American University International Law Review to Host Symposium on the Right to Research in International Copyright Law
[PIJIP] On April 22, the American University International Law Review will host its 2022 public symposium. This year’s symposium is organized around a core question: How should international copyright law protect rights to produce and access research materials? The in-person event is open to the public, and will be webcast. Click here for more.
MSF Urges Governments to Reject the Draft COVID-19 Text at WTO That Would Set a Negative Precedent
[Médecins Sans Frontières] Almost one and a half years since India and South Africa first proposed a landmark intellectual property (IP) Waiver for COVID-19 medical tools at the World Trade Organization (WTO), a draft text that had been under discussion by several governments was leaked in mid-March. Following a thorough analysis of the leaked text, Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) strongly urges all governments to reject this draft text, as it does not provide a meaningful solution to facilitate increasing people’s access to needed medical tools during the pandemic that has cost more than six million lives already, and in fact would set a negative precedent for future global health challenges. Click here for more: Press Release | Analysis of Agreement Text
See also: D. Ravi Kanth for the Third World Network. WTO Director General Calls for “convergence-Building” on Controversial Issues for the 12th Ministerial Conference. Link.
The Liability of Internet Service Providers for Copyright Infringement in Sri Lanka: A Comparative Analysis
[Justice Dr. Ruwan Fernando] There are laws in force in many countries to limit the liability of an ISP for the infringement of copyright that takes place on its networks. An ISP in Sri Lanka may not enjoy the same privilege for the infringement of unauthorised material initiated by its users or third parties on their networks. The current law is unlikely to provide adequate protection for the legitimate activities of ISPs in an attempt to minimize the vulnerability against copyright infringement claims. Click here for more.
Reverse Payment: A Comparative Study
[Garry Gabison and Zaakir Tameez] Abstract: This Article compares reverse payment settlements, also known as pay-for-delay deals, in the United States and Europe. These deals occur where a branded drug manufacturer sues, settles with, and pays a generic manufacturer to delay the entry of its generic. Unlike the United States, which has a decentralized drug purchasing system, European healthcare systems such as those in France and the United Kingdom wield monopsony buying power over drugs. We investigate whether regulator and monopsony power can neutralize these anticompetitive agreements. Click here for more.
Forfeiting IP
[Deepa Varadarajan] Abstract: Can intellectual property (IP) rights be lost? Much attention has been paid to how IP rights are acquired and whether threshold requirements are too laxed or onerous. But surprisingly little attention has been paid to the question of IP forfeiture. That is, once IP rights are acquired, what—if anything—do owners have to do to keep those rights or risk losing them forever. The answer, it turns out, varies widely across the IP landscape and has important consequences for follow-on innovation, competition, and the public domain. Click here for more.
Fahrenheit 2020: Torching the Internet’s Library of Alexandria at the Height of a Global Pandemic
[Stephen Beemsterboer] Abstract: For more than a decade, the Internet Archive has been collecting and digitizing books as part of its “Open Library” project. The unofficial e-books are made available to the public under a legally untested concept called “controlled digital lending” (CDL), premised on the notion that libraries should be able to lend their books online in much the same way that they do in person. Under the theory, a library may grant restricted digital access to one patron at a time per physically held copy of a book. Once a patron’s access to the book ends, another’s may begin. The process is meant to digitally replicate a physical library loan, and it works just like borrowing an official e-book through a local library. Click here for more.