IP Justice submitted the following statement to the 63rd WIPO General Assembly, which was held 14-22 July 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland: IP Justice Statement Issues Raised: Proposed Broadcast Treaty Domain Name & Country Names Issue Intellectual Property Waiver for COVID-19 Vaccines and Medicines IP Justice's Statement at the WIPO 63/GA was drafted by Solveig Legoupil.
On 3 May 2022, a coalition of 38 civil society organizations, trade associations, and companies wrote to U.S. Congressional leaders to share their collective opposition to H.R. 5374, the Stopping Harmful Offers on Platforms by Screening Against Fakes in E-commerce (SHOP SAFE) Act. IP Justice joined in this diverse coalition letter to warn against the [...]
IP Justice Urges USTR to Consider Broader Policy Goals in Annual “Special 301” Process On 31 January 2022 IP Justice submitted a comment to the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) via its “Special 301” annual review process, which evaluates other countries’ laws and practices regarding intellectual property rights. Each year, the USTR’s [...]
IP Justice Statement at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP)’s Twenty-Seventh Session (20-26 November 2021) IP Justice urges the WIPO to provide more easily understandable resources for identifying available inventions in the public domain. For the public to have greater access to the public domain inventions, they have [...]
Every year, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) publishes a Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, known widely as the Notorious Markets List. The report highlights online and physical markets that reportedly engage in or facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy. The USTR requests comments and rebuttal comments from [...]
The European Union's highest court issued a key legal ruling overturning a Belgian law that would have required Internet service providers to monitor all Internet traffic passing through their systems with the goal of protecting copyright holders' rights. In a closely watched case, the European Court of Justice struck down a Belgian court ruling from [...]
Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua and Uruguay presented a proposal which elaborated further the proposal by the delegation of Chile (SCCR/13/5). Many of the delegations who took the floor supported the proposal, in whole or in part. Other delegations expressed support or opposition to specific elements of document SCCR/13/5, which are reflected in their interventions in the report of the meeting....
A Finnish Court has ruled that the Content Scrabling System (CSS) computer code, which unlocks DVD movies, is lawful in Europe. The decision was a first to interpret the legality of DVD decoding software under the 2001 European Copyright Directive. .... This ruling is good news for consumers and innovators who want to build interoperable tools that will permit consumers to engage in a full range of lawful activities with their digital media collections, like making digital movie archives and video "mash-ups". Besides applying across the EU, European experts believe this ruling will apply across media platforms and not restricted only to DVDs.
Little case law exists in the United States that specifically deals with a consumer’s legal rights to use Karaoke CD+Graphic (CDG) discs. The lack of case law in this area leads to uncertainty among consumers regarding the legality of different uses of a CDG disc. This legal uncertainty has also lead to intimidation and fear of lawsuits stemming from over-zealous threats from karaoke producers, music publishers or record companies who hope to extend their rights in an unchartered area. Private consumers, karaoke hosting businesses (KJs), bars, restaurants, and others all make use of CDG discs in different ways and for different purposes. As a result, their legal rights may vary in some situations. ...