Call for Papers - International IP Enforcement

On June 16-17, 2010, American University Washington College of Law’s Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property will host a workshop of scholars and advocates to assess the potential public interest impacts of the shift of international intellectual property norm setting to an enforcement agenda. This workshop will be followed by the launch of a working paper series on Public Interest Analysis of the International Intellectual Property Enforcement Agenda.

The enforcement agenda includes the proposals for an Anticounterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) at its center, but also includes other manifestations including the expansion of enforcement provisions in free trade agreements, seizures of drugs in Europe, broad “anticounterfeiting” national laws and bills such as that passed in Kenya and being considered in other African countries, pressure on countries through Special 301 and GSP benefit determinations, foreign aid and technical assistance directives, and other means.

PIJIP seeks to promote the creation of short (8-12 page) plain language policy papers analyzing possible public interest impacts of elements of the enforcement agenda. The project is particularly interested in analysis of leaked text of major proposals for ACTA. For copies of the text of ACTA proposals, and other resources on elements of the enforcement agenda, see the project’s collaborative website: https://sites.google.com/site/iipenforcement/

Specific questions of interest to the project are detailed below and in the attached description of research questions generated at a previous workshop on this issue (also available at the iipenforcement site). However, proposals on any aspect of the public interest impact of the enforcement agenda will be entertained.

Academics and policy advocates are invited to submit an abstract of a proposed paper on this topic for presentation at the workshop. Accepted papers for the workshop will receive travel assistance to attend the workshop in Washington D.C. Completed papers will be eligible for publication in the PIJIP Working Paper Series. A Prize of $1,000 will be granted for the top five completed papers presented at the workshop and submitted for publication in the Working Paper series.

PIJIP is particularly interested in examinations of the following issues:

• Section by section analysis of the how adoption of major ACTA proposals would alter the law of a given country (either a current ACTA negotiating country or a country not yet in ACTA negotiations).
• Analysis of the impact of ACTA’s proposed institutional mechanisms on the current international institutional structure for intellectual property matters (including, e.g. WIPO and WTO) and how such alterations will impact public interests;
• Analysis of the potential impact of ACTA proposals or other elements of the enforcement agenda on specific public interest concerns, including
o access to knowledge imbedded goods and services,
o libraries,
o fair use,
o media literacy,
o public media,
o developing countries (including if ACTA were globalized).
• Analysis of the legality of elements of the enforcement agenda under international or domestic law, including, e.g.: Does the US Special 301 watch list program violate the WTO’s international dispute resolution mechanism? Do elements of the enforcement agenda violate international human rights obligations?

Papers will be expected to be 8-12 pages in length and written in general policy paper (ie “white paper”) language geared toward policy advocates, government officials and other interested parties, but not an exclusively legal audience.

Submission of abstracts should be made to pijip@wcl.american.edu by April 15, 2010. Draft papers for presentation at the workshop will be due by June 1, 2010. Completed papers for publication in the Working Paper Series will be due by July 30, 2010.

Questions can be sent to addressed to Sean Flynn, Associate Director, PIJIP, at pijip@wcl.american.edu