Category Academic Resources

South African Constitutional Court Rectifies Copyright Discrimination for People with Disabilities

[Sanya Samtani] In a unanimous judgment, the Constitutional Court of South Africa confirmed the Pretoria High Court’s finding that the Copyright Act 1978 is unconstitutional and unfairly discriminatory to the extent that it fails to provide for for people with visual and print disabilities. This vindicates a decades-long struggle by BlindSA, the applicants, represented by SECTION27. It is also the first instance of a Constitutional Court requiring copyright legislation to provide for an accessible format shifting provision on the basis that constitutional rights are limited by overly restrictive copyright laws.

Reconceptualizing Open Access to Theses and Dissertations

[Orit Fischman Afori and Dalit Ken-Dror Feldman] Abstract: The global COVID-19 crisis has turned public attention to the special need for accessing cutting-edge studies that are needed for further scientific innovation. Theses and dissertations (TD) are prominent examples of cutting-edge innovative studies. TD are academic research projects conducted by graduate students to acquire a high academic degree, such as a PhD. They encompass not only knowledge about basic science but also knowledge that generates social and economic value for society. Therefore, access to TD is imperative for promoting science and innovation.

End-User Flexibilities in Digital Copyright Law – An Empirical Analysis of End-User License Agreements

[Péter Mezei and István Harkai] Abstract: In the platform age, copyright protected contents are primarily disseminated over the internet. This model poses various challenges to the copyright regime that was mainly designed in and for the analogue age. One of these challenges is related to the fair balance between the interests of rightholders and other members of the society. Copyright norms try to guarantee this balance by granting a high level of protection for rightholders and preserving some flexibility for end-users. The present article focuses on whether platforms’ end-user license agreements contribute to the preservation of that balance, and how they allow for or diminish the exercise of user flexibilities.

Rewarding Failure with Patents

[Robin Feldman] Abstract: It is axiomatic that patents promote success. And yet, a contrary notion—that the patent incentive for medicine should be sufficient to compensate for the losses incurred when research fails—is quietly permeating modern court decisions, commentary, and Congressional discussions, coloring debates relating to pricing and regulation of medicine. The conceptualization is moving forward unchallenged, as if failure compensation follows logically from the innovation incentives built into the patent construct. As this article demonstrates, however, the notion is antithetical to patent law, putting modern conceptualizations on a collision course with the history and theory of patents reaching back to this nation’s inception.

The UK Government Moves Forward With a Text and Data Mining Exception for All Purposes

[Alina Trapova and João Pedro Quintais] As previously reported, between October 2021 and January 2022 the UK Intellectual Property Office held a public consultation on the intersection between artificial intelligence (AI) and intellectual property laws... the UK government has now decided to introduce a new copyright and database right exception which allows TDM for any purpose, i.e. including commercial uses. Licensing will no longer be an issue and rightholders will not be able to opt-out or contract out of the exception. The government believes that this approach would significantly benefit a wide range of stakeholders – from researchers, AI developers, small businesses, through cultural heritage institutions, journalists, all the way to engaged citizens.

How Patent Rights Affect University Science

[Laurent R. Bergé, Thorsten Doherr, and Katrin Hussinger] Abstract: How do intellectual property rights influence academic science? We investigate the consequences of the introduction of software patents in the U.S. on the publications of university researchers in the field of computer science. Difference-in-difference estimations reveal that software scientists at U.S. universities produced fewer publications (both in terms of quantity and quality) than their European counterparts after patent rights for software inventions were introduced. We then introduce a theoretical model that accounts for substitution and complementarity between patenting and publishing as well as for the direction of research. In line with the model’s prediction, further results show that the decrease in publications is largest for scientists at the bottom of the ability distribution. Further, we evidence a change in the direction of research following the reform towards more applied research.

IP Reveries: Class 4 – Ruminating on the “R – Rights” of IPR!

[Swaraj Paul Barooah and Lokesh Vyas] The IP Reveries series is an experimental ‘fun’ series set in an imaginary classroom where we are using a dialogue format to raise questions and discussions around IP that traditionally don’t find a place to get voiced either due to long standing assumptions, or due to being seen as ‘too trivial’ to discuss in more formal settings. ... in this class, we will ruminate on the “R i.e. Right” in IPR to suss up some (non)sense around it and see if the so-called ‘IP rights’ are really righteous or some other rhetoric ruse.

Copyright Content Moderation in the EU: An Interdisciplinary Mapping Analysis

[João Pedro Quintais, Péter Mezei, István Harkai, João Vieira Magalhães, Christian Katzenbach, Sebastian Felix Schwemer, and Thomas Riis] Abstract: This report is part of the reCreating Europe project and describes the results of the research carried out in the context of Work Package 6 on the mapping of the EU legal framework and intermediaries’ practices on copyright content moderation. The Report addresses the following main research question: how can we map the impact on access to culture in the Digital Single Market of content moderation of copyright-protected content on online platforms?

The Incentive Argument in Pharmaceutical Patent Law

[Aaron Poynton] Abstract: This working paper critically examines the pharmaceutical industry and the incentive argument in patent law. It begins by framing an overview of the industry and patent law, focusing on U.S. and U.K. law, and multilateral agreements, and efforts by international organizations, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). Next, the paper considers patent incentive arguments on both sides of the issue to provide a well-researched and more balanced perspective. It then views the longstanding debate through the lenses of contemporary issues related to Covid-19 vaccines and the recent patent waivers considered by many countries. Lastly, this paper provides concluding opinions supporting the argument that intellectual property protection is core to innovation in the pharmaceutical industry, but patent waivers may be a necessary tool in certain situations. It concludes by recommending fixing the TRIPS compulsory licensing provision flaws and carefully finding a TRIPS waiver solution that could strike the desired balance between protecting intellectual property (IP) and providing for the common good.

Taking IP ‘Rights’ too Seriously – A Look through History 

[Lokesh Vyas] ... while the ‘property’ image of IP has become a part of our legal consciousness, the nature of user interests is unclear. Some courts and academics describe them as (Human/Fundamental) ‘rights’ (e.g. see 2021’s draft on Permitted Uses and its notes), at the international level they are called/negotiated/lobbied as limitations or/and exceptions (L&Es) (e.g. here), some call them freedoms or privileges (e.g. see). Each of these terms can have a different understanding and scope. Generally, limitations possess a broader scope than exceptions but nowadays are mentioned together and sometimes used interchangeably. Nonetheless, in our legal imagination, they remain inferior to/narrower than the concerned norm or statute. Rights prima facie provide a stronger force and create a legal relationship of duty with others. But in the era of right-inflation where everything is understood as ‘right’, they appear conflicting, and ultimately are balanced out by each other!

The Right to Research in Africa: Making African Copyright Whole

[Desmond Oriakhogba] Abstract: The imbalance existing within the African copyright ecosystem in relation to access to information for research and education became more prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic. As teaching, learning and research inevitably occur on digital platforms, learners and researchers continue to grapple with the challenges of accessing materials owing largely to the protection of these resources under copyright law. Similarly, African libraries and knowledge curators found themselves ill-equip to perform their role of enabling access to information. To create the balance, therefore, there is a dire need for the recalibration of the African copyright system from the perspective of human rights law.

An Overview of Copyright Restrictions to Legal TDM Research

[Mike Palmedo] PIJIP has been reviewing copyright laws around the world. Our detailed review is available as a PIJIP working paper in which we classify countries "based on the degree to which they have a research exception in their law that is sufficiently open to be able to permit reproduction and communications of copyrighted work needed for academic (i.e. non-commercial) text and data mining (TDM) research.” This post presents the data on copyright exceptions by restriction rather than by country. It demonstrates that wealthier countries tend to have less restrictive copyright exceptions for TDM research, relative to other countries.