infojustice

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

The USTR Special 301 Report 2016 – Africa in Review

Cross posted from Afro Leo, Link (CC-BY) Afro-IP regularly reports on how Africa fares in the Special 301 Report issued annually by the USTR (see links to some previous posts below). The 2016 Report was released at the end of April 2016. The generation of the report through a unilateral US process and its goal have […]

Special Report 301: Una presión arbitraria, unilateral e interesada

By REPOST
May 12, 2016
Special 301

[J. Carlos Lara & Pablo Viollier, Derechos Digitales, Link (CC-BY-SA) ] Nos hemos acostumbrado a ver, una vez al año, las noticias informando que varios de nuestros países está en la llamada “lista negra de la piratería”. No es que nuestros mares estén llenos de asaltantes de embarcaciones, sino que existe un intenso manejo de […]

After Initially Rejecting Patent, Indian Patent Office Grants Gilead Sciences Patent on Base Compound of Sofosbuvir Hepatitis C Drug

[Médecins Sans Frontières, Link] Gilead Sciences has been seeking patents in India for the hepatitis C drug sofosbuvir. The patent applications have been challenged by groups of people living with hepatitis C and HIV through ‘pre-grant oppositions.’ The patent just granted by India’s patent office was initially rejected in January 2015, just before President Obama’s […]

2015 Chinese Entertainment Law Year Review: Is it Converging with the U.S. Practice?

By Papers
May 10, 2016
Academic Resources, US Domestic Policies

Author: Seagull Haiyan Song Abstract: The year of 2015 was a successful year for Chinese film industry. It was also a monumental year for the development of Chinese entertainment law. During the past year, we witnessed a substantial increase of cases before the Chinese courts that are of interest to the entertainment industry, including the […]

Landmark Copyright Decision on Fair Dealing and Other Aspects of South African Copyright Law

By REPOST
May 9, 2016
Limitations & Exceptions to Copyright, US Domestic Policies

[University of Cape Town IP Unit, Link, (CC-BY-SA)] On 5 May 2016, the Gauteng High Court delivered the long awaited decision in Moneyweb v Media24. The case’s history is nicely captured here. In a nutshell, the case dealt with, among other things, the alleged copyright infringement of 7 articles published by Fin24, a part of […]

Australian Productivity Commission: Pharmaceutical Patent Extensions Cost a Quarter Billion Dollars Annually

By Mike Palmedo
May 9, 2016
Trade Agreements, US Domestic Legislation

Previous infojustice posts about the Australian Government’s Productivity Commission’s Draft Report on Intellectual Property Arrangements have focused on its recommendation that Australia adopt fair use in its copyright law (here and here). This post highlights the findings regarding the extension of terms for pharmaceutical patents. Australia’s law, in effect since 1999, grants extensions to pharmaceutical […]