Members of the IP Law & Policy Research Unit are involved, among other things, in the following research activities:
COPYRIGHT
The African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) project is probing the relationship between national copyright environments and access to learning materials in eight African countries. Dr Tobias Schonwetter and Caroline Ncube are country researchers in South Africa, and Dr Tobias Schonwetter is also one of the Principal Investigators of the project. More information about the project can be found here.
The IP Law & Policy Research Unit is the host institution for Creative Commons South Africa , with Dr Tobias Schonwetter being the Legal Project Lead. Creative Commons is a globally active non-profit organisation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the works of others, consistent with the rules of copyright law. For this purpose, it provides free licences and other legal tools. More information about Creative Commons can be found here.
The UCT OpenContent directory is the web portal for accessing open teaching and learning content from the University of Cape Town. The IP Law & Policy Research Unit is involved in the project by providing legal assistance regarding issues relating to copyright in these online teaching and learning materials. The UCT OpenContent website can be accessed here.
Yale’s Information Society Project (ISP) and the IP Law & Policy Research Unit work together to prepare and deliver original, nationally-focused access to knowledge (A2K) research materials. The research collaboration seeks to generate and disseminate knowledge on A2K and play a role in advocating for policy reform to facilitate domestic coalition-building and facilitate international networking. More information about the Yale ISP can be found here.
IPRs, INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT
- A project on IPR and development in medicines entitled “Intellectual Property Rights and Innovation Contributing to the Millennium Development Goals”, funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Development.
- A project funded by the NVO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research) on “Intellectual Property Rights and Responsible Innovation, a Productive Combination?”
TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE (TK) AND ACCESS & BENEFIT SHARING
- lorem ipsum
NANOTECHNOLOGY AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES
- A EU FP7 project entitled “Nanomedicine Round Table” coordinated by Prof. Kinderlerer is running as a one-year project aiming to look at technical and legal issues related to the use of nanotechnology in medicine.
- A EU FP7 project entitled “Synth-Ethics” began in March as a 30-month project looking at ethical, legal and public consultation around the topic of synthetic biology. Professor Kinderlerer is again the coordinator.
- There are two applications for funding being considered by the EU FP7 mechanism for examination of a code of practice for nanotechnology; Prof Kinderlerer is a member of the South African Nanotechnology Ethics Committee within the DST.
- The Kluywer Centre in the Netherlands is funding two projects on biofuels, mainly 2nd generation products, which involves work in South Africa.
- There are a number of projects in which the Unit is involved in Canada, funded by Genome Canada or Canada’s National Research Foundation in relation to IP and valuation of research.
- We continue membership (coordination) of an EU FP6 project on regulation and public research in the international context.
ADVISORY ROLES
- On an ongoing basis and going forward, the IP Law & Policy Research Unit will be working with relevant Government Departments, such as the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), on IP issues.
- The Project “Bio4″ is a two-year EU FP6 project which relates to assuring the voice of public sector workers throughout the world are heard during negotiations on International Treaties such as the CBD, the Biosafety Protocol, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and the Aarhus Convention.
- Prof. Kinderlerer is involved as principal advisor in a number of Biosafety projects relating to Liability and Redress issues such as the transboundary movement of living modified organisms (LMOs).
