Open letter to the EU Ambassador to South Africa on copyright laws
[Association for Progressive Communications and International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions] … stakeholders across South Africa have being waiting for many years for the update of the country’s copyright laws. With the last reform having taken place 40 years ago, there is a pressing need to bring laws into the digital age, as well as to address the significant problems around the governance of rightholder organisations set out by the Farlam Commission. The resulting bill achieves many of these goals.
New Leadership at WIPO
[Teresa Hackett] In May 2020, member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) appointed Mr Daren Tang to WIPO’s top job in Geneva. As leader of WIPO, the global body that sets international law and policy on intellectual property issues, the new Director General takes charge of an organization whose direction on copyright determines how libraries do their work, especially in the digital environment. In this blog, Teresa Hackett, EIFL Copyright and Libraries Programme manager introduces the new Director General and sets out hopes for libraries under his leadership. EIFL has congratulated Tang on his appointment.
USTR gives South Africa a Special 301 Pass; GSP Sanction Unlikely
The United States Trade Representative’s Special 301 Report was published last week with one notable omission. Despite a concerted campaign by the International Intellectual Property Alliance, South Africa was not listed on any of the Report’s “Watch Lists” for its consideration of a sweeping copyright reform bill.
Implementing User Rights for Research in the Field of Artificial Intelligence: A Call for Action at the International Level
[Sean Flynn, Christophe Geiger and João Pedro Quintais] Last year, before the onset of a global pandemic highlighted the critical and urgent need for technology-enabled scientific research, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) launched an inquiry into issues at the intersection of intellectual property (IP) and artificial intelligence (AI). We and other members of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights contributed comments to that inquiry, with a focus on the application of copyright to the use of text and data mining technology. This blog, and the article it is based on, describes some of the most salient points of our submission and concludes by stressing the need for international leadership on this important topic.
Joint Comment to WIPO on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence
[Joint comment to WIPO endorsed by 16 members of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights] We submit this comment in response to the World Intellectual Property Organization request in relation to its work on the impact of artificial intelligence (Al) on intellectual property (IP)… We comment here only on the copyright related questions in section 13. Some of our comments with regard to the framing of the questions and defining the differences between AI, machine learning and text and data mining may apply more broadly to the entire document.
Statement to USTR at Review of South Africa’s GSP Benefits
Here, you are presented with quite a conundrum. The IIPA accepts that the US complies with international law with a fair use clause in addition to many specific exceptions, but argues that these same factors render the South Africa bill a violation of international law.
User Rights Network Members File Comments to USTR on the GSP Review of South Africa
PIJIP has created a page for comments submitted by members of the User Rights Network to the U.S. Trade Representative for its GSP Country Practice Review of South Africa. This review is being conducted in response to an IIPA petition critical of South Africa’s Copyright Amendments Act.
Request to Testify and Public Comment, re: GSP Review of South Africa
…I would like to start with the standard of review in this matter. As noted in the Federal Register Notice, and as included in the relevant statutes, the statutory standard is “adequate and effective intellectual property” … The plain language of the statutes would suggest that this is a minimum standard. South Africa has a full panoply of intellectual property rights statutes that meet the requirements of all relevant international treaties. The inquiry should end there.
Comment to USTR for the 2019 GSP Review of South Africa
[Mike Palmedo and Andres Izquierdo] Our submission demonstrates that it is common for countries to allow the use of copyrighted works for educational purposes – even full works – without the authorization of the copyright owner. We reviewed the copyright laws all the Members of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) and the WIPO Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) – a total of 38 countries.
Breaking the Impasse – Video from the Wits University Copyright Indaba
On December 2, Wits University hosted a Copyright Indaba where IP experts, academics, authors, creators and other stakeholders debated the issues around the constitutionality of the Copyright Amendment Bill. ReCreate South Africa has posted the following videos of the event.
