Category Domestic Policy

Sanef Celebrates the Inclusion of the “Fair Use” Principle in the Copyright Amendment Bill

[South African National Editors Forum] SANEF celebrates the unanimous decision taken yesterday by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry to include the principle of “fair use” in the Copyright Amendment Bill. The principle of “fair use” allows for the use of copyrighted material for a limited or “transformative” purpose such as to quote the latter or use pictures and video material in news reports, comment on, parody or criticise copyrighted work.

Ciencia Abierta y Conocimiento Libre Para un Futuro Incluyente y Justo

[Alex Argüelles] Especialistas y activistas de la cultura libre en América Latina y El Caribe están buscando nuevas maneras de incidir en las políticas públicas ligadas al acceso a la cultura en todas sus variantes. A través de una declaración producida colectivamente, buscan establecer un referente para el avance de la región en torno a la ciencia abierta.

No Need for New Internet Injunctions: Why Canadian Copyright Law Already Provides Rights Holders with the Legal Tools They Need

As the Industry Committee’s copyright review continues to hear from stakeholders from across the spectrum, a recurring theme has been demands that the government create a new, explicit Internet intermediary injunction that would allow for everything from site blocking to search engine result de-indexing to a ban on payment providers offering services to some sites.

The Cost of Accessing Academic Research Is Way Too High. This Must Change.

[Coauthored with Leti Kleyn]... Globally, the scholarly publishing system is in dire need of financial and legislative change. To address this issue, the Max Planck Digital Library in Munich has produced a White Paper that aims to completely reform the business model of academic journals. The paper proposes that individual countries change the underlying legal and financial structures that challenge the high subscription fees levied by publishers. Could a country like South Africa manage the changes as advocated in the White Paper? Getting new financial models going will be difficult because of the complexity of the industry’s internal workings and a shortage of data on actual expenditure. However, the country is making headway on the legal framework front.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Pfizer: Evergreening and Market Power as a Blockbuster Drug Goes Off Patent

[Thomas Faunce] Abstract: In Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Pfizer Australia Pty Ltd [2015] FCA 113 the ACCC alleged that Pfizer’s ‘Project LEAP’ involved a scheme to lock pharmacists into substituting its generic version of the high sales volume anti-cholesterol drug patent-expired Atorvastatin (Lipitor) which took advantage of a substantial degree of market power for a purpose proscribed by s 46(1)(c) of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). The ACCC also claimed that Pfizer’s actions constituted a course of exclusive dealing pursuant to s 47(1)(d) and (e) for the proscribed purpose of lessening competition. Flick J in the Federal Court of Australia in a judgment heavy with quotations but sparse in reasoning, dismissed the ACCC’s Amended Originating Application alleging abuse of market power and ordered the ACCC to pay Pfizer’s costs. This column explores that case in the context of Pfizer’s broader strategies to preserve its income globally from this high sales volume drug.

Fair Use in South Africa

[VIDEO] We don't own the images of our own history. Educational resources are owned elsewhere. South Africans cannot sample, adapt, recreate. Innovation that is possible in the US is illegal in South Africa and some people want to keep it that way.

Global Copyright Reform Efforts – As Told By Libraries, Museums, and Archives

American University’s Washington College of Law hosted the 5th Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest. A workshop led by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) entitled “Out of the Stacks: A World Tour of Library, Archive, and Museum Copyright Reform” featured a panel, which discussed current and future copyright reform efforts in several countries. The panel highlighted laws that lack clarity or are inadequate to meet modern needs. Many advocated for efforts to create provisions that are essential to libraries, museums, archives, and other cultural heritage institutions. Without these provisions, many of these institutions are unable to provide access to certain copyrighted works, which the public has come to enjoy.

If Copyright Protection Goes Too Far, The Results Can Harm Democracy

[Rehad Desai, Ben Cashdan, Tuse Fokane and Wandile Dlamini] Prof Sadulla Karjiker’s assertion that the government is “intent on diluting intellectual property (IP) rights without regard for the future of the country” is hogwash. Copyright is vital to ensure that creators of…

3D Printing Shakes Up Intellectual Property Rights

The emerging trend in 3D printing of products has resulted in a massive spike in patents being classified, according to QUT researchers.

The QUT Faculty of Law Intellectual Property and Innovation Research Program is hosting an event on 3D Printing on Wednesday, October 25, 2018 at the State Library of Queensland.

The half-day symposium considers the role of 3D printing in intellectual property, education, community participation and innovation.

Copyright, Online News Publishing and Aggregators: A Law and Economics Analysis of the EU Reform

[Giuseppe Colangelo and Valerio Torti] Abstract: On 12 September 2018 the European Parliament approved the new version of the proposal for a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market elaborated by the European Commission in 2016. In order to address problems in protecting content and improve the bargaining position of press publishers against information society service providers, the European Commission decided to intervene on rights, introducing an additional layer of copyright, namely a new neighbouring right that will cover reproduction and the making available to the public of press publications to the extent that digital uses are concerned.

EU Copyright Reform Grinds into Trilogue Negotiations

[Communia Association] Last month the notorious EU Parliament vote approved almost all of the worst measures of the proposed Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. It was a significant setback for user rights and the open internet. ...After the plenary vote in the Parliament on 12th September, the Directive moves into trilogue negotiations consisting of the Commission, Parliament, and Council of the European Union (the EU Member State governments). The first official meeting of the trilogue was held on 2 October. ...The trilogue bodies will work to reconcile their versions of the directive text, and a final vote will take place in the European Parliament in early 2019.

Submission by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) on the Statutory Review of the Canadian Copyright Act

[Gerald Leitner] IFLA specifically expresses support for the following points: A) Maintain the fair dealing exception for education... B) Retain the current copyright term of 50 years... C) Protect copyright exceptions from contract override and allow the circumvention of technological protection measures for non-infringing purposes... D) Provide clarity on the legal status of text and data mining (TDM)... E) Ensure e-book availability... F) Indigenous Knowledge.