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[DMCA-Activists] EFF: WIPO Shutting Out Public Interest Organizations
From: |
Seth Johnson |
Subject: |
[DMCA-Activists] EFF: WIPO Shutting Out Public Interest Organizations |
Date: |
Tue, 08 Mar 2005 09:34:33 -0500 |
March 07, 2005
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.
Contacts:
Cory Doctorow
European Affairs Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation
address@hidden
Gwen Hinze
International Affairs Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
address@hidden
Posted at 08:18 AM
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