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

The Fifth Global Congress Polis Conversation

Probably some of you were part of the 'Polis' conversation we ran at the last Global Congress in September 2018. Polis is a participated-directed survey tool that we've been using to hold large-scale conversations. We reached out to over 1000 Global Congress alum and current attendees. Some 335 participated over two weeks. The results are not based on and do
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Product Patents and Access to Innovative Medicines in a Post TRIPS Era

[Jayashree Watal and Rong DAI] This paper examines access to new and innovative pharmaceuticals in a post-TRIPS era. The WTO’s TRIPS Agreement (TRIPS) makes it obligatory for WTO members – except least-developed country members (LDCs) - to provide pharmaceutical product patents with a 20-year protection term. Developing country members, other than LDCs, were meant to be compliant with this provision
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What happens when books enter the public domain? Testing copyright’s underuse hypothesis across Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada

[Rebecca Giblin] Abstract: The United States (‘US’) extended most copyright terms by 20 years in 1998, and has since exported that extension via ‘free trade’ agreements to countries including Australia and Canada. A key justification for the longer term was the claim that exclusive rights are necessary to encourage publishers to invest in making older works available — and that,
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WHO: Countries Raise Concerns about Access to Affordable Drug-Resistant TB Treatment

[Third World Network] Member states participating in the 72nd World Health Assembly (WHA) renewed their commitment to end tuberculosis (TB) while expressing serious concerns about drug-resistant TB (DR-TB), the treatment of which is presently costly and beyond the reach of many national TB programmes… Bedaquiline and delamanid are extensively patented in countries with a high TB burden such as China,
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The Authoritative Canadian Copyright Review: Industry Committee Issues Balanced, Forward-Looking Report on the Future of Canadian Copyright Law

In December 2017, the government launched its copyright review with a Parliamentary motion to send the review to the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology. After months of study and hundreds of witnesses and briefs, the committee released the authoritative review with 36 recommendations that include expanding fair dealing, a rejection of a site blocking system, and a rejection
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South Africa’s Copyright Amendment Bill: Its Genesis and Passage through Parliament

[Denise Rosemary Nicholson] The reform of copyright law in South Africa, particularly for the library and educational sectors, has been a long and bumpy road since 1998. Our copyright law is 41 years old - and broken! The exceptions for education, research, and libraries and archives have not been amended since 1978. The Act has no provisions for people with
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