We often forget that intellectual property rights – such as copyright, patents or trademarks – are not ends in themselves, but instruments at the service of development, creativity, innovation and welfare. Today, for World Intellectual Property Day 2019, we want to show this side of intellectual property, and how it has an impact on libraries […]
Read moreBy Damilare Oyedele, Library and You Over 1,200 young people from across Africa gathered at Accra International Conference Centre, Accra Ghana from 7th – 9th November for the 2nd edition of the African Youth SDGs Summit. The African Youth SDGs Summit is an annual continental summit that gathers young people from across Africa to deliberate […]
Read moreArtificial intelligence (AI) systematically tops popular lists of the most important emerging technologies. With a mix of fear and excitement, commentators seem to agree that it will shape the future, although not always on how. To borrow a definition, AI is ‘programming computers to do things, which, if done by humans, would be said to […]
Read moreWhile the bread and butter of copyright – issues around copying, lending and preserving works – continue to be at the heart of discussions on the topic, it is worth thinking about some of the other questions which are likely to make regular appearances in debates over the rest of the year. Many of these […]
Read moreIn most of the discussions about either copyright or Internet policy that IFLA attends, the term ‘Internet platform’ is usually code for Google or Facebook. They provide a place where individuals – from writers and creators to propagandists and people uploading large numbers of illicit copies of films – can reach an audience wider than […]
Read moreCopyright is regularly held up in public debates as both a barrier to, and a pre-condition of free speech. Given the emotive power of human rights arguments, as well as how readily they are used, it is worth exploring these claims. The answer, to both, is ‘not necessarily’. Foe? Taking the Universal Declaration of […]
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