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

Postcard from the Open Educational Resources Workshop in Porto

[Reposted from oerpolicy.eu, Link, (CC-BY)] At the very beginning of October, Creative Commons’ OER policy project organised a two-day workshop in Porto, gathering 15 Open Education enthusiasts, educators, advisors, lawyers and experts on Creative Commons licensing. Apart from representatives from CC Sweden, CC Spain, CC Poland, CC Netherlands and of course CC Portugal, we were […]

Global study finds citizens want balanced copyright rules that respect creators, prioritize free expression, and reject Internet censorship

[Open Media press release, Link, (CC-BY-NC-SA)] Citizens from across the globe want balanced copyright rules that are shaped democratically, respect creators, and prioritize free expression. That’s the message of Our Digital Future: A Crowdsourced Agenda for Free Expression, a new report launched today by community-based OpenMedia. The overall consultation process took place over 2 years […]

El Salvador Becomes the Second Nation to Ratify the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty for the Visually Impaired

El Salvador has become the second country to ratify the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled. Minister of Economy Tharsis Solomon López submitted the notification on October 1. So far, the only other country to ratify the treaty has been India, which […]

A Unilateral Declaration of Digital Human Rights Dangerously Mistakes Personal Data and Creative Work

[La Quadrature du Net, Link, (CC-BY-SA)] French civil society organisations April, Creative Commons France, Framasoft, La Quadrature du Net, Libertic, Open Knowledge Foundation France, République Citoyenne and SavoirsCom1 denounce Forum d’Avignon‘s Preliminary Declaration of the Digital Human Rights which dangerously confuses personal data with creative work. Author REPOST

Inconvenient Truths About Foreign Online Pharmacies

I wrote an op ed for The Hill ‘Congress Blog’ about the continuation of a PhRMA-funded effort to prevent access by consumers to lower cost international online pharmacies. They seem to have a new eye for extending criminal penalties for the sale of safe, genuine generic AND even brand medication through parallel trade. Over-zealous enforcement […]

Open Access Week 2014 Kick Off Event at the World Bank: Generation Open

[Andrea Higginbotham, Open Access Week, Link (CC-BY)] On Monday, October 20th, from 3:00 to 4:00pm EDT, SPARC and the World Bank will co-host the official kickoff event for International Open Access Week 2014 with a reception to follow. The event will be held at the headquarters of the World Bank in Washington, DC with a […]