[Anna Mazgal, Communia Association, Link (CC-0)] The education exception benefits teachers, students, and researchers who need access to all types of educational and informational resources that are often protected by copyright. This exception balances the right to education with the…
[Anna Mazgal, Communia Association, Link (CC-0)] The parody exception cultivates the French tradition of satire. When the goal is to make people laugh, anybody can freely create a distinctively different mockery of a protected work. This encourages creativity and freedom…
Copyright Advisory Group to the COAG Education Council Executive summary: Australia’s copyright laws operate as a serious roadblock to preparing children to be the creators and innovators of the future. Government policy and community expectations require schools to take an increasing…
India must resist pressure from US lawmakers and pharmaceutical industry groups to block access to key medicines for millions of people worldwide [Médecins Sans Frontières, Link] New York/New Delhi, June 2, 2016—As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepares to address…
[IP Watch, Link (CC-BY-NC-SA)] The German Constitutional Court today ruled in favour of the “freedom to sample” – or freedom to remix – in a case between the singer/songwriter Sabrina Setlur and the band Kraftwerk. The latter had filed complaints…
[Kyla Tienhaara and Belinda Townsend, East Asia Forum, Link] On 2 May 2016, US President Barack Obama published an op-ed in the Washington Post in an attempt to bolster support for the highly controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP has…
[Timothy Vollmer, Creative Commons, Link, (CC-BY)] Uruguay is in the process of updating its copyright law, and in April a bill was preliminarily approved in the Senate. The law introduces changes that would benefit students, librarians, researchers, and the general…
[House Ways and Means Committee Democrats, Link] A group of 15 House Democrats today sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman urging the Administration to clarify its position on compulsory licensing for generic medicines in Colombia. The…
[Andy, TorrentFreak, Link (CC-BY-NC)] The operator of a site that hosted fan-made translated movie subtitles has been prosecuted in Sweden. Undertexter.se was raided by police in the summer of 2013, despite many feeling that the site had done nothing wrong.…
[Fundacion Karisma, Link (CC-BY-SA)] Two final hearings took place in May 2016, in the criminal proceedings that Colombian biologist Diego Gomez is facing for alleged copyright infringement. “Whom do you hurt the most when there is no scientific information for…
AB 2880 will give state and local governments dramatic powers to chill speech, stifle open government, and harm the public domain. [Ernesto Falcon, EFF, Link (CC-BY)] The California Assembly Committee on Judiciary recently approved a bill (AB 2880) to grant…
[Médecins Sans Frontières, Link] Gilead Sciences has been seeking patents in India for the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir. The patent applications have been challenged by groups of people living with hepatitis C and HIV through ‘pre-grant oppositions.’ The patent just…