CALL FOR PAPERS – DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JAN 31: American University Symposium on the Right to Research in International Copyright Law
[PIJIP] The American University Washington College of Law Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP), American University International Law Review (AUILR), and the University of Amsterdam Institute for Information Law (IViR) are inviting papers for a Symposium on the Right to Research in International Copyright Law on April 21-22, 2022. We are tentatively planning to have this meeting in-person at American University Washington College of Law, in Washington D.C., depending on health advisories, and will also have remote participation options. Click here for more.
Text and Data Mining and Artificial Intelligence: New Exceptions to Copyright Law
[Andrés Izquierdo] Abstract: There is growing attention and discussion on how national laws or international agreements should allow or prevent the fundamental right to research through text and data mining (TDM). This article examines how copyright laws are beginning to regulate the subject matter. The analysis indicates the standards adopted or used to regulate text and data mining vary in their content and purpose from one country to another, which begins to generate a varied, inadequate, and incompatible international environment for research projects based in text and data mining and artificial intelligence. The article concludes with some thoughts regarding the right of research, artificial intelligence, data and text mining, and the creation of new limitations and exceptions to copyright law. Click here for more.
Vaccines, Medicines and COVID-19: How Can WHO Be Given a Stronger Voice?
[Germán Velásquez] The considerable health, economic and social challenge that the world faced in early 2020 with COVID-19 continued and worsened in many parts of the world in the second half of 2020 and into 2021. How can an agency like WHO be given a stronger voice to exercise authority and leadership? This book is a collection of research papers produced by the author between 2020 and early 2021 that helps answer this question. The topics address the state of thinking and debate – particularly with regard to medicines and vaccines – that would enable a response to this pandemic or subsequent crises that may emerge. Click here for more.
Competition Law and Access to Medicines: Lessons from Brazilian Regulation and Practice
[Matheus Z. Falcão, Mariana Gondo and Ana Carolina Navarrete] Competition law may play an important role in drug pricing control by containing high prices derived from economic violations. Since the use of competition tools is not limited by the TRIPS Agreement or other international binding disciplines, there is ample policy room to explore how countries, especially in the Global South, can benefit from strengthening their jurisdiction on that matter. Click here for more.
EU Copyright 20 Years After the InfoSoc Directive – Flexibility Needed More than Ever
[Martin Senftleben] EU copyright legislation has cultivated the constraining function of the three-step test known from Article 9(2) of the Berne Convention, Article 13 TRIPS and Article 10 of the WIPO Copyright Treaty. Instead of transposing into EU law the dualistic concept of these international provisions – the enabling function that creates room for the adoption of copyright limitations at the national level as well as the constraining function that sets limits to domestic copyright limitations – Article 5(5) of the 2001 Information Society Directive and Article 7(2) of the 2019 Digital Single Market Directive reduce the three-step test to the constraining function that further restricts copyright limitations and exceptions (L&Es) which are circumscribed precisely anyway. Click here for more.
Decolonising Copyright: Reconsidering Copyright Exclusivity and the Role of the Public Interest in International Intellectual Property Frameworks
[Jade Kouletakis] Abstract: International intellectual property frameworks conceive of copyright exclusivity as a largely individualistic, westernised and capitalistic benefit which must be balanced against and limited by the non-commercial, competing public interest. This is expressed primarily by way of limitations to and exceptions from the norm of exclusivity recognised within these frameworks. This article argues for an alternative interpretation of copyright exclusivity as being justified by the public interest. However, unlike the works of Geiger et al., this interpretation is not premised upon the constitutional and quasi-constitutional patterns accounting for the public interest foundations of IP. Instead, it is premised upon the conceptualisations of indigenous communities within the Global South relating to exclusivity over intangible property for the communal benefit. Click here for more.
Online Event: The Impact of a TRIPS COVID Waiver on Trade and Investment Agreements
[PIJIP | Feb 4 @ 10:00 EST] The event will feature a presentation of a new report by Federica Paddeu and Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan (see abstract below), followed by a round table discussion with international law experts. The Seminar is scheduled for 90 minutes in a public and recorded session, followed by a 30 minute off-camera virtual reception held under Chatham House Rule. Click here for more.