OCTOBER 25-29: #IP Week – Sponsored by the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest
Next week the organizers of the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest will host IP Week 2021. The schedule is being finalized, and will be made public here: https://2021.globalcongressip.org/en/2021/10/14/complete-program/

PIJIP will host three items on the #IP Week 2020 agenda:

  • Oct 26 | Panel: Recent Policy Advances on Limitations and Exceptions to Promote Fulfilment of Human Rights to Education. Link.
  • Oct 26 | Global Talk: The Impact of Data Exclusivity on Pharmaceutical Import Prices. Link.
  • Oct 27 | Panel: Mapping the World of Copyright Limitations and Exceptions. Link.

Call for Submissions Extended to Oct 20: #IP Week Workshop on Copyright and the Digital Economy

[Pedro Mizukami] InternetLab, Fundación Karisma, and the Ford Foundation would like to invite you to a  workshop session on copyright and the digital economy held on October 28 and 29 as part of the 2021 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest’s  #IPWEEK2021. In line with the Global Congress mandate of bridging research and advocacy, the workshop will provide participants with a forum to present materials for feedback and discussion, in a structured, dynamic format, with opportunities for publication in two different tracks. Deadline Extended to October 20, 2021. Click here for more. 

Letter to Biden Seeks to Ensure Copyright Is Included in the Proposed TRIPS Waiver – Receives Pushback From Sen. Tillis

[PIJIP] On September 27, PIJIP signed onto a civil society letter to President Biden regarding the proposed TRIPS waiver under debate at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The TRIPS wavier would suspend certain WTO obligations to protect intellectual property in situations where they are hampering the fight against Covid-19. It was originally proposed by South Africa and India. The TRIPS waiver now has the support of a majority of WTO Members, but Members have different opinions over how broad or narrow it should be. The letter, endorsed by PIJIP as well as 11 civil society groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Wikimedia Foundation, argues that the scope of rights covered by the wavier should include “all intellectual property rights” – including copyright. Click here for more. 

EU’s Proposal on Convergence on WTO TRIPS Waiver Only Addresses Compulsory Licensing on Patents, Ignores Trade Secrets, and Is Wholly Inadequate to Solve Inequitable Access

[Brook Baker] The EU draft proposal entitled “Ideas on the points of convergence on the TRIPS issues for discussion” (below) tries to make a silk purse out of a cow’s ear, by relying on moderately revised compulsory licensing on patents as the sole IP solution to the glaring problem of artificially restricted supplies, profiteering prices, and grossly inequitable distribution of COVID-19 health products. … the EU convergence would lead us back to the swamp of ineffectual solutions at best under the guise of a breakthrough compromise. Click here for more.

Nigeria Quietly, But Surely, Embracing Balance, Openness and Flexibility in Her Copyright Regime?

[Desmond Oriakhogba] Sometime in 2012, Nigeria began the process of reforming her over three-decade old copyright law. The extant Copyright Act was enacted in 1988, with some amendments in the early and late 90s. The reform process led to the production of a Draft Copyright Bill (DCB), which was open for comments sometime in 2015 by the Nigeria Copyright Commission (NCC), to repeal the extant Act and re-enact a new Act in Nigeria. Click here for more. 

US-China Intellectual Property Trade Wars

[Peter Yu] Abstract: More than two decades ago, the literature on the Chinese intellectual property system was filled with commentaries on the trade threats exchanged between the United States and China in relation to the inadequate protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in the latter. At that time, China has not yet joined the World Trade Organization. In the past few years, we once again have been confronted with multiple rounds of trade threats—this time as part of a trade war, which has thus far involved tariffs on close to $750 billion worth of goods. Although the current U.S.-China trade war implicates many items ranging from agricultural produce to electronic goods to financial services, inadequate protection and enforcement of  intellectual property rights in China remains one of the few oft-cited justifications. Click here for more.