Sean Flynn

Sean Flynn

  • Joined: January 24, 2011
  • Articles: 239

Book Review -The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America by Margaret O’Mara

One of the stories in Margaret O’Mara’s excellent history of the technology industry in the United States focuses on the role of women as the first computer programmers in the post-World War II technology boom. Back then, she explains, there were want ads for men and for women. Computer programmers – called coders to reinforce a perceived nature of the job as clerical – was a woman’s job. This was occurring while some of her main characters – like Ann Hardy who went on to work for IBM and later started her own tech firm – were denied admission to the top engineering schools.

New User Rights Data: Ranking Openness in 21 Countries

I had the honor of presenting the latest updates to our User Rights Database at the 18th annual Congress of the Society for Economic Research on Copyright Issues. I include here some new analysis of our data released for the first time at SERCI, ranking the countries in our study and categorizing them based on whether they have a civil or common law tradition.

Karisma Foundation to Host 2020 Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest in Cartagena

The steering committee of the Global Congress and IP and the Public Interest has unanimously approved the application of Karisma Foundation to hold the next Congress in Cartagena, Colombia, in (likely August) 2020. (By longstanding practice, the steering committee is composed of all past hosts of the Congress, as permanent members, and the track leaders of the last Congress, who serve on the committee for one year).

South Africa Moves Forward With Creator Rights Agenda

South Africa took another step toward enactment of a Copyright Amendment Bill focused on improving the lot of creators. On March 20, the committee of jurisdiction in the National Council of Provinces voted 6-3 in favor of reporting the bill to the full house next week without amendment. The full house is likely to pass the bill, clearing the last hurdle before the President can sign the bill into law.

The Rights of Creators in Singapore and South Africa

Singapore recently released its long awaited report on copyright reform. As expected, the report proposes to eliminate the fifth factor of its fair use test – which requires examination of whether a license is available for the activity in question. The proposed reforms go much further, echoing many of the policies and approaches of South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill in focusing on the rights of individual creators at the center of the reform.

Drama in South Africa Leads to Passing Fair Use

It was a day of copyright drama in the South African Parliament on the anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s passing. The National Assembly was considering the Copyright Amendment Bill in the full chamber.  ...When the votes were taken, parties representing an overwhelming majority of the MPs had endorsed the bill, but it came up 12 votes short of what was needed to pass it on to the Council of the Provinces (the second house). The battle for copyright reform in South Africa appeared lost until the new year. But hours later the drama continued. After passing a new performers protection bill, more MPs from the ANC were whipped to join the chamber and the Copyright Amendment Bill was passed on a second vote.

Defending Fair Use In South Africa

[Sean Flynn, Peter Jaszi, and Michael Carroll] On Wednesday the South African National Assembly vote on the Copyright Amendment Bill, which includes a new “fair use” right. The publishing industry is marking the occasion by circulating an alarmist petition that the legislation will have a “direct and detrimental impact on all South African authors.” Learned professors at the University of Stellenbosch have taken to calling the bill “shambolic”, and “an abomination.” . It is certainly time for a little light to go with the heat.

TERA Presentation at SCCR 37 Workshop on “Toward Action With Respect to the Limitations and Exceptions Regime”

Jon Band and I were asked by the education and research beneficiary groups to work with them to draft model instruments that would reflect the work of the SCCR thus far and contribute to the development of an international instrument on education and research exceptions to copyright. The result of this project is the Civil Society Proposed Treaty on Educational and Research Activities (TERA). We release the Draft Treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights for the first time today. Here I describe briefly our methodology in creating the draft and the main provisions of it. Further information is available at http://infojustice.org/tera