The following statement was released on June 3, 2012 by tens of civil society organizations including Knowledge Commune. On May 29, 2020, the World Health Organization called governments, non-governmental organizations, scientists, researchers, and civil societies for a solidarity to action for equitable global access to COVID-19 health technologies. We endorse and welcome the WHO’s Solidarity …
According to the incentive theory of intellectual property law, an exclusive right granted to intellectual property stimulates further innovation and creativity. In the face of COVID-19 crisis, we don’t have therapeutic and vaccine. Rapid innovation in responding COVID-19 is more urgent than ever. Then, we have to grant, in accordance with the incentive theory, greater …
The spread of Coronavirus was discovered by collaborations of researchers not by researchers’ competition or race to monopoly right. Unlike intellectual property rights on health technologies, copyrighted materials which are related to COVID-19 have been widely and voluntarily shared. This open access movement is expanded to other materials such as online educational materials and distance …
Abstract In order to implement the Korea-US FTA, the drug approval-patent linking system was introduced in the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act on March 15, 2015. Five-years implementation experience has provoked discussion for reforming the linkage system, and the government-led discussion focuses on procedural reform and the problems revealed in the operation of the system. However, since …
As I explained in my previous blog post, the open-ended fair use clause in the Korean Copyright Act (“KCA”) was introduced in 2011 in the course of implementing the Korea-US FTA (“KORUS”). Yet, this does not mean that KORUS mandates legislation of fair use. Instead, KORUS restricts the scope of fair use. Footnote 11 of …
Now, we got to have the final interpretation guideline for so-called ‘neglected human rights’, or the right to science and culture. On April 7, 2020, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) published the General Comment No. 25 on the right to science of Art. 15 of ICESCR. The General Comment No. 25 is …
The linkage between patent status and drug approval process consists of two elements: notification and prohibition. The notification element refers to a mechanism in which a patentee is notified of the application of marketing approval of a generic product. The prohibition element refers to a mechanism in which a marketing approval of a generic product …
Abstract If the paradoxical reality that copyright system which is supposed to protect individual creators serves to exploit creative labor is left unattended, the copyright system is hard to sustain. In order to alleviate the exploitation of creative labor, we need to revise the existing Copyright Act to codify measures warranting fairness rather than freedom …
On 22 January, 2020, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety made open useful data: Pharmaceutical products to which patent rights ceased to exist but no generic competition. The data was retrieved from the “Green List” for linkage patents in Korea (FYI, EPO provides a guideline on how to search the Green List in English, …
The Constitutional Court of Korea upheld Art. 29(2) of the Copyright Act as constitutional (2016HunMa1115 & 2019HunGa18, November 28, 2019). The Art. 29(2) permits a public performance of commercial phonograms and audiovisual works if no profit is received in return from audience, excepting cases as prescribed by the Presidential Decree. This provision has long been …