Tracking trending news and debates in intellectual property law and policy. Read our latest posts below, or use the buttons to access our other publications.
Vitor Ido of the University of São Paulo (USP) explains the context of the renewed focus on remuneration of creatives in Latin America, especially in Brazil. He focuses on the desire by Brazil’s new government to regulate the power of
Teresa Nobre outlines a chilling range of practices by publishers to try to restrict the ability of researchers to conduct computational research. From ‘choice of law’ clauses which seek to circumvent EU law, to increased liability and penalties on libraries
This post was originally published on KEI Online by Thiru Balasubramaniam On Tuesday afternoon, 24 June 2025, the Core Group (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa, Thailand) convened an informal consultation to consider the revised version draft resolution, “Access
‘Boring’ is not a word that can be used to describe the past few days for those interested in litigation involving copyright issues in the development and use of Generative AI systems. Two major cases saw significant updates, issuing orders
Despite the weight of a packed agenda and the significance of several recent treaty milestones, the Sixty-Sixth Series of Meetings of the WIPO General Assembly is expected to unfold key institutional decisions, including the initiation of the Director General appointment
LATAM-GPT is a groundbreaking large language model developed by the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (CENIA) in Chile, in partnership with over thirty institutions and twelve Latin American countries. The initiative aims to create an open-source AI model that reflects
An initiative led by Christo de Klerk at Blind South Africa focuses on promoting the use of accessible mobile and digital applications for blind and visually impaired people in South Africa. Highlighted at the 2025 Copyright and the Public Interest
A project at the Data Sciences for Social Impact (DSFSI) group, University of Pretoria, led by Professor Vukosi Marivate, is developing a talking health chatbot in African languages to provide accessible, culturally relevant health information to underserved communities. Central to
The Masakhane Project showcases the transformative power of open, collaborative efforts in advancing natural language processing (NLP) for African languages. However, its reliance on the JW300 dataset—a vast multilingual corpus primarily comprising copyrighted biblical translations—uncovered significant legal and ethical challenges.
At the close of WIPO’s 39th Program and Budget Committee (PBC) session, a modest yet symbolically significant proposal—to allocate regular budget funds, on an exceptional basis, to support the participation of Indigenous Peoples in sessions of the Intergovernmental Committee (IGC)—was
Despite a full agenda and spirited debate, WIPO’s 39th Program and Budget Committee ended with little to show in terms of any concrete modifications to the proposed 2026/2027 Program and Budget. Key issues—including budget transparency, integration of development goals, Indigenous
The Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights Symposium public event took place from June 16-17, 2025, at the Geneva Graduate Institute. Organized by American University’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property (PIJIP) and South Centre, in partnership with
Luca has a PhD from the UFRJ Graduation Program on Public Policy, Development and Strategies (PPED/UFRJ) with a thesis on ‘Copyright and AI Generated Works’ and is a Director of the Brazilian Copyright Institute. He is a research fellow at the Centre for IT & IP Law (KU Leuven) and a post-doctoral researcher at the National Institute of Citizen Science in Brazil. He is a guest professor at the Graduation Program on Public Policy, Development and Strategies (PPED/UFRJ) and professor at the Specialization Program on Intellectual Property Law at PUC-RJ.
Dr. Susan Isiko Štrba combines teaching and research with providing policy and legislative advice and technical training to governments, intergovernmental organizations and civil society. She focuses mainly on human rights, intellectual property (IP), trade and development. Dr Isiko Štrba is the author of International Copyright Law and Access to Education in Developing Countries: Exploring Multilateral Legal and Quasi-Legal Solutions, a leading guide to the functioning of international copyright law for the public interest in developing countries. She has also published numerous journal articles in the field of human rights, trade, IP and development.
She currently researches the interface of technology, intellectual property and the African Continental Free Trade Area. She is a member of the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP) and a member of the Executive Council of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL). Dr Isiko Štrba has taught Intellectual property, competition law and human rights in various institutions including: the Boston University (Geneva International Campus), The Graduate Institute, Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa (TRAPCA), the International University in Geneva, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and the WIPO Academy.
Andrés Izquierdo is Senior Research Analyst for our project on the Right to Research in International Copyright. He conducts high-impact research, provides training to a global network of change-makers, and connects a global academic network to the work of global and domestic organizations that represent researchers, libraries, museums, archives, educational and research institutions.
Before joining PIJIP, Andrés Izquierdo practiced law through his award-winning intellectual property and cyber law practice in Colombia. He has been named one of the best entertainment law attorneys in Colombia by the publications Best Lawyers (2020), and top Intellectual Property practitioner by Chambers and Partners (2014-2020), and is author of the book Cyberlaw by Wolters Kluwer. Izquierdo was previously Business and Legal Director for Sony Music Entertainment in the Andean Region, and litigation partner in Palacio, Izquierdo & Ballesteros, an intellectual property law firm in Colombia. He has LLM degrees in Intellectual Property from American University Washington College of Law and from the University of Turin – WIPO, and a law degree from Universidad de Los Andes.
Ben Cashdan is a economist and television producer in South Africa. He was an economic advisor in the South African Presidency under President Nelson Mandela, focusing on capacity building and local economic development. Since 2000 Ben has served as executive producer of a number of television series on democracy and development for global broadcasters. In 2015 Ben co-founded ReCreate South Africa, a coalition of creators and users of copyrighted material in South Africa, working together for fair and balanced copyright reform and access to knowledge.
Ben has a masters degree in Social and Political Sciences from Kings College Cambridge and a Postgraduate Certificate in Economics from the London School of Economics. Ben also continued his postgraduate studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in the Department of Economic Geography. He was South African producer for Harry Belafonte’s biographical documentary Sing Your Song. Ben has also produced 4 episodes of The World Debate on BBC World News. He developed and produced the first season of South2North on Al Jazeera English, the first global talk show to be produced in Africa for a major global broadcaster. In December 2013 Cashdan produced an episode of BBC Question Time on South Africa after Mandela.
Ben has directed a number of broadcast media projects on democracy and development in partnership with agencies including the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Development Programme and the African Leadership Academy.
Professor Flynn researches and teaches on the intersection of intellectual property, international law, and human rights. Professor Flynn designs and manages a wide variety of research and advocacy projects that promote the public interest in intellectual property and information law. Professor Flynn Chairs the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights and is a founding member of the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest.
He is Editor in Chief of Infojustice.org, a leading public interest law and policy blog. He is a special faculty appointment at American University Washington College of Law, visiting Scholar at the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Information Law (IViR), and Senior Research Associate at the University of Cape Town’s Intellectual Property Unit. Prior to joining WCL, Professor Flynn completed a Fulbright Fellowship, was clerk to Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, South African Constitutional Court and Judge Raymond Fisher, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, practiced law at Spiegel & McDiarmid and the Consumer Project on Technology, and served on the policy team advising then Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval Patrick.
