Letter from South African and American Academics to Ms Meshendri Padayachi South Africa Department of Trade and Industry – Joint Academic Comment (PDF) – Accompanying Table (PDF) We write in response to your request for public comments on South Africa’s…
Appeals Court Affirms That Copyright Owners Must Consider Fair Use in Online Takedowns [EFF Press Release, Link (CC-BY)] An appeals court in San Francisco today affirmed that copyright holders must consider whether a use of material is fair before sending…
The Kenya Copyright Board (KEBCO) is preparing to propose amendments to the Copyright Act that would block sites hosting content which infringes local creators’ copyrights. Local internet service providers that refuse to take down content would face fines and even…
The South African government has introduced a draft Cybercrimes & Cybersecurity Bill for public comment. The Bill states that anyone who “sells, offers for download, distributes, or otherwise makes available” copyrighted works “by means of a computer network or an…
EFF Deeplinks Blog, Link (CC-BY) A bill extending the term of copyright by an additional 45 years—almost doubling it, in the case of corporate and government works—sailed through the Jamaican Senate on June 26, after having passed the House of…
Jennifer Urban and I just published a short version of our work on notice and takedown in the Communications of the ACM (currently paywalled but accessible through most universities). Here’s the general argument: As automated systems became common, the number…
Cross posted from Afro Leo, Link (CC-BY) As reported by Jeremy Speres (here) South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill, 2015 has been published for public comment. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has lined up several stakeholder consultations, one of…
A workshop of academics and stakeholders on Internet Rights, Cultural Development and Balancing Features in South African Copyright Reform commended South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for its public release of a Copyright Amendment Bill that would expand…
[Linda Daniels, IP Watch, Link (CC-BY-NC-SA)] A conference here this week elicited a robust debate amongst intellectual property stakeholders in South Africa about the objectives of the far-reaching draft Copyright Amendment Bill. The Internet Rights, Cultural Development and Balancing Features in…
[Marcus Low, Borrie LaGrange, Umunyana Rugege, Link (CC-BY-SA)] A submission to the United States Government shows South Africa is facing pressure from the pharmaceutical industry to backtrack on intellectual property (IP) law reform that aims to improve access to medicines…
[with Sharon K. Sandeen from the Hamline University School of Law] We write to express our continued concerns about the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“DTSA”) and our willingness to assist you in determining how best to improve enforcement of legitimate…
The Ecuadorian Commission on Justice and Structure of the State has initiated a plan to socialize potential reforms to the criminal code. This includes changing penalties for copyright and trademark piracy. This reform is intended to bring the country into…