Re: [Patents] FT on Geneva Declaration: Development Needs "Override Intellectual Property Protection"

[Bernard Lang <Bernard.Lang@inria.fr>]

Additional info on this topic:

The Geneva Declaration is available in 3 languages (for the moment):
  English, French and Spanish
                                with a lot of background material

at:   http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/genevadeclaration.html

Un excellent document  ... which I do encourage you to sign

    - as individuals
    - as organisations

and I also encourage you to pass it on to others, on other lists.

Bernard


PS  --> Seth Johnson

You seem to have access to lots of list ... I am not sure this reply
will be accepted by all that you sent your first message to ... can
you forward ?   Thanks.


* Seth Johnson <seth.johnson@RealMeasures.dyndns.org>, le 30-09-04, a écrit:
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [Random-bits] FT on WIPO - Development needs 'override
> intellectual property protection'
> Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 05:59:05 -0400
> From: James Love <james.love@cptech.org>
> To: random-bits@lists.essential.org
> 
> 
> > http://news.ft.com/cms/s/87d93e54-127e-11d9-863e-00000e2511c8.html
> 
> 
> Development needs 'override intellectual property protection'
> 
> 
> By Frances Williams in Geneva
> Published: September 30 2004 03:00 | Last updated: September 30
> 2004 03:00
> 
> Five hundred scientists, academics, legal experts and consumer 
> advocates, including two Nobel laureates, called yesterday for a
> change  of course at the World Intellectual Property Organisation
> to put  development concerns ahead of stronger intellectual
> property rights.
> 
> The signatories of the so-called Geneva declaration on the future
> of  Wipo include Sir John Sulston, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize
> for  medicine, and Burton Richter, the 1976 physics laureate. The
> declaration  also has the support of development groups such as
> Oxfam and ActionAid.
> 
> "A 'one size fits all' approach that embraces the highest levels
> of  intellectual property protection for everyone leads to unjust
> and  burdensome outcomes for countries that are struggling to
> meet the most  basic needs of their citizens," it says.
> 
> The declaration was launched ahead of a debate today at Wipo's
> annual  assembly on a proposal by Brazil and Argentina for a Wipo
> "development  agenda".
> 
> Their proposal includes the negotiation of a Wipo treaty to
> promote  developing-country access to knowledge and technology,
> and work on how  collaborative information-sharing mechanisms -
> exemplified by the  worldwide web and the human genome project -
> can stimulate innovation.
> 
> Although the two members have support from developing countries
> in Latin  America and Africa, the proposal is opposed by
> industrialised nations,  which argue that Wipo is already
> responding to development needs.
> 
> Wipo was established in 1967 to promote intellectual property
> protection  but in 1974, when it became a United Nations agency,
> the organisation's  mission was expanded to include "appropriate
> action to promote creative  intellectual activity" and the
> facilitation of technology transfer to  poor countries.
> 
> However, supporters of a "development agenda" claim that, under
> pressure  from industrialised nations, Wipo continues to give
> undue weight to  strengthening intellectual property rights such
> as patents, trademarks  and copyright, at the expense of the
> public interest and other means of  fostering innovation and
> creativity.
> 
> Developing countries complain that excessive intellectual
> property  protection denies them access to new technologies and
> research findings,  while many scientists and researchers argue
> that stringent intellectual  property rights threaten to become a
> drag on scientific and cultural  advance. www.wipo.org
> 
> -- 
> 
> James Love | Consumer Project on Technology
> http://www.cptech.org ;| mailto:james.love@cptech.org
> P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 200036
> voice +1.202.387.8030 | fax +1.202.234.5176
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