Advocating for a world where intellectual
property law serves the public interest.

European Copyright and Human Rights in the Digital Sphere

[Christina Angelopoulos] Abstract: For a long time, copyright and human rights took little account of each other. The emergence of digital technology, however, has forced a more intimate interaction. This interaction raises questions about both the nature of copyright and its relationship with other interests: is copyright a human right and, if so, how can clashes with other human rights
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A Taxonomy of Training Data: Disentangling the Mismatched Rights, Remedies, and Rationales for Restricting Machine Learning

[Benjamin Sobel] Abstract: This chapter addresses a crucial problem in artificial intelligence: many applications of machine learning depend on unauthorized uses of copyrighted data. Scholars and lawmakers often articulate this problem as a deficiency in copyright’s exceptions and limitations, reasoning that legal uncertainties surrounding today’s AI stem from the lack of a clear exception or limitation, and that such an
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Conflicting Interests, Competing Perspectives and Policy Incoherence: Covid-19 Highlights the Significance of the UN High-Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines

[Muhammad Abbas] ... The UN High-Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines is a great help in identifying and articulating the nature of the public policy problems faced by countries in response to COVID-19. After analysing the Report and its key recommendations, this paper evaluates the diverging responses to the Report which clearly highlight the conflicting interests of stakeholders. This
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Open Education and Artificial Scarcity in Hard Times

[Rory Mir] The sudden move to remote education by universities this year has forced the inevitable: the move to an online education. While most universities won’t be fully remote, having course materials online was already becoming the norm before the COVID-19 pandemic, and this year it has become mandatory for millions of educators and students. As academia recovers from this
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Deconstructing Moderna’s COVID-19 Patent Pledge

[Jorge Contreras] On October 8, Cambridge-based biotech company Moderna, Inc., a leading contender in the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, publicly pledged not to enforce its COVID-19 related patents against “those making vaccines intended to combat the pandemic.” ...In the high-stakes market for COVID-19 vaccines, it is worth considering the full range of factors that might motivate a private
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Patent Analysis for Medicines and Biotherapeutics in Trials to Treat COVID-19

[Srividya Ravi] This report provides an analysis of patents covering medicines in trials to treat COVID-19. The aim of the report is to support national patent offices and interested parties in developing countries with information that can serve as guidance for the examination of the claims contained in relevant patents or patent applications.
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