USTR New Exclusive Right for Copyright Holders: Importation Provision in the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)

At the recently completed Vietnam round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), once again, no official text of negotiation was released. Therefore, we still need to speculate about its status, relying in part on a three-month-ago leaked version of the intellectual property chapter proposed by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

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SCCR22: Brazilian interventions in favor of a Treaty on exceptions and limitations to copyright for persons with disabilities

Mr Chairman,

It is with much pleasure that Brazil notes that we started this second week of the XXII SCCR with a text on the table that is co-sponsored by Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Ecuador, México, Paraguay, and the United States and that is also supported by the EU.

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Opening statement of Uruguay at WIPO’s 22nd Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights

Comité Permanente de Derechos de Autor y Conexos – SCCR 22 – OMPI – Ginebra
Intervención de la Delegación de Uruguay. Ginebra, 15 de junio de 2011.

Gracias Señor Presidente,

Señor Presidente, reciba de nuestra delegación nuestras mas sinceras felicitaciones por su designación como Presidente del Comité Permanente de Derechos de Autor y Conexos SCCR y cuente con nuestro apoyo para hacer una exitosa gestión al frente de este importante comité.

Señor Presidente:

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15 April European Union proposal: 3 to 5 year delay in negotiations on a copyright treaty for blind persons

Attached is a PDF of the proposal by the European Union that was presented at the April 15, 2011 informals in Geneva, held at the US Embassy. The European Union now proposes that WIPO adopt a soft non-binding recommendation on cross border sharing of accessible works, and then monitor progress on the issue for 3 to 5 years. Continue Reading

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Undermining the copyright exceptions for the blind

The WIPO “Stakeholder Platform,” an endeavor by rightholder organizations that came about in response to the proposal of the World Blind Union Treaty, seeks to engage in voluntary agreements and licensing deals to make works accessible to the visually impaired. Although the “Stakeholder Platform” appears to be a positive measure on its face, these voluntary agreements may actually impair, rather enhance, the ability of the blind to gain access to books and other works. Continue Reading

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Maria Martin-Prat reported to replace Tilman Lueder as head of unit for copyright at European Commission

1257323036PS4picMARTINPRAT.JPGAccording to stories in the German and French press (links below), Tilman Lueder will be leaving his position as the head of union for copyright for the European Commission, for a new EC job in China. [The FT confirms Tilman is leaving, but suggests he will have a different assignment]. Tilman will reportedly be replaced by Maria Martin-Prat. Continue Reading

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Seven being considered for new US Register of Copyrights

Apparently it is now down to seven final candidates to be the new US Register of Copyrights. These include two employees of the Copyright Office (Carson and Kasunic), a lawyer in private practice (Fries), a full time professor (Brauneis), a professor/USPTO negotiator (Hughes), a trade negotiator (McCoy), and a representative of a trade association (Perlmutter). By gender, the finalists are two women, and five men.

They are, in alphabetical order:

Robert Brauneis
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