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

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

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

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

Copyright Reversion to Authors (and the Rosetta Effect): An Empirical Study of Reappearing Books

[Paper by Paul Heald] This study compares the availability of books whose copyrights are eligible for statutory reversion under US law with books whose copyrights are still exercised by the original publisher. It finds that 17 USC § 203, which permits reversion to authors in year 35 after publication, and 17 USC § 304, which permits reversion 56 years after

Colombian Appellate Court Affirms: Diego Gómez Not Guilty for Sharing Research Paper Online

Yesterday we learned that the Tribunal de Bogotá—the Colombian appellate court—has affirmed the lower court’s acquittal of Diego Gómez. He is a scientist from Colombia who has been criminally prosecuted for the last three years for sharing an academic paper online.

Letter From 24 Civil Society Groups to EU and Mercusor Trade Negotiators, re: IP and Access to Medicines

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″] [et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] Dear Ms. Gallina, Dear Mr. Pinto: We, the undersigning organisations, active in the fields of public health and access to medicines, mostly based in the European Union or Mercosur, draw your attention to the following. With negotiations between the European Union (EU), conducted through the European Commission […]