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

Education International Submission to the Select Committee on Trade and International Relations Concerning the Copyright Amendment Bill [B13B -2017]

[David Edwards] Education International (EI) would like to support the progressive proposals to amend the South African Copyright Act. Education International (EI) is a Global Union Federation that represents organisations of teachers and other education employees. It is the world’s largest, most representative sectoral organisation of unions with more than 32 million trade union members in about 400 organisations in

A “Compromise” that Fails to Deliver – Our Overall Assessment of the Directive Remains Negative

Italy and Poland sharply criticised the compromise: "We believe that the Directive in its current form is a step back for the Digital Single Market rather than a step forward... These criticisms are very much in line with our own assessment of the directive and it is unfortunate that the rest of the Member States have chosen to ignore them.

How Fair Use Helps in Saving Software

In conjunction with Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2019, the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is releasing an infographic that illustrates how fair use helps people preserve software for teaching, learning, and research.

Faced with Unreasonable Medicines Prices, the Netherlands Introduces Pharmacy Exemption in Patent Law

[Ellen t'Hoen] On 1 February 2019, article 53(3), second sentence of the Dutch Patent Act 1995 came into force introducing a patent exemption for the preparation of medicines in a pharmacy. Article 53(1) of the Dutch Patent Act provides the usual list of exclusive acts reserved for the patent holder: to make, use, put on the market or resell, hire

Comment to the South African Parliament, re: Copyright Amendment Bill [B13B – 2017]

[Sean Flynn and Peter Jaszi] We commend the Copyright Amendment Bill’s proposed introduction of an innovative, forward-thinking and South Africa-specific open general exception for “fair use.” The enclosed comments make the following main points: Fair use promotes innovation and free expression - as shown in the experience of other countries who have adopted it; The fair use provision, and the

The Text of Article 13 and the EU Copyright Directive Has Just Been Finalised

[Julia Reda, MEP] In the evening of February 13, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council concluded the trilogue negotiations with a final text for the new EU Copyright Directive. For two years we’ve debated different drafts and versions of the controversial Articles 11 and 13. Now, there is no more ambiguity: This law will fundamentally change the internet