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This Kat had the privilege of speaking first at the trade secrets programme. After having first made the empirical case for the practical importance of trade secrets in technology and innovation, he addressed the two principal characteristics of trade secret law: (i) the centrality of trust, morality and sharing in creating, using and protecting trade secrets; and (ii) the lack of legal uniformity governing trade secret protection (unlike patents, there is no talk about harmonizing trade secret protection) and the legal difficulties that flow from this. Anecdotally, a US academic cornered this Kat afterwards and we agreed that perhaps the major reason why trade secrets are not taught as a part of most (all?) law school curriculums is that it is simply too complex and uncertain.
The first speaker at the Copyright session was the influential Professor Andrew Christie, Professor of IP Law at the University of Melbourne. Professor Christie focused on that most challenging of copyright questions, how to find the balance in the law between public and private interests. In that light, he considered recent developments at the international, regional and even extra-territorial levels. Perhaps the most notable development at the international level is the continued progress of seeking to reach agreement on a Broadcasting Treaty, which will extend protection to internet transmissions. At the regional level, maybe the most interesting example surrounds the potential IP provisions of the (itself potential) Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP). Relying on non-formal information (I think this Kat heard the word “leak”), one provision is reputed to extend the term of protection beyond the current international provisions (although at the session a person with knowledge said that this was not on the table). As for extra-territorial effect of a national copyright law, Professor Christie invited the audience to consider possible Australian legislation, which would enable site-blocking where even the infringement takes place outside the country. Professor Christie wondered if these developments were in the aggregate tilting too much in favor of the right holder.
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Eleonora was followed by Tan Tee Jim, SC, head of the IP and Technology Department at the firm of Lee & Lee in Singapore. He considered two main issues: (i) the impact of new technology on copyright; and (ii) the potential use of copyright as a bullying tactic. Mr Tan compared the result of two well-known US Supreme Court cases — the 1984 Betamax case and the Aereo decision of 2014 — and the arguably inconsistent approach taken by the court in bringing technological developments to bear on the copyright law. As for so-called copyright bullying (also described as copyright trolling), he mentioned in particular the example of the Dallas Buyers Club, where the cease and desist letter has been used as the means to demand monetary compensation of thousands of dollars in settlement of a single download of a movie by the letter’s recipient [on which see Jani's recent Katpost here].
"Simple Past, Present Continuous ...Future Perfect?" GFIP Conference Report V
Reviewed by Neil Wilkof
on
Friday, August 28, 2015
Rating:
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