Professor Dreyfuss will examine the interaction of the Supreme Court and the First Circuit, asking questions about the role that specialists should be permitted to play in tailoring law to the needs of technologically complex and emerging industries, and the extent to which generalists can helpfully intervene to keep this law in the mainstream and attuned to other social values and related developments, such as open innovation.

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PIJIP Professors Victoria Phillips and Christine Haight Farley today filed an amicus brief in Harjo v. Pro-Football on behalf of 33 law professors. The plaintiff in the case has asked the Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the trademark registration of the Washington Redskins football team because it is disparaging to Native Americans.

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On October 16, 2009, PIJIP and Prescription Policy Choices will co-host "Lawyering for Access" to discuss actions state governments have taken to control pharmaceutical costs, as well as the roles of legislation and litigation in pharmaceutical policy. Participants will include legal academics, stater government officials, and attorneys involved in landmark pharmaceuticals litigation. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE WEBCAST

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On October 15, 2009, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property Associate Director Sean Fiil-Flynn will testify in front of the Maine Judiciary Committee as part of its review of P.L. 2009, c. 230, Maine’s Act To Prevent Predatory Marketing Practices against Minors. The Maine Act limits marketers’ use of personally identifiable data to market to minors.

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The international medical humanitarian organisation, Médecins Sans Frontières is calling on nine of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies to help accelerate the availability of new treatments for millions of people living with HIV/AIDS by pooling their patents on a list of key HIV medicines. A patent pool is a mechanism whereby patents held by different parties are brought together and are made available to others upon payment of a royalty.

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PIJIP, UNDP, and the Open Society Institute have concluded a meeting of government officials and civil society representatives from Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Participants issued a resolution calling on governments, legislators, and others to recognize that trade agreements can raise prices and block access to medicines, and to take steps in the future protect access to medicines from overreaching trade policy.

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At 12:30, PIJIP professors Michael Carroll and Peter Jaszi will be joined by Michele Woods, Senior Counsel for Policy and International Affairs at the Office of Policy and International Affairs of the U.S. Copyright Office for a discussion of international copyright policy. At 2:00, WCL Alumnus Mark Lerner will describe his career as Counsel for Bally Technologies.

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KIEV, UKRAINE – At the conclusion of an intellectual property and access to medicines training conducted by PIJIP, Mohyla University, and the Open Society Institute, the participants released a statement calling on Eastern European governments and international organizations to take steps to increase access to generic pegylated interferon for the treatment of Hepatitis C.

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The Library of Congress National Recording Preservation Board (NRPB) has published "Protection for Pre-1972 Sound Recordings under State Law and Its Impact on Use by Nonprofit Institutions: A 10-State Analysis." The report was prepared by PIJIP Professor Peter Jaszi with the assistance of Nick Lewis.

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Professor Peter Jaszi’s new book on the protection of Indonesian traditional artists and their work has been. Traditional Culture: A Step Forward for Protection in Indonesia is the culmination of research conducted as part of a group of scholars, journalists, and observers of the arts who made multiple trips to Central Java and Bali to look at the practice of certain “traditional” arts. These arts—Javanese wayang kulit, gamelan music, and batik, and Balinese dance, gamelan music, and ikat—have, like most Indonesian arts, historically operated without Intellectual Property (IP) regulation.

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