Policy | ASK Justice

Report of the United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines

21st September 2016By Linda CilliersPolicy, Public Voice No Comments

The recently released report by the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines provides several recommendations for making publicly-funded research more widely available, calling for universities and research institutions that receive public funding to prioritise public health objectives over financial returns in their patenting and licensing practices. This, of course, is particularly interesting against the backdrop of South Africa’s legislative mandate to commercialise the output of publicly-financed research and development activities, as stipulated in the country’s legislation.

South Africa’s IP Consultative Framework released for comment

2nd September 2016By Linda CilliersPolicy No Comments

Cabinet approved the Intellectual Property (IP) Consultative Framework at the beginning of July 2016. This followed the publication of South Africa’s Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property in 2013. See the UCT IP Unit’s 2013 comments here. The DTI has said, “The IP Consultative Framework aims to facilitate what will be continuous engagement with governmental partners and society at large towards the formulation of South Africa’s IP policy.”

Economic, social and cultural rights: The limitless textbook

11th July 2016By Linda CilliersPolicy, Teaching No Comments

It costs money to build and staff hospitals and schools that make the right to health and education a reality. And while not everyone in the world has an internet connection, providing internet access to people as fast as possible would go a long way towards achieving economic, social and cultural rights through the use of the limitless textbooks concept.

The role of narrative change in influencing policy

4th June 2016By Linda CilliersPolicy, Teaching

Adapted from a paper by Brett Davidson. Narratives are important in guiding individual beliefs and decision-making, and therefore they would play an important role in policy processes, too. Narratives play a key role in the negotiation of meaning in the political sphere. However, while this is something in which social movements, the media and the state are continuously engaged, it often does not receive as much conscious and strategic attention as other areas of contestation—certainly in the human rights field.

Landmark copyright decision on fair dealing in SA copyright law

19th May 2016By Linda CilliersPolicy No Comments

The Gauteng High Court in South Africa has delivered the long awaited decision in Moneyweb v Media24. The case’s history is nicely captured here. In a nutshell, the case dealt with, among other things, the alleged copyright infringement of 7 articles published by Fin24, a part of Media24. Moneyweb had argued that through publishing these articles, Media 24 infringed its copyright by unlawfully copying, appropriating and/or plagiarising articles previously published by Moneyweb.

Open access policy on the cards for Zimbabwe

1st April 2016By Linda CilliersPolicy No Comments

Article by Munyaradzi Makoni. Zimbabwe has kicked off a new project to support adoption of research data management and sharing services among government, universities and research institutions as part of its plans to pave the way for a nationwide open access mandate. Similar efforts are sweeping across Africa.

Human rights, development and IP: Making three-dimensional policy

25th February 2016By adminPolicy No Comments

Article by Linda Cilliers. A paper published in the December 2015 edition of the African Journal of Information and Communications Thematic Review of Human Rights and IP outlines the neglect of human rights in IP policymaking in Africa and the need to end this neglect. It also looks at steps that can be taken towards this goal.