REPOST

REPOST

  • Joined: March 14, 2011
  • Articles: 725

Updated Study Finds Revenues from the New Creative Economy Grew 15% To $7 Billion In Just One Year

[Re:Create Coalition] Today the Re:Create Coalition released the second annual report on the economic value of the New Creative Economy, documenting that 16.9 million independent, American creators earned a baseline of $6.8 billion from posting their music, videos, art, crafts and other works online in 2017. Building upon last year’s study, the updated report found the number of new creators grew by 2.4 million (16.6%) and total revenues grew by 14.8%. Moreover, these results cover only nine leading online platforms for Americans participating in the New Creative Economy: Amazon Publishing, eBay, Etsy, Instagram, Shapeways, Tumblr, Twitch, WordPress and YouTube.

2019 Will Be a Busy Year for User Rights’ Advocates at WIPO

[Teresa Nobre] In the age of connectivity, it is not enough to fight for better copyright laws for users in certain regions of the world. We need to advocate for baseline international standards that allow cross-border uses of copyrighted materials, for purposes such as access to knowledge and education, in each and every country of the world. That is why public interest advocates, Communia included, keep investing their energies in the international discussions on copyright exceptions, using their capacities of permanent observers of the WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR).

Open Access Advocates See End Of US Copyright Term Extension Act As Win For Commons

[David Branigan] Open access advocates in the United States are celebrating the expiration, and non-renewal, of the Copyright Term Extension Act, which introduces into the public domain all works from 1923, and signals an end of the practice by US lawmakers to continually extend the terms of copyright protection. Leading figures from groups such as Creative Commons and Wikimedia Foundation gathered to discuss why this shift in policy took place, and what it means for the public domain. They asserted that this change is the result of a general acceptance of the value of “the commons,” brought on in part by the era of the internet.

OPEN SCIENCE ON THE MOVE IN SERBIA

[Milica Sevkusic] In July 2018, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (MESTD) of the Republic of Serbia adopted a national open science policy. As the MESTD is the main national funder of research in Serbia, this policy, titled the Open Science Platform, serves as the national open science policy. The MESTD policy mandates deposits of all publicly-funded research in open access (OA) repositories, and recommends OA to research data. It also states that research institutions should adopt institutional open science policies within six months of the launch of the policy, using the national policy as a framework - and thus ensuring implementation of the national policy at the institutional level.

Joint Letter from 71 Civil Society Groups to Congress on NAFTA 2.0 and Medicine Prices

The undersigned organizations representing healthcare providers, patients, public health experts, workers, people of faith, and consumers are committed to advancing public health and promoting access to affordable medicines. Access to affordable healthcare and medicines is one of few demands that now unites the American public. We write to you today with concern that provisions currently included in the proposed NAFTA 2.0 (referred to by the Trump administration as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement) would entrench and expand prescription drug monopoly protections, thwart competition and thus undermine efforts to expand access to affordable medicines.

Ahead of Last Trilogue: On Balance the Directive Is Bad for Users and Creators in Europe

[Communia Association] Today we are launching a new minisite called “Internet is for the people” that provides an overall assessment of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. Our assessment takes into consideration all the key parts of the Directive. In order to do this, we analysed nine different issues that are included (or have not been included) in the proposal for the Directive: Upload Filters, the Press Publishers Right, Text and Data mining, access to Cultural Heritage, Education, the protection of the Public Domain, a Right to Remix, Freedom of Panoramaand Fair Remuneration for Authors and Performers. Each issue was then scored, allowing us to provide an overall score of the Directive based on an understanding of all elements of the proposal.

Singapore Copyright Review – Enhancing Creators’ Rights and Users’ Access to Copyrighted Works

[Singapore Ministry of Law] The Ministry of Law (MinLaw) will amend the Copyright Act to update Singapore’s copyright regime to better support creators and the use and enjoyment of creative works in the digital age. The proposed changes include better recognising creators for their work, allowing easier access to copyrighted materials for educational purposes and supporting creators and users in the collective licensing of copyrighted works. These changes are outlined in the Singapore Copyright Review Report released by MinLaw and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) today.

A Huge Win for Open Data in the United States

[SPARC] President Trump today signed into law the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act, a sweeping, government-wide mandate requiring U.S. federal agencies to publish all non-sensitive government information – including federally-funded research – as open data.

Germany’s Non-Paper on Art. 13 Screams “Houston, We Have a Problem”

[Teresa Nobre] ... Germany proposes to mitigate the negative effects of art. 13 by 1) exempting platforms with a turnover of up to 20 Mio. Euros per year from the obligations imposed by art. 13., 2) exempting platforms from liability in certain situations (e.g. if they made best efforts to obtain an authorization from the rightsholders), and 3) introducing a mandatory EU-wide user-generated content exception to copyright, subject to the payment of a fair remuneration to the rightsholders.

Time to put a Stop to The Abuse of Orphan Drug Regulation: The Latest Scandal

[Ellen 't Hoen] Today, the Dutch Medical Journal (Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde) reported on the case of lutetium-octreotaat, a cancer drug developed by researchers in the Dutch Erasmus medical centre in Rotterdam. For the last 18 years, the hospital pharmacy made the medicine to treat their patients, keeping prices relatively low. But now the drug is being marketed by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis, and its price has skyrocketed to Euro 23,000 an infusion from an original price of Euro 4,000 an infusion. This takes the price of a complete treatment of 4 infusions to nearly Euro 100,000, a price point at which health insurers no longer wish to reimburse its use.

Education International Openning Statement to the 37th WIPO the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)

[Nikola Wachter] ... Restrictive copyright regimes and, in fact, the lack of an international copyright instrument that addresses cross-border online collaboration and exchange does not empower teachers, ESP and researchers but creates barriers for them in their daily work. For all these reasons EI endorsed TERA, a draft treaty on copyright exceptions and limitations for educational and research activities.