Original news and analysis on international IP policy
At the end of a two-day conference in Switzerland, open knowledge experts emphasised the role of open data in strengthening science findings’ credibility, fostering medical research and enhancing sustainable development.
A new study released today by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in the company of members of the United States Congress found that internet search engines play a key role in user access to copyright infringing content online. The copyright industry study will be used to make the case that search engine companies, such as Google, need to take more responsibility in deterring use of unauthorised content without compensation to the rightsholders.
Rene Summer writes: The debate about copyright enforcement – whether rights holders’ unshakable conviction in the effectiveness of graduated responses is rational – has reached a watershed. This is not to say that there aren’t any ongoing, well-funded lobby campaigns around the world aimed at convincing policy makers to revert to the practice of some form of graduated response. Nor am I saying that there aren’t any other important considerations, such as the rights of citizens and intermediaries, to be weighted in when debating copyright enforcement, lessening the case for such practices. Rather, what I am saying is that arguing for graduated responses can no longer be done on efficiency grounds without at the same time being intellectually dishonest.
The process of opening up data from the public and private sectors has achieved relevant success in recent years, but many challenges are still to be overcome to make data really accessible and usable by the public. These were the main ideas that emerged from a meeting of open knowledge experts in Geneva yesterday.
A new report released by the Yale Global Health Justice Partnership looks at the use of human rights to improve access to medicines by reducing the barriers that intellectual property laws create to such access.
The United States government is undertaking substantive review of, and strategy for, its intellectual property system, with an eye toward a major overhaul of aspects such as copyright. And stakeholders are leaping at the opportunity to comment.
The civil society collective formed to pressure the South African government to reform its patent act has cautiously welcomed the release of the country’s draft intellectual property policy.
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has issued a report analysing emerging trends in today's global information environment.
A new survey supports the argument of public health advocates that pharmaceuticals resulting from government-funded research in the United States should be no more expensive than in other similar countries, and that patent rights should be used to make it so.
In a common move for Washington officials who work to protect industry interests while in office, the first-ever United States intellectual property enforcement coordinator has been named to lead a large US software industry group that lobbied her office up until she left two weeks ago.
The Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) has released a user guide to the recently adopted “Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.” LCA is an organisation representing three major North American library associations.
The USTR's disapproval of the ITC order excluding Apple products from the US raises difficult issues about the relationship between public decision-making and private solutions -- and invites strategic policymaking by other governments.