By Charlene Musiza

On 20 May 2019, the second International Conference on Intellectual Property (IP) and Development was held at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, Switzerland. A diverse crowd from industry, academia, international organisations, non-governmental organisations and students attended the event and some participated via the webcast. The panels, comprising of experts, discussed various topics in relation to IP and development. Discussion in the panels are summarised below.

How the IP System Benefits Innovation

The first panel, made up of Dr. Fernanda de Negri, Professor Marzenna Weresa and Professor Dominique Foray, discussed how the IP system benefits innovation. Dr. Negri spoke about some factors and conditions for innovation, and gave a historical perspective, and the empirical literature on IP and innovation that highlighted the important of patents for pharmaceutical and chemical innovations. According to Dr. Negri patent systems have an important and a positive influence on innovation in home countries. She stated that IP rights had positive effects on innovation in developed countries but the results for developing countries were not so clear. On the other hand, according to her, innovation required a broad sector of conditions, for example qualified people to innovate, infrastructure and good economic environment. Continue reading →

Ville Oksanen, CC BY-SA 2.0

By Desmond O. Oriakhogba

Background

The 38th session of the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (WIPO-SCCR) recently took place from 1 to 5 April 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland. As gleaned from its agenda, the session was convened to continue the negotiations among WIPO member states towards formulating an international normative instrument for copyright limitations and exceptions (L&Es), that goes beyond the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled (Marrakesh VIP Treaty). Thus, the session placed particular attention on L&Es for persons with disabilities (other than blind, visually impaired and print disabilities), libraries, archives and museums; for educational and research institutions. Continue reading →

WIPO

On 20 May 2019 the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will host the second International Conference on Intellectual Property (IP) and Development. The theme for this year’s edition is ‘How to Benefit from the IP System’. The conference offers a platform to share knowledge and experience on IP and development. It draws speakers with expertise in different areas of IP from industry, government and academia. The issues to be discussed include how the IP system benefits innovation, creativity and global issues and the challenges and opportunities of the IP system in the world today. These topics will be discussed in four panels moderated by deputy and assistant directors of the different sectors at WIPO. The Keynote Speaker is H.E. Ms. Amina C. Mohamed, the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage in Kenya. Registration for the international conference is available here and a live webcast will be available for those who cannot attend the conference in person.

The Intellectual Property Unit (IP Unit) at the Department of Commercial Law, University of Cape Town invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the area of Intellectual Property Law. The selected fellow will become part of a new project: One Ocean Hub.

Scope and Purpose

This fellowship is intended to support the One Ocean Hub project by contributing towards the understanding of various intellectual property aspects related to the ocean exploration, exploitation and management. Continue reading →

by William New – first published for infojustice.org under Creative Commons Attribution-4.0 International License.

by Clarence Lakpini

It is that day of the year again! The World Intellectual Property (IP) day is being celebrated the world over.  According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the theme of this year’s celebration is “Reach for Gold: IP and Sports.” We are excited about this year’s theme as it affords us the opportunity to reflect on the role of IP for the development of sports, especially the game of football. IP generally deals with “creations of the mind: inventions; literary and artistic works; symbols, names, and images used in commerce.” There are several types of IP that impact on the sporting world, among which are: copyright, trademarks, patents, designs, broadcasting rights and trade secrets. A healthy and fair balance between incentivising innovation and enabling access to its fruits is what IP ultimately seeks to achieve. This short blog post examines how IP, through patents, has impacted the game of football. The specific focus will be on the effect of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology, introduced during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, on the traditional footballing practices.

Continue reading →

By Douglas Gichuki

Inherent tensions define the varying approaches between the regulation of speech on new media platforms and protections for freedom of speech as a fundamental right. These tensions are increasingly magnified as a transnational internet comes up both against hard regulatory norms based on the Westphalian sovereignty and cultural norms emanating from both radical left and right viewpoints. This piece forms part of the IP Unit’s core research at the intersection of innovation and regulation.

Canadian Professor Jordan B Peterson is currently the internet’s most famous clinical psychologist. His YouTube lecture series account has over 100 million hits, while his recently published book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, is a runaway bestseller on Amazon in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, Germany and France.  In an opinion piece carried by the New York Times and titled “The Jordan Peterson Moment”, David Brooks describes him as possibly being “the most influential public intellectual in the Western world right now.”  His ascendancy to cyberspace stardom however started to accelerate in late 2016 due to his refusal to accept “mandated speech”- Peterson’s view- of Bill C-16, an Act aimed at amending the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code by adding gender expression and gender identity as protected grounds to the Canadian Human Rights Act, and also to the Criminal Code provisions dealing with hate propaganda, incitement to genocide, and aggravating factors in sentencing.

Continue reading →

On 28 March 2018, Professor Caroline Ncube delivered her inaugural lecture at the University of Cape Town (UCT), with the topic: “The public interest in intellectual property law: African solutions to global challenges”

During her exciting lecture, Prof. Ncube relied on her extensive research to argue, among other things, that in order to create fair intellectual property systems, intellectual property rights must consider public interest concerns that are informed by societal values, and protect human rights. According to Professor Ncube:

“Using the public interest context would allow South Africa, or any other country, to custom make a suitable intellectual property system.”

Throughout her lecture, she raised pertinent questions and shared her thoughts on some of the most topical intellectual property issues from an African perspective. For example, she addressed the question of how accessibility to works produced at publicly funded research institutions can be increased for the public good, and how works created by indigenous communities can be protect adequately. And repeatedly, Professor Ncube referred to her research work carried out projects such as Open AIR and ASK Justice.

Continue reading →

The IP Unit is pleased to again present a CopyrightX affiliated course in 2018. CopyrightX:UCT will be administered by UCT Law@Work: Professional Development Project of the Faculty of Law, UCT.

CopyrightX:UCT is a member of the growing CopyrightX Community, a network of affiliated courses offered by several universities and other institutions between January and April of each year. Participants in these courses examine and assess the ways in which law seeks to stimulate and regulate creative expression. CopyrightX was developed by Professor William Fisher at Harvard Law School; it is hosted and supported by the HarvardX distance-learning initiative and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. A list of the other participating organisations and additional information concerning this educational initiative is available at http://copyx.org

CopyrightX:UCT consists of the Harvard pre-recorded lectures, accompanied by reading materials relating to U.S. and South African copyright law. Eight contact sessions will take place on Wednesdays between 21 February 2018 and 2 May 2018. The classroom seminars will discuss the pre-recorded lectures and will more closely analyse South African Copyright law and the issues faced. In 2018, we are planning to simultaneously deliver lectures online as webinars. Those who cannot attend the contact sessions in person, but want to participate in these webinars are invited to also registers, subject to confirmation of online content delivery in early 2018. The seminars will be taught by Dr. Tobias Schonwetter.

The course is free of charge. Applicants must provide a motivation of approximately 400 words stating why they want to participate in CopyrightX:UCT, and how they plan on utilising their knowledge afterwards. Furthermore, applicants must make a commitment to actively participate in the course and attend the weekly seminars at the University of Cape Town.

Applications are open between now and 26 January 2018.  Successful applicants will be notified by 31 January 2018.

For more info and to apply click here.

What is the purpose of intellectual property (IP) and who do the laws serve? This question underpinned this year’s International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP) Congress held from 24 to 27 October 2017 at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. The answers to this question appear to be quite dynamic. Concepts such as creativity and innovation, which are at the core of IP, constantly change, while the underlying justifications for IP protection continually need to be scrutinised, re-assessed and re-evaluated. Many other factors, such as policy considerations and complexities in the interaction between IP and new technologies further influence the answers to this question. Continue reading →