribute at no cost”. It further emphasises the importance of open formats and standards whenever technically viable.

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Lesotho Becomes the 37th Country to Join the Marrakesh Treaty for Persons With Print Disabilities

Posted by | May 17, 2018 | ,

[Electronic Information for Libraries] On 30 April 2018 the Kingdom of Lesotho became the 37th country in the world and the ninth country in Africa to join the Marrakesh Treaty. The Treaty will enter into force in Lesotho on 30 July 2018. Speaking at the 39th Session of the General Conference of UNESCO on 1 November 2017, the Honourable Mokhele Moletsane, Minister of Education and Training in Lesotho, explained why his country would be joining the Treaty: “Access to knowledge is a human right. It is necessary to achieve full human potential and inclusive development because it opens doors to education, employment, improved health, and social and political participation. However, the lack of published works in formats that are accessible to persons with print disabilities (known as the ‘book famine’), means that the right to read and acquire knowledge is often out of reach for those who are blind, visually impaired or otherwise print disabled.

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Education: the 5 Most Unfair Licence Conditions

Posted by | May 14, 2018 |

[Teresa Nobre] We recently released our new report “Educational Licences in Europe”, where we analyzed 10 collective agreements in Finland, France, and the United Kingdom. This study shows that educational licences for using copyrighted content in schools include many terms and conditions that restrict users’ rights and that are unfair or unreasonable… here are the 5 most questionable terms and conditions identified in the agreements analyzed in our study.

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Special 301: U.S. Gov’t “Watch List” Threatens Access to Meds

Posted by | May 1, 2018 |

[Public Citizen] Special 301 is an annual report by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) which places countries on a “watch list” if USTR would like to see greater changes in their intellectual property rules or enforcement practice.The USTR articulates in past Special 301 Reports that “the United States respects a trading partner’s right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all,” and “the United States respects its trading partners’ rights to grant compulsory licenses in a manner consistent with the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement.” However, in these same reports, USTR has frequently criticized countries for exercising public health rights and other flexibilities enshrined in the TRIPS Agreement and Doha Declaration. Every year the USTR hears public comments on the Special 301 review.

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Statement from EU Academics on Proposed Press Publishers’ Right

Posted by | Apr 26, 2018 |

[Sign-on letter from 169 European Scholars] We, the undersigned 169 scholars (of whom 100 are full professors) working in the fields of intellectual property, internet law, human rights law and journalism studies at universities all over Europe write to oppose the proposed press publishers’ right. Article 11 of the proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, as it currently stands following negotiations in the EU Council and Parliament, is a bad piece of legislation.

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Marrakesh in Action: History Is Made in Kyrgyzstan

Posted by | Apr 23, 2018 | ,

[EIFL press release] EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries) and the University of Toronto (U of T) Libraries are proud to announce the first international transfer of accessible format books to beneficiaries in Kyrgyzstan. The transfer, that took place on the occasion of a National Seminar with the IP Office of Kyrgyzstan on the Marrakesh Treaty on World Book and Copyright Day, was in response to requests from two beneficiaries: Dastan Bekeshev, a lawyer and member of parliament (MP) who lost his sight at six years of age, and Gulnaz Juzbaeva, an MBA student at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) who was born with low vision and later became blind.

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