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

Displacing the Dominance of the Three-Step Test: The Role of Global, Mandatory Fair Use

[Tanya Aplin and Lionel Bently] Abstract: Article 10(1) of the Berne Convention mandates a quotation exception that is broad in scope, one that is not limited by work, nor type of act, nor by purpose, and is only subject to the conditions in Article 10, namely, the work has been lawfully made available to the public, attribution, fair practice, and
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Fair Use Week 2018: Fair Use Promotes Creation of New Knowledge

Happy Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2018! I wanted to share ARL's 2018 infographic for Fair Use Week: Fair Use Promotes Creation of New Knowledge. You can also check out our previous fair use infographics here. There's tons of great resources and a list of some of this week's events on the Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week website: http://fairuseweek.org/.
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Don’t Be Afraid of Compulsory Licenses Despite US Threats: Special 301 Reports 1998-2017 – Listing Concerns but Taking Little Action

For the past 20 years in its annual Special 301 Reports, the US has consistently criticized countries that do not have compulsory licensing standards that Big Pharma likes, that threaten to issue compulsory licenses, or that have actually had the temerity to issue a compulsory license... Despite its many complaints, veiled threats, and backroom maneuvers against compulsory licenses, the USTR’s
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Intellectual Property before the European Court of Human Rights

[Christophe Geiger and Elena Izyumenko] Abstract: In the past years, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, or Strasbourg Court), Europe’s principal human rights watchdog, has played an ever larger role in the resolution of intellectual property (IP) disputes. The ECtHR’s engagement in IP adjudication has already influenced national judges, who increasingly have recourse to human rights to solve cases
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European Educators Ask for a Better Copyright

[Electronic Information for Libraries] EIFL joins 53 organizations representing teachers, students, vocational trainers, researchers, scientists, librarians, archivists and museum professionals calling on European legislators for a copyright framework that properly facilitates modern, innovative education in Europe. The joint letter, sent to members of the European Parliament by COMMUNIA, an international association that advocates for copyright reform in education, highlights four
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Federal Judge Says Embedding a Tweet Can Be Copyright Infringement

[Daniel Nazer] Rejecting years of settled precedent, a federal court in New York has ruled [PDF] that you could infringe copyright simply by embedding a tweet in a web page. Even worse, the logic of the ruling applies to all in-line linking, not just embedding tweets. If adopted by other courts, this legally and technically misguided decision would threaten millions
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