The controversy in the United States over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has profound implications for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. The SOPA debate underscores the importance of striking the proper balance in intellectual property laws to promote…
In the wake of the Stop Online Piracy Act/PROTECT IP Act (collectively, SOPA) Web protest, some commentators have pointed out that Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is even worse in both substance and procedure. The secretive process through which ACTA…
The European Union signed the Anticounterfeiting Trade Agreement on January 26, but the treaty will require ratification from the EU Parliament before it enters into force, and ratification is not guaranteed. Parliament will debate ratification in June. The EU Rapportuer…
Now that we’re post SOPA/PIPA (for now), it’s important to develop a larger framework for how intellectual property law can best serve the public ends of maximizing innovation and enriching our common culture. Last August, we helped organize a Global…
The European Union Signed ACTA today – months after withholding its signature at the official signing ceremony in Japan. But the political atmosphere in the EU remains very much in flux. The key to the future is that, unlike the…
AUTHOR: Brook Baker. ABSTRACT: European Customs officials have used fictive patent rights to justify the seizure of lawful generic medicines produced in India and destined for non-European markets. Following a public outcry and initiation of two WTO complaints, the EU…
AUTHOR: Carolyn B. Ncube. ABSTRACT: This paper briefly examines the current regime of copyright law in Morocco and seeks to examine the status of orphan works in Morocco, in lieu its membership as the sole African country in the recently…
Support for the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT-IP Act collapsed last week in the face of massive public outcry and a January 18 internet blackout. Google reported that millions people signed its petition against the legislation. Senate Majority…
REPOSTED FROM USTR: The 11th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 1-9 March 2012. There will be several events for registered stakeholders to take part in during the negotiating round.…
On December 19, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted to make the EU Legal Service Opinion on ACTA publicly available. [Click here for the full Opinion]. At the subsequent hearing on ACTA, Swedish Pirate Party MEP Christian Engström argued…
The conflict between Senator Wyden and the administration over the constitutionality of ACTA continued anew last week. As previously reported, Senator Wyden wrote a letter to President Obama in October, 2011, challenging USTR’s claimed authority to bind the United States…
Enclosed are my lecture notes from my talk on January 7, 2012 on a panel at the American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting in Washington D.C. I have also included a printable version and a copy of the slides…