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

EU Chief TTIP Negotiator on Investor-State Disputes Due to Domestic Intellectual Property Rulings

The Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue is holding a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Stakeholder Forum today, featuring a morning panel on investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Health Action International’s Joel Lexchin asked European Chief Negotiator Ignacio Garcia Bercero if the proposed ISDS rules would allow court rulings over intellectual property to be grounds for a dispute by a drug company

Supreme Court of British Columbia Orders Google to Take Down Entire Domains In Trade Secret Case

[Maira Sutton, EFF, Link (CC-BY)] The Supreme Court of British Columbia has ordered Google to remove entire domains from its search results—a decision that could have enormous global implications on free expression. This is the latest of several instances of courts exercising dangerous jurisdictional overreach, where they have applied local laws to remove content on […]

IP Kat Posts Leaked Draft White Paper “Copyright Policy for Creativity and Innovation in the European Union”

Eleonora Rosati has posted a leaked draft of the European Union White Paper “A Copyright Policy for Creativity and Innovation in the European Union.” It contains a brief discussion and a proposed “way forward” on a number of copyright issues – cross-border dissemination in the digital single market; browsing and hyperlinking; knowledge and heritage institutions; […]

A Realist Approach to Copyright Law’s Formalities

PIJIP Reesearch Paper 2014-01 ABSTRACT: Rejecting the conventional story that formalities in copyright law were abolished by the Berne Convention, this Article demonstrates that privately administered systems of formalities play a significant role in the administration of copyright law worldwide. Indeed, they must because copyright is designed to support a transaction structure which requires rightsholders […]

Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties on the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA)

ABSTRACT: Australia and South Korea have signed a new free trade agreement – the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA). Is it a fair trade fairytale? Or is it a dirty deal done dirt cheap? Or somewhere in between? It is hard to tell, given the initial secrecy of the negotiations, and the complexity of the […]

Pediatric HIV Treatment Initiative Aims to Promote the Development and Distribution of HIV/AIDS Medicines for Children

The Pediatric HIV Treatment Initiative was launched today at an event on Capitol Hill. The initiative plans to foster the development, manufacture, and distribution of pediatric formulations of antiretroviral therapies for the treatment of HIV/AIDS. It will draw on the Medicines Patent Pool’s existing relationships to obtain the necessary intellectual property rights and production know-how […]