Day December 18, 2017

MSF challenges Gilead’s patent application for hepatitis C combination treatment in China, to bring down prices

[MSF] The international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has filed a legal patent challenge in China against US pharmaceutical corporation Gilead’s patent application for the combination of two crucial oral hepatitis C medicines, sofosbuvir and velpatasvir. This combination is the first direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment to be registered for use against all genotypes of the disease. Rejection of patents for this combination would pave the way towards the availability of affordable generic versions of this treatment that millions of people need in China and around the world.

Multiple News Agencies Confirm: Press Publishers Right Will Be Used to Limit Freedom to Link

Image depicting censorship

[Communia Association, (CC-0)] Within the new industry, news agencies fill the role of the objective gathers of facts. Agencies like DPA, AFP or ANP collect information and make them available to publishing companies who sometimes publish the information as is, but mostly use the information that they get from the agencies as an ingredient for their own reporting. Journalists rely on news agencies to confirm the accuracy of information they use in their reporting.

The Impact of Copyright Exceptions for Researchers on Scholarly Output

Abstract: Surveys of scholars in the science and health fields have identified high journal prices to be one of many impediments to the writing and publishing of new works. One possible solution to this problem is the expansion of copyright exceptions that allow unauthorized access to copyrighted works for the purpose of conducting further research. This paper tests the link between copyright exceptions for researchers and the publishing output of health and science scholars at the country-subject level, using data on change in copyright law from the PIJIP Copyright User Rights database.