Category: Africa: Copyright & Public Interest

by Sanya Samtani On 7 May 2025, the Constitutional Court of South Africa handed down judgment in Blind SA v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others [2025] ZACC 9 (‘Blind SA II’). The judgment read-in an immediately...

Jonathan Band On May 6, 2025, the United Kingdom (UK) and India announced that they had reached agreement on a bilateral free trade deal that includes a chapter on intellectual property.However, no...

By Andres Izquierdo As WIPO’s Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) prepares to meet for its 34th session this May, an important question is back on the table: Are we doing enough to support access to...

The Forty-Sixth Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) concluded with modest but meaningful progress on key agenda items, including on the Broadcasting...

On March 19th, 2025, an informal group of countries known as “Intellectual Property (IP) for Development” -Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, India and Pakistan- hosted an informal side event, on the margins of the regular TRIPS...

In a Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) post made earlier today by James Love, KEI announced that it will host an informal roundtable on the WIPO broadcast treaty text that will be discussed at the WIPO SCCR 46 meeting from...

Professor Sean Flynn delivered the following statement at the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Trademarks on the proposal by the United States and others for a Joint Recommendation on Graphical User...

The 48th session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) is considering two submissions from various delegations on Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). A...

Allan Rocha de Souza;1 Luca Schirru;2 Leon Queiroz Ramos3  In Brazil, 2024 has been quite eventful regarding copyright, with the debate seemingly returning to center stage. The Senate’s approval of Bill 2338/23 (AI Bill)...

By ReCreate South Africa The cost of excluding billions of people in Africa and the Global South from access to knowledge could be huge for future generations. Knowledge-sharing in Africa is not always transactional, and the...

COMMUNIA recently made a submission to a call for evidence on the evaluation of the Geo-blocking Regulation which the European Commission is set to review the rules for this year. This regulation governs geo-blocking, including...

On March 19, 2025, a side event will take place during the regular WTO TRIPS Council session, organized by Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, India, and Pakistan. The event will review 30 years of the TRIPS agreement, focusing on its...

By: Chidi Oguamanam Chidi Oguamanam, representative of Nigeria and University of Ottowa Professor of Law, provides analysis of the failure to endorse a new consolidated text by the 50th session of the World Intellectual Property...

Lokesh Vyas; Luca Schirru; Sean Flynn  Members of the research team from the Program of Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP)’ Geneva Center published a “Documentary History of the Broadcast Treaty in the...

Sean Flynn The Cradle Principles on Knowledge Governance were released today at the 50th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore at the World...

By Andres Izquierdo, Yara Misto, & Haddija Jawara The latest session of the WIPO Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Working Group was marked by intense debate over agenda item 16, which addressed the implications of the...

Sean Flynn and Luca Schirru Last year, two new intellectual property treaties were adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization — one on the disclosure of uses of genetic resources in patent applications and a...

Allan Rocha de Souza [1] and Luca Schirru [2] On November 18 and 19, the G20 highest representatives met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when they issued the 2024 conclusive document of the Brazilian Presidency, the Leaders of the...

By Jonathan Band The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit just issued a decision that on its surface appears to be a straightforward interpretation of the Copyright Act, but likely will have far reaching implications for...