Intellectual Property Law Commons^™

From Kafka To Kafta: Intellectual Property, And The Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

The Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement 2014 (KAFTA) is a Kafkaesque agreement – with its secret texts, speculative claims, and shadowy tribunals. Australia and South Korea have signed a new free trade agreement - the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement2014 (KAFTA). Is it a fair trade fairytale? Or is it a dirty deal done dirt cheap? Or somewhere in between? It is hard to tell, given the initial secrecy of the negotiations, and the complexity of the texts of the agreement. There has been much debate in the Australian Parliament over the transparency of the trade agreement; the scope of market access …

The Comparative Economics Of International Intellectual Property Agreements, Peter Yu

Peter K. Yu

No abstract provided.

Essential Facilities Doctrine And China’S Anti-Monopoly Law, Yong Huang, Elizabeth Xiao-Ru Wang, Xin Roger Zhang

Elizabeth Xiao-Ru Wang

No abstract provided.

A Supplementary Submission On Trojan Horse Clauses: Investor-State Dispute Settlement, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

Executive Summary This supplementary submission considers a number of new developments in Investor-State Dispute Settlement in Canada, North America, the European Union, and Africa. This supplementary submission highlights the application of Investor-State Dispute Settlement in the context of water rights, intellectual property, and media regulation. This supplementary submission also highlights the conflict between domestic courts and international tribunals in Investor-State Dispute Settlement, raising significant issues about the rule of law and justice. Recommendation 14 In light of the work of Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians, it is evident that Investor-State Dispute Settlement has a significant impact upon water …

A Supplementary Submission To The Joint Standing Committee On Treaties On The Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This supplementary submission responds to new developments regarding Investor-State Dispute Settlement; questions about transparency and the enforcement of labor and environmental standards in trade agreements; and the role of copyright exceptions in Korea.

China's Role In Well-Known Marks Protection: It's Now Or Never...Or Dilution, Ava Farshidi

Ava Farshidi

Infringement over the transliteration, converting text to another script, of well-known marks is a major problem for foreign companies in China. If a multinational company does not create its own Chinese transliteration, the Chinese public may create one, which will ultimately affect the company’s ownership of the mark in a different language. Although China became a member of both the Paris Convention for the Protection of Intellectual Property (“Paris Convention”) and the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”), China has adopted laws that directly conflict with these international guidelines for well-known marks, which has paved the way …

The Transaction Cost Problem In International Intellectual Property Exchange And Innovation Markets, Sonia Baldia

Sonia Baldia

In recent years, there has been a dramatic surge in cross-border IP exchange transactions driven by globalization, open innovation, and the escalating strategic value of IP to competitive firms, the positive result of which are significantly developed global IP markets. While critical to these global IP markets, international IP exchange remains highly inefficient because parties face excessive transaction costs relative to transaction value, both in transaction design and negotiation and in transaction enforcement. These transaction costs arise from the territoriality of IP laws and low visibility into individual state IP law regimes that IP exchange transactions may implicate, thus imposing …

Trojan Horse Clauses: Investor-State Dispute Settlement. A Submission To The Australian Parliament., Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

‘The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) proposes to freeze into a binding trade agreement many of the worst features of the worst laws in the TPP countries, making needed reforms extremely difficult if not impossible. The investor state dispute resolution mechanisms should not be shrouded in mystery to the general public, while the same provisions are routinely discussed with advisors to big corporations.’ Professor Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in Economics

‘Investment arbitration as currently constituted is not a fair, independent, and balanced method for the resolution of disputes between sovereign nations and private investors.’ Retired Justice Elizabeth Evatt and leading jurists

‘Opening …

Decoding Bollywood’S Royalty-Sharing Conundrum, Pralika Jain

Pralika Jain

India’s film making community and business got „industry‟ status only in 2011. However, unlike major industries such as telecom and pharmaceutical, the film industry (popularly known as “Bollywood”) is characterised by a major lack of legal rules and institutions to administer them, the problem being most acute in respect of artists. Consequently, the industry is governed completely by market forces whose successful players wield nearly all the bargaining power. It’s almost baffling that a film industry which is currently worlds second in terms of revenue is so thinly regulated.

Copyright And Inequality, Lea Shaver

Lea Shaver

The prevailing theory of copyright law imagines a marketplace efficiently serving up new works to an undifferentiated world of consumers. Yet the reality is that all consumers are not equal. The majority of the world’s people experience copyright law not as a boon to consumer choice, but as a barrier to acquiring knowledge and taking part in cultural life. The resulting patterns of privilege and disadvantage, moreover, reinforce and perpetuate preexisting social divides. Class and culture combine to explain who wins, and who loses, from copyright protection. Along the dimension of class, the insight is that just because new works …

The Evolution Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act; Changing Interpretations Of The Dmca And Future Implications For Copyright Holders, Hillary A. Henderson

Hillary A Henderson

Copyright law rewards an artificial monopoly to individual authors for their creations. This reward is based on the belief that, by granting authors the exclusive right to reproduce their works, they receive an incentive and means to create, which in turn advances the welfare of the general public by “promoting the progress of science and useful arts.” Copyright protection subsists . . . in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or …

An Empirical Study: A Socio-Legal Approach To Gauging Attitudes To Intellectual Property Rights, Faris K. Nesheiwat, Mike Adcock

Ferris K Nesheiwat

This article seeks to provide a socio-legal framework for the examination of the attitude of a section of the Jordanian public towards intellectual property rights (IPRs), using copyright protected software as an example; it provides an overview of perceptions of IPRs within an Arabic and predominantly Muslim society, and examines how such perceptions impact attitudes towards abiding with, and enforcement of, IPRs. Through its analytical value and empirical research, this paper fills a void in the availability of reliable empirical data in Jordan as part of the analysis to gauge the impact of intellectual property (IP) laws. A review of …

Trick Or Treaty? The Australian Debate Over The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (Acta), Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

The secretive 2011Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement – known in short by the catchy acronym ACTA – is a controversial trade pact designed to provide for stronger enforcement of intellectual property rights. The preamble to the treaty reads like pulp fiction – it raises moral panics about piracy, counterfeiting, organised crime, and border security. The agreement contains provisions on civil remedies and criminal offences; copyright law and trademark law; the regulation of the digital environment; and border measures. Memorably, Susan Sell called the international treaty a TRIPS Double-Plus Agreement, because its obligations far exceed those of the World Trade Organization's TRIPS Agreement …

Innovation, Intellectual Property And Development Narratives In Africa, Jeremy De Beer

Jeremy de Beer

No abstract provided.

Adjudicating Trips For Development, Molly Land

Molly K. Land

No abstract provided.

Anticipating The Storm: Predicting And Preventing Global Technology Conflicts, Sabrina Safrin

Sabrina Safrin

This article helps lay the foundation for a new field of international law — International Law and Technology — and opens novel avenues of inquiry in law and technology and intellectual property more broadly. It analyzes as a starting point why some technologies generate global conflicts while others do not. Technologies that face international resistance can trigger a barrage of international legal responses, ranging from trade bans and WTO disputes to international regulatory regimes and barriers to patenting. Agricultural biotechnology triggered all of these legal flashpoints, while the cellphone, a technology that grew up alongside it, triggered none. Why?

Understanding …

Trademark Protection And Territoriality: Challenges In The Global Economy, Edward Lee

Edward Lee

No abstract provided.

Transparency In International Economic Relations And The Role Of The Wto, Padideh Ala'i , Matthew D'Orsi

Padideh Ala'i