Mosaic 2023 Event Recap
On October 27-28, 2023, IIPSJ, along with University of Illinois Chicago Law, hosted the 9th Annual IP Mosaic Conference with the theme IP Rights and Wrongs: Advancing Social Justice and Ethics.
During the conference, attendees were able to listen to two plenary panel presentations which are saved on our Youtube page. The presentations were:
International IP and Climate Change
Moderator: Metka Potočnik, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Wolverhampton, Law School and Director of The F-List for Music CIC
Panelists:
- Peter Oksen, World Intellectual Property Organization, Global Challenges Division
- Antony Taubman, World Trade Organization, Intellectual Property Division
Copyright Behind Bars: At the Intersection of Systemic Incarceration and IP Social Justice
Moderator: John R. Whitman, Ph.D., author, Executive Director, Museum for Black Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Panelists:
- Jeanie Austin, Ph.D., Librarian, Jail and Reentry Services, San Francisco Public Library
- Wendy Jason, Founder and Director, Justice Arts Coalition, nonprofit national network for those creating art in and around the criminal justice system (invited)
- Doran Larson, Ph.D, Professor of Literature, Hamilton College and Founder and Co-Director of the American Prison Writing Archive
- Viva R. Moffat, Professor of Law, Co-Director, Intellectual Property and Technology Law Program, Sturm College of Law, University of Denver, advocating for IP rights for currently/formerly incarcerated and society
- Fury Young, Founder and Co-Executive Director, Die Jim Crow, the first nonprofit record label for currently and formerly incarcerated artists
In addition, participants were able to present their papers and ideas for papers and receive feedback from attendees on their ideas. These five separate paper presentation panels were:
- IP & Tech
- 2023 Ben Liu Scholars
- The Role of Patent Law: from Technicalities to Social Correctives?
- IP and Social Action: Ways to Empowerment?
- Music Creators and Society: System Reboot or Reform to Building Better Partnerships?
We hope you can join us this fall as we celebrate the 10th Annual IP Mosaic Conference at in person and online at Marquette University Law School (dates TBA).
Blog Post: IIPSJ Attendance at the 44th WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)
IIPSJ Attendance at the 44th World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (WIPO SCCR)
Geneva, 6-8 November 2023
IIPSJ attended the 44th World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), in their capacity as the WIPO Accredited Observer. IIPSJ submitted a written statement and attended the official hearings at the WIPO Headquarters in Geneva, with the Associate Director for International Programs, Dr. Metka Potočnik, attending the length of the proceedings in person. These assemblies brought together delegates from Member States in person, and online, and a significant number of observers. A full list of participants is available here, and all the sessions are available for viewing here.
IIPSJ attended the WIPO General Assemblies in July 2023, and at this latest meeting continued to grow strategic partnerships with Member States and other stakeholders, interested in creating access, inclusion and empowerment for under-represented creators and innovators in the global eco-system. Delegates at the SCCR discussed the two standing issues (broadcasting and limitations and exceptions) and some other matters, such as copyright in the digital environment. Full agenda can be viewed here. On copyright in the digital environment IIPSJ representative offered an oral intervention, highlighting the need to align the work of the SCCR with the work WIPO has done in its Intellectual Property Gender Action Plan, which was adopted in 2023 (see here). Furthermore, Dr. Potočnik stressed that all research and evidence collection from artists and creators must be intersectional, focusing not only on all genders, but also race, class, age, (dis)ability of the creators, inclusive IP systems are meant to protect. The written statement can be viewed here (page 3), and the oral intervention is available here (at 02:41:17).
IIPSJ will contribute to future discussions in WIPO, with the aim of building more inclusive IP systems across different jurisdictions. The IIPSJ team are working towards a meaningful participation in the 31st Session of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) (see here), whilst awaiting the confirmation of the 2024 schedule, where further work will be presented. If you are interested in contributing to IIPSJ work in this space, do contact the IIPSJ directly.
Blog Post: IIPSJ Written Statement Submitted to WIPO
IIPSJ Written Statement to the 44th Session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)
November 6-8, 2023
IIPSJ is a WIPO Accredited Observer, seated in the United States, focused on matters domestically, and internationally. IIPSJ examines intellectual property laws and policies to see where full participation of disadvantaged, excluded, and marginalized groups may need redressing. IP systems should offer access, inclusion, and empowerment for all, not only a select group. At this time, we would like to add a few observations of general nature, to the 44th SCCRR Agenda Item Number 8.1 on the Proposal for Analysis of Copyright Related to the Digital Environment.
The digital environment offers both opportunities, and risks for the creatives, sharing their works online. Effective IP protection and exploitation must be considered against the interests of various groups of stakeholders. There is evidence across jurisdictions, that not all artists, creatives, or musicians, are making comparable income, and that some groups are marginalized by the IP systems. In 2021, the UK Intellectual Property Office conducted a survey, finding that women make from music seven thousand pounds less than men, who on average make twenty thousand pounds a year.i In 2022, a larger sample investigating the earnings by Black artists found, that on average, Black women make twenty-five percent less than white women.ii In 2023, evidence found that Black musicians with disabilities, have fewer opportunities in the sector still.iii
IIPSJ has an extensive network of scholars and sister organizations, who have explored the effects of IP systems on different groups of inventors and creatives, and they agree that the personal characteristics, such as gender(s), race, nationality, age, disability, class (or other), matter when it comes to access and enjoyment of IP systems (an intersectional approach). Making art, as making music, is a social activity, where conditions in which the individuals create, matter. WIPO’s commitment to an inclusive IP regime is demonstrated, among other, by its activities under “Intellectual Property, Gender and Diversity” and its current WIPO IP Gender Action Plan (IP GAP). IP GAP’s vision of gender equality will rely on research “to identify the scope and nature of the gender gap in IP and ways to close the gap”.iv IIPSJ would add to the action plan and stress that firstly, WIPO IP GAP commitments should be implemented in other WIPO Studies, Analysis, and Action Plans, across all Divisions (such as the here discussed Agenda #8.1), and secondly, that this research must be intersectional, to avoid any correctives which could continue to ignore artists, creatives, or musicians, who are currently disadvantaged, excluded and marginalized by the creative industries.
There cannot be a socially just approach towards building an inclusive IP system, if we focus ‘on gender alone,’ or operate under the assumption that the digital space is full of opportunities, equal to all. There is ample research to demonstrate that not all artists or creatives, have equal access or opportunities, to share their innovation and imagination with the world, to the mutual benefit of all in the society.
Prepared by Dr. Metka Potočnik
IIPSJ Associate Director for International Programs
i Intellectual Property Office, ‘Music creators’ earnings in the digital era’ (2021). Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/music-creators-earnings-in-the-digital-era.
ii Black Lives in Music (BLIM UK), ‘Being Black in the UK Music Industry: Music Creators Part I’ (2021). Available: https://blim.org.uk/report/. For general research on women in UK music: Vick Bain, ‘Counting the Music Industry: the Gender Gap; A study of gender inequality in the UK Music Industry’ (2019). Available: https://vbain.co.uk/research/.
iii Black Lives in Music (BLIM UK), ‘Unseen. Unheard. Race and Disability – Black disabled experience in the UK’s music industry’ (2023). Available: https://blim.org.uk/report-unseen-unheard/.
iv World Intellectual Property Organization, ‘WIPO Intellectual Property (IP) and Gender Action Plan: the Role of IP in Support of Women and Girls’ (2022) 4. Available: https://www.wipo.int/women-and-ip/en/4.
IIPSJ Attendance at the 64th World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies
(WIPO GA) (Geneva, 6-14 July 2023)
By Dr. Metka Potočnik (she/her/hers), Senior Lecturer in Law, Wolverhampton Law School
IIPSJ attended the 64th World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) General Assemblies (GA), in their capacity as the WIPO Accredited Observer. IIPSJ attended the official hearings at the WIPO Headquarters in Geneva, with the Associate Director for International Programmes, Dr Metka Potočnik, attending the length of the proceedings in person. These assemblies brought together a record number of delegates, with over 1,200 delegates in attendance, which exceeded the pre-Covid numbers of attendance in the General Assemblies. A full list of participants is available here, and all the sessions are available for viewing here.
IIPSJ previously observed several WIPO meetings online and took this GA as an opportunity to create strategic partnerships with Member States and other stakeholders, interested in creating access, inclusion and empowerment for under-represented creators and innovators in the global eco-system. IIPSJ representative attended the 10th WIPO-NGO Stakeholder Dialogue, which was organised in parallel with the 64th WIPO GA and took place on Monday, 10 July 2023, at WIPO New Building. WIPO Director General Tang and other WIPO experts met with over 40 Accredited Observers and NGOs, in discussing important issues, which require a multi-stakeholder response. The event has been placed in the spotlight for its importance, and more can be read here.
IIPSJ is aiming to contribute to the future discussions in WIPO, with the aim of building a more inclusive WIPO eco-system. The IIPSJ team are working towards a meaningful participation in the 44th Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCRR) (see here) and the 31st Session of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) (see here). If you are interested in contributing to IIPSJ work in this space, do contact the IIPSJ directly.
