Welcome to the Newsletter

Dear Committee members,

Welcome to the first newsletter publication from the IBA Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Committee in 2021. As practitioners in this area, we are all aware of the importance of intellectual property rights in our daily lives. However, Covid-19 and the global lockdown has brought a number of intellectual property (IP) related issues into the public arena, from the availability of vaccines and the potential for patent waivers or compulsory licensing, to the catastrophic impact on industries that rely on IP for a living - in particular, the entertainment industry. We are therefore taking this opportunity to highlight some of the key issues where intellectual property law traverses our daily lives and those sectors of the community which have been either hard hit or presented as saviours in the global pandemic.

The first section of articles considers the moral, ethical and legal questions relating to the vaccine. This includes the idea of health as a human right and different countries' perspectives on patent waivers and compulsory licensing. We also look at the impact on the music industry and new forms of exploitation, rights and potential licensing issues as live events move to the digital arena. We also have an informative piece on a recent Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) judgement on performers’ right to equitable remuneration. We welcome articles from different jurisdictions for future publications to keep the discourse moving.

Finally, as respite from Covid-19, we have an article on the world of gaming and the use of alternative dispute resolution in IP disputes. This is particularly pertinent considering the fantastic webinar on the same topic, which was held on 22 June. Hopefully more will follow in this area.

The Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Committee is one of the IBA’s most dynamic and hardworking committees. We hope you enjoy this edition of our publication and if you are not already a Committee member, consider joining. We also welcome articles for future publication later in the year, either on new topics or as a follow up to those you will read here.

Kind regards,

Eileen O’Gorman

Publications Officer, IBA Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Committee

eogorman@gmgb.ie