EFF: WIPO Shutting Out Public Interest Organiz ations

["Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>]

_______________ Original message _______________
Subject:        EFF: WIPO Shutting Out Public Interest Organizations
Author: Esther Dyson <edyson () edventure com>
Date:           08th March 2005 7:27:6  AM


> See: http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_03.php#003401[3
>
> WIPO Shutting Out Public Interest Organizations
> Experts on Development Won't Be Heard at Crucial Meetings
> Geneva - Last week, the World Intellectual Property
> Organization (WIPO) announced that it will shut out most
> public interest organizations at two important meetings
> devoted to intellectual property and development. As a
> result, WIPO delegates from 182 nations will discuss these
> issues without hearing from many of the world's
> best-qualified experts.
> Scheduled for next month, two WIPO "Development Agenda"
> meetings will focus on the impact of copyright, patent, and
> other intellectual property rights regimes on the
> developing world. Without the public interest
> organizations, the discussions will be heavily weighted
> toward major motion picture studios, broadcasters,
> pharmaceutical giants, and other powerful interests that
> want to expand copyright and patent law.
> "This is an embarrassment for WIPO," explained EFF European
> Affairs Coordinator Cory Doctorow. "Settling the debate by
> locking one side out of the building isn't the way the UN
> is supposed to work. We love the Development Agenda -- it's
> supposed to be a new direction for WIPO. A one-sided
> discussion isn't a new direction, though. It's just more of
> the same."
> These meetings are a response to the proposal put forward
> by Brazil and Argentina in the wake of the Geneva
> Declaration on the future of WIPO, which was signed by
> hundreds of individuals and public interest
> non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including the
> Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
> Most public interest groups have only recently begun
> participating in WIPO and are not yet permanently
> accredited by the organization, since the accreditation
> process takes a year and they have always been able to
> participate as "ad hoc" observers in the past. On March 2,
> however, the International Bureau Secretariat advised EFF
> that only those NGOs that are currently accredited as
> "permanent" observers at WIPO will be allowed to attend
> these meetings. As a result, the bulk of civil society will
> be barred from attending.
> "The Secretariat's exclusion of ad hoc observer NGOs raises
> fundamental questions about WIPO's commitment to a full and
> thorough discussion of the important issues  in the
> Development Agenda proposal," said EFF International
> Affairs Director Gwen Hinze.
> EFF is accredited as a WIPO permanent observer and will be
> attending the meetings. The group will be reporting on the
> proceedings and will attempt to represent the viewpoints of
> some of the other public interest groups that are being
> excluded from the process.



Esther Dyson              Always make new mistakes!
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