Currently viewing the category: "international IP"

Losing our focus

On January 18, 2012 By

Today the Supreme Court issued a decision in the case of Golan v. Holder which is a significant defeat, I think, for the public domain in the United States.  Reading the opinion has made me wonder if we have really strayed from our fundamental commitments about intellectual property.

The case involved the complex and technical [...]

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Using copyright for its intended purpose

On December 28, 2011 By

At its roots, copyright in the Anglo-American legal system is a statutory grant of rights intended to be an engine for innovation.  Copyright and patent legislation is the only type of law whose authorization in the Constitution is specifically tied to a purpose — “to promote the progress of science and useful arts.”  If copyright [...]

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Getting first sale wrong

On August 24, 2011 By

Last week the Second Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision with potentially disastrous consequences for higher education.  I admit that I have been reluctant to write about it because I cannot think of a good remedy for the situation and I dislike the role of Chicken Little, always crying that the sky [...]

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US endorses public domain for TK — Man bites dog!

On February 28, 2011 By

From Dave Hansen, J.D., the 2010-11 intern for Duke’s Scholarly Communications office:

A while back Kevin wrote a blog post highlighting the Ghanaian copyright law’s treatment of traditional knowledge and folklore. He pointed out two very basic ambiguities in Ghana’s domestic protections: (1) How exactly is “traditional knowledge” defined, and (2) who owns it?

[...]

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Some good examples from abroad

On February 15, 2011 By

It seems I have been looking at a lot of international comments and writings about copyright lately, for reasons I explained a couple of weeks ago.  Now I have the chance to pass on two really interesting examples of sensible approaches to the reform of copyright law.

When British Prime Minister David Cameron announced [...]

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A more sensible copyright law

On February 2, 2011 By

One of the ways I try to deepen and provide nuance to my understanding of copyright law is to engage in thought experiments about how different alterations to the law might make a practical difference for creators, rights holders and users.  Copyright law is so metaphysical (as Justice Story famously observed) that its practical application [...]

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A glimpse into our future?

On November 28, 2010 By

Access Copyright is the Canadian equivalent of the U.S Copyright Clearance Center.  Like the CCC, which is helping to finance litigation against Georgia State University designed to force US universities to pay more and higher licensing fees for course materials, Access Copyright is also on a quest for ever greater income.

I and others have [...]

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So who gets the money?

On November 19, 2010 By

In my only previous foray into the issues of protection for traditional knowledge, I was quite critical of the legal regime used in Ghana to claim control and profit over the knowledge creations of indigenous peoples.  Even while criticizing the law, however, I admitted that there was a great deal of abuse that needed [...]

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Fair is fair, isn’t it?

On November 15, 2010 By

It was certainly good news to see this news story from the BBC reporting that Prime Minister David Cameron has initiated a review of the UK copyright laws with an eye toward revisions that would accommodate the way innovation happens in the Internet age.  Every country should probably undertake this kind of review periodically, [...]

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Berlin in Beijing – first impressions

On November 2, 2010 By

The week that my colleague Paolo Mangiafico and I spent in Beijing for the Berlin 8 Conference on Open Access flew by, so my first impressions are actually being written after our return, based on notes I made during the conference.  This post is an attempt at a summary of the event, while later [...]

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