Vulnerable: The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19, a global collaborative project on the pandemic. Our contribution to the work examines the role of intellectual property rights, trade law, and domestic research in Canada’s preparedness for this pandemic. We identify issues that hindered Canada’s response and suggest reforms to...
https://youtu.be/jlb92sEB6X8The Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, is a done deal. Attention is now focussed on implementation, both in Canada and Europe. That doesn’t mean it is too soon to learn from the negotiation process. My testimony to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade highlighted...
Intellectual property provisions in international agreements should not be negotiated secretly, but transparently. They should not serve special interests, but the public interest. And they should not be one-sided, but fair and balanced. This can be done by adhering to the Max Planck Principles for Intellectual Property Provisions in Bilateral...
Is there a role for intellectual property rights to play in the informal economy? What formal and informal strategies do informal sector actors use to appropriate benefits from their innovation? I’ve been exploring these questions through my co-leadership of the Open AIR project, and as an expert consultant on...
Knowledge and Innovation in Africa: Scenarios for the Future grapples with the complex and dynamic forces that will shape innovation systems over the next two decades. The report distills three different but equally plausible future scenarios: one a world of “wireless engagement,” another where “informal is the new normal,”...
Innovation and Intellectual Property: Collaborative Dynamics in Africa is a book of real-world case studies that show how intellectual property can play a positive role in collaborative innovation systems if policymakers prioritise the public interest. Editors: Jeremy de Beer, Chris Armstrong, Chidi Oguamanam & Tobias Schonwetter ISBN: 978-1-919895-99-4 Published by UCT Press, 2013 The...