The South African Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry, which is currently considering the Copyright Amendment Bill [B13-2017], has extended the deadline for the public to submit comments, and has postponed the public hearings which will now be held…
Paving the way for parallel imports to exert downward pressure on domestic pharmaceutical (and other) prices [Frederick M Abbott*, IP Watch, Link (CC-BY-SA)] The Supreme Court of the United States on May 30, 2017 adopted a rule of international exhaustion…
South Africa has released the 2017 Copyright Amendment Bill for public comment. The Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry will accept written comments from the public through June 19, and will hold public hearings on the legislation June 27-29. Instruction…
[Paul Keller, Communia Association, Link (CC-0)] Yesterday we sent an open letter on copyright reform to the EU Member State ministers attending the Competitiveness Council. We have done so together with more than 60 other civil society and trade associations…
English translation of a joint press release by eight Peruvian civil society organizations. Tranlation by Justin Mendoza (Access to Medicines Organizer, Public Citizen). The original press release in Spanish is available here, and the text is reproduced below. [CONTACT: MARLON…
[michaelgeist.ca, Link (CC-BY)] The federal government placed a big bet in this year’s budget on Canada becoming a world leader in artificial intelligence (AI), investing millions of dollars on a national strategy to support research and commercialization. The hope is…
Author: Shruti Rana Abstract: Nations and businesses around the globe have been battling over copyright protection laws, with industrialized nations pressuring developing nations to adopt “Western-style” copyright regimes. These battles are escalating as copyright piracy grows, while developing nations struggle…
Authors: Christophe Geiger, Oleksandr Bulayenko, and Giancarlo F. Frosio Abstract: This article discusses the proposed introduction in EU law of neighbouring rights for press publishers for the digital uses of their publications. This proposal is included in the European Commission’s…
[Riyadh Al Balushi, Link (CC-BY-SA)] Kuwait passed a new Copyright and Neighbouring rights Law in June 2016. This is new law replaces the 1999 copyright law – the first copyright law that Kuwait ever had. This new law is probably motivated…
The following letter was sent by 80+ organizations to the leadership of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. For a printable PDF, click here. We, the undersigned businesses,…
[Joint comment endorsed by 14 organizations, listed below] We, the undersigned organizations, urge you to implement without further delay Department of Education Rule 2 C.F.R. § 3474.20 for “Open Licensing Requirement for Direct Grant Programs,” which ensures that educational resources…
[Parminder Jeet Singh, IP Watch, Link (CC-BY-NC-SA) The World Wide Web today stands at a crossroads, as its standards body, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), considers the demand of big content providers to provide them with the facility to…