[WSIS CS-Plenary] FW: [Random-bits] USPTO, Microsoft seek to kill WIPO meeting on open collaborative models to develop public goods

[Alan G. Alegre]

Posted this earlier on another list, apropo to Thomas Ruddy's earlier post

> FYI
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Michael Gurstein <mgurst at vcn.bc.ca>
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: random-bits-admin at venice.essential.org
> >
> >
> > August 19, 2003. Technology Daily PM Edition
> >
> > --
> > Intellectual Property
> > Global Group's Shift On 'Open Source' Meeting Spurs Stir
> > by William New
> >
> > A request for a meeting on open development issues has plunged the
> > Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) into a
> > Washington political battle, causing it to shift its position on the
> > issue.
> >
> > At issue is whether WIPO should hold a meeting next year on "open and
> > collaborative projects" such as "open source" software, which allows
> > users to view and modify underlying code.
> >
> > The meeting was proposed in a July 7 letter sent to WIPO Director
> > General Kamil Idris by 68 distinguished scientists, academics,
> > technologists, open-source advocates, consumer advocates, librarians,
> > industry representatives and economists worldwide.
> >
> > Although the letter cited a broad range of open collaborative projects
> > such as the World Wide Web and the Human Genome Project, the fight has
> > focused on open-source software and on one signer of the letter -- James
> > Love, director of the Consumer Project on Technology, who has actively
> > pushed for the meeting.
> >
> > WIPO's initial response to the idea was so favorable that proponents
> > began planning for a meeting. After receiving the letter, Francis Gurry,
> > WIPO's assistant director and legal counsel, e-mailed a statement to a
> > Nature magazine reporter calling such open development models "a very
> > important and interesting development."
> >
> > "The director general of WIPO looks forward with enthusiasm to taking up
> > the invitation to organize a conference to explore the scope and
> > application of these models as vehicles for encouraging innovation," he
> > wrote.
> >
> > But a few weeks later, WIPO backed off the idea. Gurry said he and other
> > WIPO officials received "many calls" from consumer groups, trade
> > associations, professional associations and representatives from
> > governments.
> >
> > "What happened in the intervening weeks is that a request for an open
> > discussion on a range of 'projects' became transformed into an
> > increasingly domestically, as opposed to internationally, oriented,
> > polarized political and trade debate about one only of those 'projects',
> > namely open-source software," Gurry told National Journal's Technology
> > Daily on Tuesday. "In those circumstances, the possibility of conducting
> > a policy discussion on intellectual property of the sort that might be
> > appropriate for an international organization devoted to intellectual
> > property became increasingly remote."
> >
> > U.S. government officials have argued that WIPO is an inappropriate
> > place for such a meeting.
> >
> > One developing country representative to WIPO on Monday expressed
> > disappointment at hearing that the meeting is in doubt, and Love and
> > representatives from the Computer and Communications Industry
> > Association (CCIA) were furious to learn of the shift. Love last week
> > called the decision a "temporary setback," and vowed, "We're going to
> > make this happen." But for meeting opponents, he said, it would be "as
> > if you made an atheist pope for the day."
> >
> > CCIA President Ed Black said on Tuesday: "Does this indicate that WIPO
> > is abdicating authority and responsibility for these issues, including
> > open source for the future? If so, we will all live by that, but then so
> > must they. They should step up the plate or step aside. ... It is
> > inexplicable that they would shut the door on what are clearly important
> > issues."
> >
> >
> > Intellectual Property
> > U.S. Official Opposes 'Open Source' Talks At WIPO
> > by William New
> >
> > An international intellectual property body is not the place for
> > discussions about "open source" software, which allows users to view and
> >
> > modify the underlying code, because it falls outside of the
> > organization's mission, a senior U.S. official argued on Monday.
> > Reviewing the original mission of the World Intellectual Property
> > Organization (WIPO), said Lois Boland, the U.S. Patent and Trademark
> > Office (PTO) acting director of international relations, it is "clearly
> > limited to the protection of intellectual property. To have a meeting
> > whose primary objective is to waive or remove those protections seems to
> > go against the mission."
> >
> > Boland was referring to a July request by a group of scientists,
> > academics, open-source advocates and others for a meeting at WIPO on
> > "open and collaborative projects," including open-source software. The
> > WIPO secretariat initially replied favorably to the idea.
> > In a telephone interview, Boland gave several reasons why the
> > Geneva-based WIPO should not hold the meeting, including a tight budget
> > and late scheduling. She also said WIPO's agenda should be driven by
> > member nations, and the idea came from outside the organization.
> > Officials from the 179 WIPO nations will convene in late September to
> > decide their agenda for the next two years; the agenda has been in the
> > works for months and does not include open-development issues. "It would
> > have been somewhat unusual for such a meeting to materialize out of
> > nothing," Boland said.
> >
> > In the past six months, WIPO has had to cancel several meetings on
> > topics directly relevant to the organization due to budgetary issues,
> > she said, adding that with those problems, the organization should not
> > "go out on a limb and express receptivity" to an open-development
> > meeting. U.S. government officials have had "informal" communications
> > with WIPO,
> >
> > Boland said. A WIPO official said that since receiving a wide range of
> > communications, WIPO has stepped back from the idea of a meeting but has
> > not fully rejected the possibility of addressing the topic.
> >
> > The U.S. government has an interagency process for developing formal
> > positions at WIPO. A meeting that included officials from PTO and the
> > Copyright Office was held last Thursday at the State Department. The
> > Commerce Department and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative are part
> > of the interagency process, too.
> >
> > Boland said the United States "would certainly have some rather
> > bureaucratic objections" to WIPO considering a policy on open-source
> > software. "There are technical and legalistic arguments to that."
> > Open-source software is not protected under copyright law but only
> > contract law, which is not the domain of WIPO, she said. That point has
> > been heavily disputed by copyright experts.
> >
> > Boland suggested that the U.S. government supports open-source growth as
> > a development tool and she proposed it for consideration by a U.N. body
> > focused on development.
> >
> > She also reprimanded WIPO officials for publicly giving the impression
> > that the body might consider open-source issues. "We think people
> > working within the organization need to be better stewards of
> > interactions" with nonprofit groups and other non-member organizations,
> > she said.
> >
> >