Author: Sean Flynn

Sean Flynn One of the questions swirling around Geneva these days is whether one country can block all progress alone. In WIPO last week, the U.S. laid down a couple gauntlets that may reappear at the Program and Budget Meetings...

The Forty-Sixth Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) concluded with modest but meaningful progress on key agenda items, including on the Broadcasting...

Professor Sean Flynn delivered the following statement at the World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Trademarks on the proposal by the United States and others for a Joint Recommendation on Graphical User...

Sean Flynn The Cradle Principles on Knowledge Governance were released today at the 50th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore at the World...

A new case referred to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) may establish whether it is permissible for EU countries to create new remuneration rights for streaming uses despite creators having signed away all their economic...

The long running process to reform South Africa’s Copyright law has passed another milestone — failing to be signed into law in time to meet a deadline set by the country’s Constitutional Court. The Constitutional Court...

Sean Flynn and Ben Cashdan The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) draft Design Law Treaty (DLT) is analyzed by three international design law professors in a video seminar on “What is at Stake in the Design Law...

Sean Flynn July 24, 2024 GENEVA. The Africa Group of countries at the World Intellectual Property Organization criticised the slow pace of action on copyright limitations and exceptions in the Standing Committee on Copyright and...

Sean Flynn, Director, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property July 17, 2024 In the waning hours of July 16th, the WIPO General Assembly adopted a “request” of the Director General for two meetings of the...

Sean Flynn, Director, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property July 16, 2024 A technical legal dispute has arisen in WIPO in relation to the number of meetings that should be held of the Standing Committee on...

Sean Flynn GENEVA. At this week’s WIPO General Assembly, the United States for the first time alleged that the current draft of the WIPO Broadcast Treaty “exceeds the General Assembly mandate” that it be “signal-based” and...

The World Intellectual Property Organization adopted a landmark treaty mandating that members require disclosure of genetic resources (GR) and associated traditional knowledge (TK) in patent applications and limiting remedies...

A President’s draft was announced in the 9pm session on May 22 of the of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s negotiation of a treaty (see infra) on “Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Traditional...

Article 6, including authorizations to revoke patents for a failure to disclose genetic resources (“GR”) or associated traditional knowledge (“TK”) has emerged as another contentious issue in this week’s negotiation of the World...

Sean M. Flynn, Director, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property May 15, 2024 One of the hot topics in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) diplomatic conference on an instrument on “Intellectual...

Sean Flynn, James Love, Jonathan Band, Geneva, 2024 There is a significant push at this week’s meetings of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights to approve a...

The South African National Assembly has approved for the second time a sweeping copyright amendment bill that seeks to promote the interests of local creators and users of copyrighted content.  The passage of the bill has...

A group of copyright academics, creative and user stakeholders, and computational researchers adopted a new set of “Principles on Knowledge Governance”. The Principles seek to enable African and other Global South uses of...

In response to the invitation of the 44th Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights (aka User Rights Network), chaired by the Program on Information...

Sean Flynn, Director, PIJIP At this year’s Creative Commons (CC) Global Summit in Mexico City, a group of CC members “identified a set of common issues and values” on copyright and artificial intelligence. The ideas were...