Donna Nixon of Duke Law Library recently announced that Duke’s Center for the Study of Public Domain has released a comic book about copyright law.  Details from Donna Nixon’s message follow:

Today’s librarians, teachers and students -- from high school to graduate school -- are forced to confront copyright issues every day. What is permissible? What is fair use? Until now, the only answers came in lengthy and incomprehensible law review articles or confusing internet resources. Three law professors have tried to change that.

Duke Law School’s Center for the Study of the Public Domain has just released "BOUND BY LAW?" - a comic book on copyright and creativity -- using the example of documentary film. It has been published under a Creative Commons License. The comic, by Keith Aoki, James Boyle and Jennifer Jenkins, lays out the basics of copyright in clear and easy to understand examples. It deals with such issues as fair use, how to determine if a work is in the public domain, and the effects of digital technology on the meaning of intellectual property.

Download "Bound by Law?" here, purchase copies on Amazon, or place an educational order for 50 or more copies at a subsidized price here.   

My husband brought my attention to Richard Cauley’s blog, The Art of IP War.  Cauley is a partner in the Newport Beach law firm of Wang, Hartmann & Gibbs, and he specializes in (surprise!) patent litigation.  Read his blog for keen insights about the latest patent battles.

Jonathan Franklin, from the Gallagher Law Library at the University of Washington School of Law, has produced a very useful research guide to International Intellectual Property Law. It is one part of the American Society of International Law’s Electronic Guide to Resources for International Law, available via the ASIL website.

While the intellectual property guide focuses on information about major IP treaties, it also provides links to major online sources of national IP legislation, including the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Collection of Laws for Electronic Access (CLEA) and UNESCO’s Collection of National Copyright Laws.

European Union documents on copyright and related rights are available via Europa.

OpenCRS also links to other internet collections of CRS Reports: the Thurgood Marshall Law Library’s collection,  reports on Environmental Law and Policy from the National Library for the Environment), and Intellectual Property, Cyberlaw and Electronic Commerce reports available at the IP Mall from Franklin Pierce Law School and others.

Reuters, The New York Times and the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis are reporting today that the Madras High Court in Chennai, India, has rejected a challenge to Indian patent law brought by Novartis.

According to the reports, Novartis challenged the constitutionality of a provision of Indian patent law that denied a patent to the Novartis leukemia drug Gleevec / Glivec ©. Novartis also claimed that the denial conflicted with obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS). The Madras High Court dismissed the Novartis complaint, determining that there was no constitutional violation and that it was not the appropriate forum in which to determine whether Indian law complies with WTO guidelines. The full-text of the decision has not yet been released.

The decision is receiving much attention because many inexpensive generic drugs are manufactured in India for distribution to people in the developing world.

Cornell’s University Computer Policy and Law (UCPL) Program is webcasting two lectures today by Wendy Seltzer, visiting professor at Northeastern University School of Law. Protecting the University from Copyright Bullies airs at 3:00 p.m. EDT, Righting the Copyright Balance at 7:30 EDT. 

If past performance is a guide, the lectures should be available on the UCPL website, which maintains a video archive of all past events.

Patent Attorney Stephan Kinsella gives a 40-minute presentation on why we need to "rethink" intellectual property.  From Techdirt, "He does a very nice job ripping apart the "property rights" arguments that some, especially some libertarians, use in favor of patents, explaining why that doesn't make sense. It's an excellent presentation, and well worth watching."

Patent Attorney Stephan Kinsella presents why we need to rethink intellectual property -- Techdirt

Discussion -- Slashdot