by Beatriz Busaniche, Fundación Vía Libre (A2K Alliance) In recent days, intellectual property has been in the news in Argentina. The Government tried to regulate by decree the recognition of an NGO called Centro de Derechos Reprográficos de la República…
By Patricia Diaz on behalf of A2KLatam Alliance A2KLatam Alliance member organizations published a position paper expressing their concerns regarding the inclusion of an initiative on the agenda of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR/WIPO) to promote…
By Viviana Rangel – Patricia Díaz The Latin American Alliance for Fair Access to Knowledge highlights in an article for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) blog the critical role of copyright in enabling efficient AI research with massive data. It underscores the current…
By Carolina Botero A proposal from Sierra Leone, Panama and Malawi to conduct a study on the public lending right was approved by WIPO last March. In a position paper, a civil society alliance in the region explains why it…
Vyas discusses copyright’s “balance” metaphor, alleged to have originated in the 1785 British case Sayre v. Moore. This paper aims to contribute to the exploration of the genealogy of this concept in copyright, especially in the Indian context and examines…
Klosek highlights the challenges faced by libraries in the United States, such as not having enough bargaining power to retain their rights when negotiating with vendors for digital scholarly content, and inability to preserve scholarly works. There are however, some…
The article titled ‘SA’s new copyright bills could sink Agoa – Contentious laws could ‘substantially lower’ protections,’ published in The Sunday Times on July 30, 2023, prompted surprise due to its assertions. While encountering resistance from key stakeholders like rightsholders,…
[Deborah De Angelis] From March 13th to 17th, 2023, the 43rd meeting of the WIPO SCCR was held in Geneva, where significant advancements have been achieved by the Committee with the adoption of a work program on exceptions and limitations based on the Proposal by the African Group for a Draft Work Program on Exceptions and Limitations (SCCR/43/8). The program is supported by the Access to Knowledge Coalition (A2K), to which Communia Association and Creative Commons Italy Chapter are members together with numerous other associations representing educators, researchers, students, libraries, archives, museums, other knowledge users and creative communities in the world.
Professor Sara Bannerman shared insights on the historical context of copyright and the need to consider research as a human right during our Right to Research event series last semester. As an expert in copyright history, Bannerman stressed the importance of knowing about the past to understand the present and future of copyright and intellectual property.
[Cybel Ekpa] In PIJIP’s Right to Research video series, Professor Desmond Oriakhogba discussed the importance of the right to research in empowering citizens to participate in economic development, democratic processes, and personal problem-solving. While most ongoing research in Africa takes shape informally, there is a major challenge of access to information, which is a crucial ingredient for effective research. The problem is caused by copyright regimes in Africa, which are formulated in such a way as to limit access to information.
In this, third video of PIJIP’S video series on the Right to Research in International Copyright Law, Dr. Sanya Samtani of the University of Pretoria discusses how access to knowledge in general and the right to research may be considered human rights in the context of international human rights instruments and the obligations of nation-states. Furthermore, she asserts that the state has a duty to respect research rights by making sure there are no unjustifiable limits on access, protecting research rights from third-party violations.
Interested in learning more about research as a human right? In this informative video, Professor Flynn gives a conceptual overview of research as a human right in international copyright. Further, he sheds light on the human rights aspect of the right to research and how it differs from a type of exception to copyright. He continues to flush out how human rights duties are imposed by the state to act or refrain from acting in certain ways. He uses censorship as an example of a state affirmative action that reduces people's access to their right to research.