As World Intellectual Property Organization members gather this week to nominate one candidate to lead the organization for the next 6 years, many are urging a look past politics to see candidates for the skills and abilities they bring. But with six highly qualified candidates, and the advantage for countries of holding what is seen as a plum global post, members are likely feeling pressure over their votes.
Read MoreThe last in a series of World Intellectual Property Organization regional seminars on copyright limitations and exceptions concluded with broad agreement that exceptions in Latin America are inadequate to cater to the needs of education and research in the digital world, including through the work of libraries, archives and museums, according to participants. But complaints continued from beneficiary communities that the discussion in the seminars was steered away from the topic of how international law could help remedy the problems identified.
Read MoreThe World Intellectual Property Organization, a United Nations agency, has come under fire from a range of regional and global groups representing key public interest components of the copyright system for unfairly catering to rights holder interests in an ongoing series of regional meetings, resulting in sharply biased outcomes of the meetings. The groups say they were excluded from participating on equal footing with other stakeholders, giving days of extra time to others to lobby officials from national and regional copyright offices. This provides support for the notion that WIPO and the copyright system are pursuing a mission to protect copyright holders, they argue, ignoring other creators, the public interest, and exceptions and limitations.
Read MoreEarlier this year, the EU passed a sweeping new copyright directive that includes new requirements that Internet platforms filter social media uploads for potential copyright violations. Some creator groups – especially in the music sector – have been applauding the law and proposing that it be adopted elsewhere. But a growing number of copyright experts from around the world have begun preaching caution. `
Read MoreA broad coalition of creators and access to knowledge advocates have petitioned the President of South Africa to urgently sign the Copyright Amendment Bill before him. The petition (https://www.re-createza.org/) is endorsed by organizations representing over half a million South African creators, teachers, people with disabilities and others who rely on copyright access and protection. It calls for the President to sign the Bill “without delay,” including to enact into copyright law “a transformative vision for a more equal and just society.” The petition is the latest step in a decades long campaign to enact development- focused copyright reform that is sensitive to South Africa’s particular social and economic context.
Read MoreOn April 17, several generations of experts gathering at American University law school to remember, retell and relive highlights of 25 years of public interest advocacy around copyright and information access, and to look ahead – all with a focus on the unifying guidance of library advocate Prudence Adler, known to all as “Prue.”
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