Criminal Enforcement of Copyright and Unintended Consequences
[Heesob Nam] Soon after the signing of the Korea-US FTA (“KORUS”) in June 2007, South Korea experienced a dramatic increase of complaints of copyright crime from 2007. Around one hundred thousands of persons were accused of copyright infringement in a year, and juvenile’s victims occupied 24% in 2008. Click here for more.
Webinar: Is Data Exclusivity Justified? Evidence on the Impacts on Innovation and Access to Medicines
[Graduate Institute Geneva Global Health Centre] The information required to register a medicine may be the subject of an exclusivity period, which can delay the availability of generic medicines by impeding competition from other suppliers and thus, maintain high medicine prices. The length of exclusivity periods and the types of technologies covered varies. Countries face constant pressure to provide this during negotiations of trade agreements. What is the justification behind data exclusivity? And what are its impacts? Reed Beall will present a study (above), which reviewed the pre-market development times for all new drugs approved in the US over the past decade…. Mayra Vásquez and Miguel Cortés will present a study (above) that examined the impacts of data exclusivity 10 years after its introduction in Colombia. Click here for more.
Monitoring and Filtering: European Reform, or Global Trend?
[Giancarlo Frosio and Sunimal Mendis] Abstract: …Article 17 of the newly enacted EU Directive on the Digital Single Market has come under fire for the heightened level of liability it imposes on online services providers (OSPs) for copyright infringing content stored or transmitted by them. Based on an analysis of case-law from multiple jurisdictions and an overview of industry practice, this chapter seeks to locate the new European reform within a much wider global trend that aims to impose proactive monitoring and filtering obligations on OSPs. Click here for more.
House Judiciary Leaders Chastise USTR for IP ‘Safe Harbor’ Language in USMCA
The leaders of the House Judiciary Committee this week knocked U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer for using the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement to enshrine a controversial U.S. law that protects internet service providers from financial liability if their platforms host unauthorized copyrighted content. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and ranking member Doug Collins (R-GA), in a Sept. 17 letter, told Lighthizer USTR should not have negotiated language that mirrors Section 512 of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act because the dial-up internet-era language is being reviewed. They also implored him not to include it in future deals. Click here for more on insidetrade.com.
MSF: US Should Not Make Trade Commitments with India that Threaten Access to Medicine
[Médecins Sans Frontières Press Release] Ahead of a meeting President Donald Trump will hold this weekend with Indian officials to discuss a trade package between the two countries, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) urges both governments to not make any commitments that would hurt people’s health by limiting their access to lifesaving medicines. Weakening India’s current intellectual property policies would affect millions of people who rely on affordable generic medicines produced in India, including people in the United States. Click here for more.
New York Public Library Project Reveals Nearly 75% of Books from 1924-1964 Are Likely in the Public Domain
[Author’s Alliance] Earlier this year, the New York Public Library (NYPL) announced preliminary results from an analysis of copyright registration and renewal data recorded with the U.S. Copyright Office from 1923-1964. The data reveals that of the approximately 642,000 copyrights registered for books during this period, the copyrights for approximately 162,000 (or 25%) of these books were renewed. This means that the roughly 480,000 books for which copyright was not renewed are most likely in the public domain (with a few caveats—for example, if the book was first published abroad). Click here for more.
