infojustice - Hosted by the American University Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Prop

Time 2020-12-10 17:04:32

Web Name: infojustice - Hosted by the American University Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Prop

WebSite: http://infojustice.org

ID:129861

Keywords:

the,American,University,

Description:

[December 11, 2020 | 7am EST] Eight months into COVID-19, what is the status of the international investment regime and access to essential medicines? The GDP Center’s Working Group on Trade and Access to Medicines will host a panel discussion on trade, investment regime, and access to essential medicines. The event is co-sponsored with the South Centre, an intergovernmental organization of developing nations based in Switzerland. Read More [Jorge L. Contreras, Michael B. Eisen, Ariel Ganz, Mark A. Lemley, Jenny Molloy, Diane Peters, and Frank Tietze] Abstract: COVID-19 differs from other recent public health crises with respect to its sudden onset, its rapid spread, the lack of any known vaccine or cure and resulting shortages of critical medical equipment. The convergence of these factors has prompted both governments and IPR holders around the world to seek ways to increase the availability of IPR necessary to combat the pandemic. Governmental compulsory licensing, IPR pools and voluntary IPR pledges have all been used in the past, though in situations that differ in important respects from the COVID-19 pandemic. Each is designed to result, to a greater or lesser degree, in a publicly-accessible “commons” of rights and technologies that are broadly available for use to support an important public health goals. Here, we compare and contrast these differing approaches to IPR commons formation and assess their suitability to address the COVID-19 crisis. Read More [Teresa Nobre] In November, Communia participated in the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) 40th session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), the most important forum at the global level for copyright rulemaking Communia and other civil society observers were expecting the Committee to consider the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on these public interest activities, and take appropriate action. However, WIPO member states had previously decided that, due to the format of the meeting, they would not engage in negotiations on any of the items on their agenda. Therefore, despite references to the problems caused by the pandemic in several Delegations’ statements, none put forward any proposal to deal with these issues. Click here for more. Read More [Kylie Pappalardo] In August, the communications minister announced a series of changes to copyright laws to “better support the needs of Australians and public institutions to access material in an increasingly digital environment”. These changes are long overdue. But the year is ending, and we are yet to see the legislation. The most important change is to ensure access to so-called orphan works. Read More [Vitor Henrique Pinto Ido] Abstract: Competition law and policy has become an important tool for countries to promote access to pharmaceuticals. How can countries design and enforce competition policies that are suitable to the particularities of developing countries? What are the main anti-competitive tactics in the pharmaceutical sector, and how should they be dealt with? This paper deals with these issues, taking into account the socio-economic relevance of access to health products Read More [Muhammad Zaheer Abbas] Abstract: This paper highlights why it is important for national governments to support the collaborative and coordinated effort of the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility for the timely development and efficient delivery of potential COVID-19 vaccines. It concludes that an effective response to the current health and economic crisis should be guided by values of international solidarity, multilateralism, equality, and global collaboration. It proposes the adoption of an enforceable global framework to address the concerns arising from the combination of vaccine nationalism and intellectual property exclusivities. Read More [Brook Baker] The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) has announced a new licensing agreement for dolutegravir (DTG) with ViiV for four countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia) excluded from earlier licensing agreements. Reports about this new announcement, which resulted from negotiations that directly involved the affected countries’ governments (unlike many past MPP licenses), have missed significant shortcomings in the deal. Read More [IFLA] The 40th meeting of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights was far from what was expected when IFLA and others last left Geneva in October 2019, at the end of the 39th meeting. The dates had changed (the meeting had been planned for July), the WIPO Director General had changed (Daren Tang took over on 1 October), and of course the format had changed, with all but a handful of those involved doing so via an online platform. Despite all that was different, the meeting nonetheless brought clarity around the long-standing challenges that the SCCR will need to overcome if it is to prove its relevance as a forum for delivering on fundamental rights and the Sustainable Development Goals. Read More When the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the world in early 2020, most educational institutions from Dublin to Delhi were forced to close their classroom doors and take their teaching online. Textbooks were abandoned in student lockers and library books left untouched on shelves. Teachers had to pivot to remote delivery methods to ensure that students could successfully complete the ill-fated semester. But amidst the rapid move to Zoom Rooms, Course Moodles, home-recorded lectures, and posted PDFs, copyright restrictions reared their heads, casting into doubt the legality of the online learning practices that had suddenly become nothing short of necessary. Read More [Xiaoping We and Bassam Peter Khazin] Abstract: This working paper provides an overview of the patent landscape of medical treatments and technologies related to COVID-19, and of the patent status of two investigational medical treatments: remdesivir and lopinavir/ritonavir. It then presents various patent-related actions taken by legislators, policymakers, industry sectors, and civil society organizations in WTO Members since the outbreak. Furthermore, it elaborates on patent-related policy options provided by the TRIPS Agreement, and WTO Members national implementation and utilization of these options in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More [PIJIP] Covid-19 has forced schools and universities around the world to abruptly move online, necessitating the reproduction and sharing of works in the digital environment. Yet many nations copyright exceptions for education fail to protect user rights online. In his statement before the 40th World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), Professor Sean Flynn proposed a Doha Declaration for Covid to explain and promote the current flexibilities in the international system, and encourage their expansive interpretation to fulfil human rights. Read More [Teresa Nobre] In our capacity of permanent observers of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), we are attending the 40th session of the Committee, which is taking place in a hybrid format of in-person and online participation from 16 to 20 November 2020. The following is the statement made on behalf of Communia on limitations and exceptions for educational and research institutions and for persons with other disabilities. Read More [Médecins Sans Frontières] On 19 November 2020, more than 100 civil society organisations, including MSF Access Campaign, sent an open letter to European Parliament calling for support for India, South Africa, Eswatini and Kenya´s landmark proposal for a temporary waiver from certain intellectual property (IP) provisions under the Agreements on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for COVID-19 medical technologies. Read More The Regional Cooperation for Economic Partnership (RCEP), signed on November 15, 2020 by sixteen countries in the Asia Pacific region, includes language on copyright exceptions that builds on provisions that appeared in the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) and the Korea US Free Trade Agreement (KORUS). Read More [Maurizio Borghi] Abstract: The paper explores possible ways of construing copyright exceptions as users’ rights within the EU legal framework. It discusses some basic principles on the legal nature of exceptions, and then focuses more specifically on EU law and the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The paper shows that the CJEU has moved away from a strict interpretation of exceptions as “derogations” to general principles of copyright protection, towards recognition of exceptions as bearing autonomous legal status. Read More South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill had been sitting on the desk of President Cyril Ramaphosa for over a year, waiting to be signed into law. But instead of signing the bill, the President returned it to parliament citing constitutional concerns with certain aspects, including new exceptions for libraries, education and persons with disabilities. If enacted, the bill would have helped teaching, learning and research during COVID-19 lockdowns. Instead South Africans are forced to struggle under the current, outdated law. EIFL guest blogger Denise R. Nicholson, Scholarly Communications Librarian, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, discusses challenges and issues. Read More Patent pledges are voluntary commitments made by patent holders without monetary compensation to refrain from asserting their patent rights to the fullest degree. Such pledges have been around for decades and appear in industries ranging from software to automotive to green tech to biotech Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, firms and institutions around the world have pledged patents and other intellectual property rights to assist with the pandemic response. These efforts include unilateral pledges such as those made by ventilator manufacturer Medtronic and vaccine maker Moderna as well as coordinated pledge efforts such as the Open COVID Pledge and the Japan-based Open COVID-19 Declaration. Read More [Ratnaria Wahid Ida Madieha Abdul Ghani AzmiAbstract] While education is considered a basic human right, the copyright system seems to hamper public access to information and knowledge. This is especially so when information that largely comes from developed countries are used as commodities that have to be bought by developing countries. This paper compares the international and national laws in Malaysia, United Kingdom and Australia on the copyright exceptions to materials used for teaching purposes. Read More QUT Media, 11 November 2020 11th November 2020 A multi-stranded strategy is needed to reach the lofty goal of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame (CREATE), says a chief investigator and... Read More [Anthony Rosborough] Abstract: This analysis examines the impact of software technological protection measures (“TPMs”) in the European Union which inhibit the repair and maintenance of products. Using John Deere tractors as a case study, this analysis addresses the growing number of products which incorporate computerization and TPM-protected software into their design and function. In utilizing software integration and TPMs, many product designs now allow manufacturers to retain considerable control over the manner of repair and choice of technician. In response, consumers and lawmakers are calling for legal reforms to make self-repair and servicing easier. Both the competition law and moral implications of this residual control held by manufacturers are examined in this analysis. Read More

TAGS:the American University 

<<< Thank you for your visit >>>

Public interest intellectual property news and analysis, with a focus on copyright user rights, access to knowledge goods, and innovation. Host of the 2018 Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest.

Hot Websites