Month: July 2015

KEI letter to HHS, regarding 3 issues in the TPP

Posted on by James Love

Attached below is a letter KEI sent to Emily Bleimund, Senior Policy Advisor for International Trade for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and several other U.S. trade officials. The letter addresses three issues in the TPP text:

  1. There is a need for exceptions to exclusive rights in pharmaceutical and biologic drug test data.
  2. WTO standards for compulsory licenses should not be modified as part of a secret negotiation, or constrained by a 3-step test.

    3. Continue Reading →

Uncategorized

Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) – GRULAC proposal – Revision of 1979 WIPO Model Law for Developing Countries

Posted on by Thiru

The World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Twenty-Second session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) will be convened from 27 July 2015 to 31 July 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. For consideration of the Committee, the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) have submitted a proposal entitled, Revision of 1979 WIPO Model Law for Developing Countries on Inventions (SCP/22/5). Continue Reading →

July 2015: WTO reports on EU competition policy and copyright law – WTO Trade Policy Review – European Union

Posted on by Thiru

On 6 July 2015 and 8 July 2015, the World Trade Organization (WTO) conducted a trade policy review of the European Union. All members of the WTO are subject to review under the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM). As noted by the WTO secretariat, the “basis for the review is a report by the WTO Secretariat and a report by the Government of the European Union” (Source: Trade Policy Review – European Union, July 2015).

Continue Reading →

SCCR 30: Resale right proposal on the table?

Posted on by Manon Ress

Today on the last day of the SCCR 30, under Agenda Item 9 “Other Matters” Congo-Brazzaville asked for the floor to propose that the WIPO Copyright and Related Right Committee start working on the Resale Right, a fundamental right for authors of graphic and plastic arts. This economical rights consists of a small percentage of the resale price that art market professionals pay to artists at each resale of their works be it in auction or in a gallery.

congo1-1200x.jpg

Continue Reading →

KEI intervention on education exceptions in SCCR 30

Posted on by James Love

This was presented in the morning in the debate on education copyright exceptions.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

KEI would like to comment on the proposals submitted by the African Group in relation to limitation on remedies for infringement contained in paragraph 22 on page 18 of the document. SCCR/26/4 PROV. DATE: APRIL 15, 2013

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_26/sccr_26_4_prov.pdf

titled “Access to Educational Materials: Limitation on remedies for infringement.”
Continue Reading →

SCCR30: United States- Preservation – Copyright limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives

Posted on by Thiru

On Thursday, 2 July 2015, the United States of America presented the following intervention on preservation in the context of copyright limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives. The following statement was captured by the WIPO streamtext.

UNITED STATES: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The United States is pleased to participate in the discussion of preservation, a very important topic for libraries and archives.

Continue Reading →

KEI intervention on preservation exceptions at WIPO SCCR 30

Posted on by James Love

This was the KEI intervention at SCCR 30 on the topic of preservation exceptions for libraries and archives.

Preservation is obviously important for everyone, and archiving in general is both a local benefit and to some degree, a global public good.

We want works preserved, and copyright and trade negotiators to sort out the issues regarding access, which will often be context specific.

Every country’s copyright laws should have as a minimum an exception for preservation.

Continue Reading →