Yesterday I received a Samsung laptop computer running Google’s Chrome OS. This is the new $249 Chromebook with an SSD drive, 2 gigs of RAM, an 11.6 inch 1366 x 768 pixels screen, and the 1.7 GHz Exynos 5200 processor. The laptop weights 2.4 pounds and has a nice usable keyboard and a well implemented trackpad. There is also the option of a model with 2 years of 3G (limited) data from Verizon, for just $329. Continue Reading
In a press release, Johnson and Johnson “announced their intention not to enforce the patents they own and control on the antiretroviral (ARV) drug darunavir provided the darunavir product is medically acceptable and is used only in resource-limited settings,” which J&J defines as the 48 UN defined Least Developed Countries plus any other country in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the KEI statement on the J&J darunavir announcement.
Around 2 am the open ended consultations on the CEWG recommendations finished their work on a report and proposed resolution, which is attached below. [See also interviews during the negotiations here: http://www.youtube.com/user/KEIWashDC/videos.]
Apparently David Kappos will be leaving the USPTO sometime early next year. Today there is much commentary from patent community giving him high marks, and I’m willing to believe there are high marks to give. But he also had some big shortcomings. Here are a few:
Just before 8 p.m. on Friday evening, the 25th session of the WIPO’s main committee for copyright policy, the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), completed its work and adjourned. Continue Reading
Some have written to ask what the Canada position is on the proposed WIPO treaty on copyright exceptions for persons who are blind or have other disabilities. For the first 3.5 days of the meeting, Canada did not say anything. Continue Reading
The SCCR has seems to have finished its work on the text for a possible treaty on copyright exceptions for persons who are blind or have other disabilities, and earlier than expected. The new text distributed to delegates is 25 pages long (attached below), and includes several articles with no brackets. There are many differences to be resolved. The question is, will WIPO proceed with a diplomatic conference in 2013? Continue Reading
Update: (revised version here)
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Yesterday they finished work on the definition of a work. Audiovisual works and related rights are out, ebooks and audio books are in.
November 21 version of WIPO treaty for the blind negotiating text
Attached below is the November 21, 2012 version of the “REVISED WORKING DOCUMENT ON AN INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENT ON LIMITATIONS AND EXCEPTIONS FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSONS/PERSONS WITH PRINT DISABILITIES.”
We are interested in hearing from people on any part of the text (mailto:james.love@keionline.org).
Note that on page 9 that the brackets have been removed on the definition of “authorized entity.”
Distance education for blind people opposed by a White House responsive to MPAA
During the WIPO negotiations on disabilities, the White House has told U.S. Blind groups it will kill a WIPO treaty on copyright exceptions for persons who are blind or have other disabilities if the treaty covers audiovisual works, including those used in education, including distance teaching programs.