Non-Patent Intellectual Property Barriers to COVID-19 Vaccines, Treatment and Containment
[Sean Flynn, Erica Nkrumah and Luca Schirru] Abstract: As the World Trade Organization considers a proposal to waive or otherwise address intellectual property barriers to the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the attention given by scholars and policy makers has been focused on patents. The original proposals by South Africa and India, as well as the groundbreaking support of the United States, however, explicitly applied to all forms of intellectual property. This paper documents many instances where non-patent forms of intellectual property create barriers to the global scale up of access to vaccines, treatments, and the ability to contain the virus through social distancing. Addressing the full scope of such barriers would assist the global efforts to combat COVID-19. Click here for more.
WEBINAR: Research Exceptions in Comparative Copyright
[Lecture by Sean Flynn, Jointly sponsored by IVIR, PIJIP and CODAIP | Nov. 4 | 12:00 EDT, 17:00 CET] Recent scholarship has highlighted the positive impact on scholarship of copyright exceptions for text and data mining and of more “open” exceptions for research uses. Until now, however, there has not been a collection and categorization of the world’s copyright laws according to the degree to which they provide exceptions for research. In this lecture the results of the first such study will be discussed. The study shows that every copyright law in the world has at least one exception to promote research uses of copyrighted works, but that such exceptions vary widely between countries. Click here for more.
Librarian of Congress Adopts Research-Friendly Exemptions to Section 1201
[Jonathan Band] On October 27, 2021, the Librarian of Congress issued new exemptions to the prohibition on the circumvention of technological protection measures set forth in the 17 U.S.C. 1201. Several of these exemptions adopted in the triennial section 1201 rulemaking explicitly support research activities. Moreover, the 350-page recommendation of the Register of Copyright, on which the Librarian based the exemptions, provided a detailed analysis of the lawfulness of the underlying research activity necessitating the exemption. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration generally concurred with the Register’s recommendations. The exemptions and their supporting documents reflect the broad right to research in current U.S. copyright law. Click here for more.
The Civil Rights Challenge to Gene Patenting
[Jorge Contreras] In 2009, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) launched a unique lawsuit against Myriad Genetics, challenging fifteen claims of seven patents covering various aspects of the BRCA1/2 genes and their use in diagnosing risk for breast and ovarian cancer. In mounting this case, the ACLU assembled a coalition of lawyers, scientists, counselors, patients and advocates in an unprecedented challenge not only to one company’s patents, but the entire practice of gene patenting in America. And, against the odds, they won. In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics that naturally occurring DNA sequences are not patentable, a ruling that has had repercussions throughout the scientific community and the biotechnology industry. Click here for more.
See also: Jorge Contreras for CNN. Don’t Let Gene Patents Make A Comeback. Link.
Compulsory Licensing vs. the IP Waiver: What Is the Best Way to End the COVID-19 Pandemic?
[Olga Gurgula] This policy brief examines the currently discussed proposals at the World Trade Organization (WTO) that aim to resolve the problem of the production shortages of COVID-19 vaccines. This includes the two key submissions, i.e. the proposal by South Africa and India on the Intellectual Property (IP) waiver, partially supported by the United States (US), and the European Union (EU) proposal to clarify the use of compulsory licensing. Click here for more.
Medicines Patent Pool Signs First COVID-19 License Agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme: Others Must Follow
[Medicines Law & Policy] The Medicines Patent Pool, a UN-backed organisation whose mission is to expand access to essential medicines around the world, today announced its first agreement on a Covid-19 therapy. The deal comes in the form of a licence and technology transfer agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) on molnupiravir, an investigational therapy for Covid-19 patients. The Medicines Patent Pool expanded its mandate to include Covid-19 technologies in March 2020. Click here for more.
Giant, Free Index to World’s Research Papers Released Online
[Holly Else] In a project that could unlock the world’s research papers for easier computerized analysis, an American technologist has released online a gigantic index of the words and short phrases contained in more than 100 million journal articles — including many paywalled papers. The catalogue, which was released on 7 October and is free to use, holds tables of more than 355 billion words and sentence fragments listed next to the articles in which they appear. It is an effort to help scientists use software to glean insights from published work even if they have no legal access to the underlying papers, says its creator, Carl Malamud. He released the files under the auspices of Public Resource, a non-profit corporation in Sebastopol, California, that he founded. Click here for the full story on Nature.
The Natural Right To Parody: Assessing The (Potential) Parody/Satire Dichotomies In American And Canadian Copyright Laws
[Amy Lai] This paper argues that the right to expressing oneself through parodies should constitute part of the core freedom of expression of a normative copyright regime. By drawing upon natural law legal theories, the paper proposes a legal definition of parody that would help to bring the copyright jurisprudence of a jurisdiction more in line with its free speech tradition. It argues that a broad parody definition, one that encompasses a great variety of expressive works but would not compete with the original and its derivatives in the market, is preferable to a narrow one. The paper then explains why the parody defence in American law and the parody exception in the Canadian copyright statute should follow the proposed parody definition, which would properly balance the rights of copyright owners with those of users. Click here for more.
