The principle of Access to Knowledge (A2K) has become a common reference point for a diverse set of agendas that all hope to realize technological and human potential by making knowledge more accessible. This book is a history of international copyright focused on principles of A2K and their proponents. Whilst debate and discussion so far has covered the perspectives of major western countries, the author's fresh approach to the topic considers emerging countries and NGOs, who have fought for the principles of A2K that are now fundamental to the system. Written in a clear and accessible style, the book connects copyright history to current problems, issues and events.
The first serious, extended effort to use a human rights-based approach to address the scientific issues affecting society and the often-neglected human right to science.
This book addresses the recent debate about copyright law and its impact on the distribution of scientific knowledge from an economic perspective. The focus is on the question whether a copyright regime or an open access regime is better suited to the norms and organizational structure in a purely global science community. The book undertakes a thorough economic analysis of the academic journal market and showcases consequences of a regime change. It also takes account of the Digital Divide debate, reflecting issues in developing countries. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of legal action in the light of international Intellectual Property (IP) agreements offers prospects on the future of academic publishing.
In International Copyright Law and Access to Education in Developing Countries: Exploring Multilateral Legal and Quasi-Legal Solutions, Susan Isiko Štrba demonstrates the challenge of access to printed copyrighted educational and research materials in developing countries and proposes institutional and normative solutions at national and international levels.
A movement emerges to challenge the tightening of intellectual property law around the world. At the end of the twentieth century, intellectual property rights collided with everyday life. Expansive copyright laws and digital rights management technologies sought to shut down new forms of copying and remixing made possible by the Internet. International laws expanding patent rights threatened the lives of millions of people around the world living with HIV/AIDS by limiting their access to cheap generic medicines. For decades, governments have tightened the grip of intellectual property law at the bidding of information industries; but recently, groups have emerged around the world to challenge this wave of enclosure with a new counter-politics of "access to knowledge" or "A2K." They include software programmers who took to the streets to defeat software patents in Europe, AIDS activists who forced multinational pharmaceutical companies to permit copies of their medicines to be sold in poor countries, subsistence farmers defending their rights to food security or access to agricultural biotechnology, and college students who created a new "free culture" movement to defend the digital commons. Access to Knowledge in the Age of Intellectual Property maps this emerging field of activism as a series of historical moments, strategies, and concepts. It gathers some of the most important thinkers and advocates in the field to make the stakes and strategies at play in this new domain visible and the terms of intellectual property law intelligible in their political implications around the world. A Creative Commons edition of this work will be freely available online.
International Intellectual Property in an Integrated World Economy, Fourth Edition by Frederick M. Abbott, Thomas Cottier, and Francis Gurry, provides a comprehensive treatment of the international intellectual property system across the spectrum of intellectual property rights and interests. It introduces the institutional architecture at the multilateral, regional/plurilateral, bilateral and national levels. For each form of IP, it addresses the technical legal rules and illustrative jurisprudence, as well as economic and social welfare implications. Each of the authors has played a role in the development and implementation of the international rules, and they bring their experience to bear in introducing students to the field. New to the Fourth Edition: The latest developments in bilateral and regional agreements regulating intellectual property, including NAFTA 2.0 (USMCA), CPTPP, and CETA Important new judicial decisions, including the U.S. Supreme Court decision adopting international exhaustion of patents and CJEU decisions addressing trademarks, geographical indications, and copyright Developments in IP and human rights; IP and competition law; and IP and health The WTO panel report in the Australia-Tobacco case Professors and students will benefit from: An approach to the international IP system that situates the rules within the broader context of international law and the public policy objectives that governments, industry, and interest groups are seeking to achieve Case law from international dispute settlement bodies, as well as from national and regional courts Discussion of patent, trademark, geographical indication, copyright, design, trade secret, and data protection; as well as plant variety protection, protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and the role of open source An explanation of the new European Union Unitary Patent system Exploration of the increasingly important role of emerging market IP systems Materials to help students understand the disputes between the United States and China involving IP, investment, and transfer of technology Inclusion of important jurisprudential developments
The drastic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted many of society’s systemic inequalities. In this timely and prescient book, Taina Pihlajarinne, Jukka Tapio Mähönen and Pratyush Nath Upreti explore the importance of intellectual property rights (IPRs) post pandemic and argue for a pressing revision of the current IPR system to build a more globally sustainable and just regime.
. . . an important contribution to the study of EU copyright law. It provides a good overview of different aspects of copyright law in the European Union and comprises a prevailing guide which undoubtedly will be of great use to both academics and practitioners. Ghufran Sukkaryeh, European Intellectual Property Review Estelle Derclaye s book is indeed a Handbook on EU copyright law, since practically every aspect of copyright law is examined through the lens of EU law by foremost European specialists. But it goes further than providing an understanding of what has been and ought to be happening in EU copyright law: each chapter can touch a raw nerve in the copyright law of any country in the world. Rarely has it been so obvious that EU copyright law can be considered a laboratory for copyright law in general. Ysolde Gendreau, Université de Montréal, Canada It has been over fifteen years since the EU started harmonising copyright law. This original Handbook takes stock and questions what the future of EU copyright should be. What went wrong with the harmonisation acquis? What did the directives do well? Should copyright be further harmonised? Each of the 25 recognised copyright experts from different European countries gives a critical account of the EU harmonisation carried out on several aspects of copyright law (subject-matter, originality, duration, rights, defences etc.), and asks whether further harmonisation is desirable or not. This way, the Handbook not only gives guidance to European institutions as to what remains to be done or needs to be remedied but is also the first overall picture of current and future EU copyright law. This Handbook will be of great interest to academics and intellectual property lawyers, as well as general commercial lawyers, across Europe because it reviews European directives in the field of copyright and also the relationships between copyright and other laws. Policymakers will also find much to interest them in the discussions regarding the future of EU copyright law and the proposed amendments to the existing legal framework.
"This book is a result of an international and interdisciplinary research project known as the African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) project"--Acknowledgments.
