Author: REPOST

Rising Middle-IP Powers Dissolving the North/South Polarisation in the International IP System

Posted by REPOST | Apr 20, 2018 | Domestic Policies, Multilateral Fora

[Ruth Knoblich and Tobias Schonwetter] Academia and the public have long been focusing on the North/South power asymmetries in the international IP regime. Two decades after the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) came into effect at the beginning of 1995, it is now becoming obvious, however, that rising economies such as Brazil, India, China and South Africa emerge as a cross-cutting group of players that may help, going forward, to dissolve the North/South polarisation in the international IP order. Firstly, these countries make full use of the existing international IP system: They design their national IP law in compliance with the TRIPS minimum standards for protection, while counterbalancing these standards by strategically utilising (and testing the boundaries of) the TRIPS flexibilities available to them. Secondly, emerging economies have also begun to successfully influence the international system of IP law and policy-making itself to better reflect their interests and needs.

Balancing Education and Copyright – Reflections after Conference on Copyright in Higher Education and Research

Posted by REPOST | Apr 19, 2018 | Events, Limitations and Exceptions, Regional Fora

[Katarzyna Strycharz] MEP Axel Voss, rapporteur of the draft Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market, did not expect this dossier to be so controversial. And issues relating to the educational sector are not an exception. With these words, the Eurodeputy began his speech at last week’s high-level conference, “A better copyright for quality higher education and research in Europe and beyond”. The conference was organized jointly in Brussels by the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE)and COMMUNIA Association.

IFLA Sends Comments to the Senate of the Republic of Colombia on Copyright Reform

Posted by REPOST | Apr 17, 2018 | Domestic Legislation, Limitations and Exceptions

[International Federation of Library Associations] Colombia is now in the process of reforming its copyright law (Ley 23 de 1982). In view of this reform and of the debate at the Comisión Primera of the Honourable Senate of the Republic of Colombia, IFLA submitted written comments and suggestions for specific changes to the Bill. For the preparation and submission of comments, IFLA collaborated with the Fundación Conector and had the support of the Colegio Colombiano de Bibliotecología (ASCOLBI).

MSF: Open Letter to European Commissioner on EU India Free Trade Agreement and Its Impact on Access to Medicines

Posted by REPOST | Apr 11, 2018 | Trade Agreements

[Els Torreele] On behalf of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organisation that provides emergency medical assistance to populations in distress in more than 70 countries, I am writing to express our position on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the European Union (EU). I understand that both parties have agreed to resume technical discussions concerning the FTA, including the chapter on intellectual property (IP) provisions. India has for many years played a pivotal role in providing a sustainable supply of quality assured generic medicines that are vitally important for public health systems around the world. It is critical that the EU-India FTA agreement remain free of TRIPS-plus measures and heavy-handed enforcement provisions that could jeopardize access to, and production of, affordable generic medicines.

Copyright in Mercosur-EU Trade Agreement: A Little Better, But Mostly Worse

Posted by REPOST | Apr 6, 2018 | Limitations and Exceptions, Trade Agreements

[Timothy Vollmer] A recently-leaked draft of the Mercosur-EU free trade agreement shows minor improvements to the chapter on intellectual property. It appears that the unnecessary and unwarranted 20 year copyright term extension is now dropped from the agreement, and the parties have introduced some flexibility for users to get around technical protection measures in order to leverage their rights. But for the most part, the negotiations continue to favor increased tightening of copyright at the expense of protections for user rights and the commons.

Defend Text and Data Mining in Europe

Posted by REPOST | Apr 3, 2018 | Limitations and Exceptions, Regional Fora

[Electronic Information for Libraries] European legislators should defend Europe’s ability to generate opportunities using the power of data analysis, not drive researchers to other parts of the world that have more supportive legal frameworks. That’s the strong message in an open letter sent to members of the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee by 28 organizations, including EIFL, from the public and private sectors representing universities and research organizations, journalists, large technology companies and start-ups, as well as libraries.

This Is Not How You Make Copyright Reform! Report from the Copyright Action Days

Posted by REPOST | Apr 2, 2018 | Domestic Legislation, Domestic Policies, Limitations and Exceptions, Regional Fora

[Communia Association] Last week more than a hundred of copyright reform activists got together in Brussels for the the European Copyright Action Days to make it clear to EU lawmakers that the copyright reform effort that is currently being discussed in the European Parliament and the European Council is not good enough. In a series of events organized by Copyright 4 Creativity, Create.Refresh, Communia and others, activists and other stakeholders discussed the shortcomings of the current reform proposal as well as ideas for a more future-proof overhaul of the outdated EU copyright system.

New Era for Copyright in Kyrgyzstan: Secondary School Children and People with Print Disabilities Benefit from the New Copyright Law

Posted by REPOST | Mar 30, 2018 | Domestic Legislation

[Electronic Information for Libraries] In March 2017, the law on copyright and related rights of the Kyrgyz Republic was amended to include important changes for the benefit of libraries, educational institutions and persons with print disabilities. There are also new provisions safeguarding access to works created through public funds. EIFL warmly welcomes the changes that, taken together, herald a new law that is people-centred, pragmatic and puts education and development at the centre of copyright law and policy.

Congress Funds $5 Million Open Textbook Grant Program in 2018 Spending Bill

Posted by REPOST | Mar 26, 2018 | Domestic Legislation

[Nicole Allen, SPARC] Update: The FY18 omnibus appropriations bill was signed into law on March 23, 2018, including the $5 million open textbook grant program. In a landmark victory for the Open Education movement, the U.S. Congress has included funding for a $5 million open textbook grant program in the Fiscal Year 2018 omnibus appropriations bill unveiled today. This marks the first major investment by Congress explicitly in open educational resources(OER) as a solution to the high cost of college textbooks, and underscores that course materials are a significant factor in making higher education affordable.

Project Gutenberg Blocks Access In Germany To All Its Public Domain Books Because Of Local Copyright Claim On 18 Of Them

Posted by REPOST | Mar 7, 2018 | Domestic Policies, News

[Glyn Moody] Project Gutenberg, which currently offers 56,000 free ebooks, is one of the treasures of the Internet, but it is not as well known as it should be. Started in 1991 by Michael S. Hart, who sadly died in 2011, Project Gutenberg is dedicated to making public domain texts widely available. Over the last 25 years, volunteers have painstakingly entered the text of books that are out of copyright, and released them in a variety of formats.

EIFL’s Review of ‘Fairness’ in Partner Countries’ Copyright Laws

Posted by REPOST | Mar 5, 2018 | Domestic Legislation, Fair Use

[Teresa Hackett] In celebration of Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week, EIFL has surveyed copyright laws in partner countries that reflect the concept of ‘fairness’ in the use of copyright protected material. Language on the fairness of permitted uses for purposes such as education, research, criticism or review can be found in the laws of over half of EIFL’s partner countries across 19 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia-Pacific, highlighting the important role of equity in access to information.

Debunking the Fair Use vs. Fair Dealing Myth: Have We Had Fair Use All Along?

Posted by REPOST | Feb 28, 2018 | Domestic Legislation, Domestic Policies

[Ariel Katz] According to conventional wisdom, a fundamental difference exists between the American fair use doctrine and the Canadian (or Commonwealth) fair dealing doctrine: while American fair use can apply potentially to any purpose, Canadian fair dealing could only apply to those purposes enumerated in the statute. Accordingly, fair dealing cannot apply to dealings for other purposes even if they would otherwise be fair. This conventional wisdom is false.

European Educators Ask for a Better Copyright

Posted by REPOST | Feb 20, 2018 | Regional Fora

[Electronic Information for Libraries] EIFL joins 53 organizations representing teachers, students, vocational trainers, researchers, scientists, librarians, archivists and museum professionals calling on European legislators for a copyright framework that properly facilitates modern, innovative education in Europe. The joint letter, sent to members of the European Parliament by COMMUNIA, an international association that advocates for copyright reform in education, highlights four key problems with the current proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM).

Federal Judge Says Embedding a Tweet Can Be Copyright Infringement

Posted by REPOST | Feb 19, 2018 | Domestic Policies

[Daniel Nazer] Rejecting years of settled precedent, a federal court in New York has ruled [PDF] that you could infringe copyright simply by embedding a tweet in a web page. Even worse, the logic of the ruling applies to all in-line linking, not just embedding tweets. If adopted by other courts, this legally and technically misguided decision would threaten millions of ordinary Internet users with infringement liability.

How Copyright Law Is Holding Back Australian Creators

Posted by REPOST | Feb 15, 2018 | Domestic Legislation, Domestic Policies

[Kylie Pappalardo and Karnika Bansal] Australian creators struggle to understand copyright law and how to manage it for their own projects. Indeed, a new study has found copyright law can act as a deterrent to creation, rather than an incentive for it. Interviews with 29 Australian creators, including documentary filmmakers, writers, musicians and visual artists, sought to understand how they reuse existing content to create. It considered issues such as whether permission (“licences”) had been sought to reuse copyrighted content; the amount of time and cost involved in obtaining such permissions; and a creator’s recourse if permission was either denied or too expensive to obtain.

Delhi Declaration on Open Access

Posted by REPOST | Feb 14, 2018 | Blog

The South Asian region, home to 24% of the world’s population faces major challenges such as hunger, poverty and inequality. These challenges become the collective responsibility of scholars and experts in research universities across the country. Consequently, it becomes imperative that research institutes share scientific research outputs and accelerate scientific research. The Open Access movement which aims for making all ‘publicly funded research outcomes publicly available for the public good’ is gaining momentum.

Click here for the full declaration.

Licenses: We Are Past Copyright

Posted by REPOST | Feb 9, 2018 | Regional Fora

[Teresa Nobre] We have been arguing for quite sometime now that handing out the power to define the scope of users rights to right holders – in the form of license agreements that they can (almost unilateral) draft and frame as they wish – is bad. Really bad: licenses fragment the legal framework that mandatory exceptions try to harmonize; licenses contain abusive terms or impose obligations on users that are not foreseen in the laws; and licenses have a huge impact on national budgets. Unfortunately, this message has not come through to all, or not everyone understands what we are saying, or worse right holders have done a nice job in convincing lawmakers that’s the right way to go.

EIFL RESPONDS TO IRISH MARRAKESH CONSULTATION

Posted by REPOST | Jan 25, 2018 | Domestic Legislation, Multilateral Fora

[Electronic Information for Libraries] In December 2017, the Irish government issued a public consultation on transposition into national law of European Union (EU) Directive 2017/1564 implementing the Marrakesh Treaty for persons with print disabilities. Irish transposition of the Directive could serve as a model not only for other EU member states, but also for EU candidate countries and potential candidates.

Civil Society Letter to NAFTA Negotiators: Do Not Undermine Access to Affordable Medicines

Posted by REPOST | Jan 25, 2018 | NAFTA, Trade Agreements

The following letter to the trade and health ministers of the NAFTA negotiating parties was signed by nearly 100 organizations concerned with health. A printable PDF of the letter, including a full list of endorsements, is available on the MSF Access to Medicines site. Dear Ministers: As organizations concerned with health issues domestically and globally, we urge you to ensure that any renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) does not undermine access to affordable medicines.

New Policy Paper on the 2017 Review of Public Sector Information Directive

Posted by REPOST | Jan 25, 2018 | Regional Fora

[Communia Association] Today COMMUNIA published a policy paper on the 2017 review of the Directive on Public Sector Information (PSI Directive). The Directive first came into effect in 2003, and was amended in 2013 to clarify that 1) PSI should be presumed to be “reusable by default,” 2) museums, archives, and libraries were subject to the Directive provision, 3) acquisition fees were limited to marginal costs of reproduction, and 4) documents were to be made available for reuse using open standards and machine readable formats.

Search

Follow

PIJIP

infojustice.org is hosted by the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at American University Washington College of Law.

Infojustice Roundup

Archives | Subscribe

Free to Share

Ahmed Abdel Latif
Alek Tarkowski
Alexander Dent
Allan Rocha de Souza
Andres Guadamuz
Andres Izquierdo
Brandon Butler
Brook Baker
Burcu Kilic
Carolina Botero
Carolina Rossini
Caroline Ncube
Carrie Sager
Celeste Drake
Christophe Geiger
David Levine
Eve Gray
Hafiz Aziz ur Rehman
Heesob Nam
Hong Xue
Jonathan Band
Jorge Contreras
Jimmy Koo
Joana Varon
Joe Karaganis
Krista Maier
Lina Diaz
Leanne O’Donnell
Marcela Palacio Puerta
Matthew Rimmer
Matthew Webb
Michael Carroll
Michael Geist
Michael Palmedo
Michael Smith
Miguel Morachimo
Meredith Jacob
Margot Kaminski
Pedro Mizukami
Peter Maybarduk
Pranesh Prakash
Rashmi Rangnath
Sangeeta Shashikant
Sara Bannerman
Stela Bivol
Sean Flynn
Stephanie Rosenberg
Susan Chalmers
Thiru Balasubramaniam
William Xu
Peter Yu

Comments on:

An error has occurred, which probably means the feed is down. Try again later.

Civil Society Documents

An error has occurred, which probably means the feed is down. Try again later.

Comments on:

An error has occurred, which probably means the feed is down. Try again later.

Author: REPOST

Rising Middle-IP Powers Dissolving the North/South Polarisation in the International IP System

Balancing Education and Copyright – Reflections after Conference on Copyright in Higher Education and Research

IFLA Sends Comments to the Senate of the Republic of Colombia on Copyright Reform

MSF: Open Letter to European Commissioner on EU India Free Trade Agreement and Its Impact on Access to Medicines

Copyright in Mercosur-EU Trade Agreement: A Little Better, But Mostly Worse

Defend Text and Data Mining in Europe

This Is Not How You Make Copyright Reform! Report from the Copyright Action Days

New Era for Copyright in Kyrgyzstan: Secondary School Children and People with Print Disabilities Benefit from the New Copyright Law

Congress Funds $5 Million Open Textbook Grant Program in 2018 Spending Bill

Project Gutenberg Blocks Access In Germany To All Its Public Domain Books Because Of Local Copyright Claim On 18 Of Them

EIFL’s Review of ‘Fairness’ in Partner Countries’ Copyright Laws

Debunking the Fair Use vs. Fair Dealing Myth: Have We Had Fair Use All Along?

European Educators Ask for a Better Copyright

Federal Judge Says Embedding a Tweet Can Be Copyright Infringement

How Copyright Law Is Holding Back Australian Creators

Delhi Declaration on Open Access

Licenses: We Are Past Copyright

EIFL RESPONDS TO IRISH MARRAKESH CONSULTATION

Civil Society Letter to NAFTA Negotiators: Do Not Undermine Access to Affordable Medicines

New Policy Paper on the 2017 Review of Public Sector Information Directive

Search

Follow

PIJIP

Infojustice Roundup

Free to Share

Blog Categories

Comments on:

Civil Society Documents

Comments on:

industry | infojustice