[WSIS CS-Plenary] WIPO Development Agenda and Treaty on Access to Knowledge (A2K)...

[Pablo Accuosto]

A brief email to let you know about a meeting that's taking place in
Geneva to discuss the WIPO Development Agenda and Treaty on Access to
Knowledge, organized by the Third World Network (TWN), CPTech and the
IFLA.

Please refer to http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/a2k/ for discussion
and proposals being presented.

----------------

EXPERTS MEETING ON THE WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION (WIPO)
DEVELOPMENT AGENDA AND TREATY ON ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE

 The meeting will be held from February 3-4, 2005 in Geneva, Switzerland
at the Maison des Associations, 15 rue des Savoises in the Rachel Carson
room. This meeting is organised by the Consumer Project on Technology
(CPTech), Third World Network (TWN), and the International Federation of
Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).  
	
At the WIPO General Assembly held from 27th September to 5th October
2004 the governments of Argentina and Brazil submitted a proposal for
"the Establishment of a Development Agenda for WIPO". The proposal was
co-sponsored by Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran,
Kenya, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Venezuela. The
Development Agenda proposal asked for fundamental changes in WIPO. Some
of the proposals were specifically directed at the special concerns of
developing countries, while others were efforts to redirect WIPO to give
more weight to general consumer and public interests in matters
concerning patents, copyrights and other intellectual property rights.
Among the proposals for a Development Agenda is a proposal for a "Treaty
on Access to Knowledge and Technology".

On October 4, 2004, the WIPO General Assembly issued a decision that
creates a rapid evaluation of the Development Agenda. There is now an
opportunity to follow up on this. Of particular importance are two
Geneva meetings; the April 11-13 2005 inter-sessional intergovernmental
meeting that is open to all WIPO Member States and WIPO-accredited IGO
and NGO observers, and the April 14-15 2005 meeting of the Permanent
Committee on Cooperation for Development Related to Intellectual
Property (PCIPD). There will also be a May 2 and 3, 2005 joint
international seminar on Intellectual Property and Development,
organized with UNCTAD, WHO, UNIDO and WTO, that is open to all
stakeholders including NGOs, civil society and academia. The WIPO
Secretariat will also prepare a report by July 30, 2005, for
consideration at the next WIPO General Assembly in September 2005. The
Development Agenda is also being discussed in the context of WIPO's
regular meetings on patents and copyrights (Standing Committee on
Patents (SCP), Working Group on Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Reform,
Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) etc). The SCCR
has also agreed to include the issue of limitations and exceptions to
copyright and related rights in its June agenda.

The Development Agenda proposal, the WIPO General Assembly decision and
many of the comments and discussions are on the web at
www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/futureofwipo.html

In order to prepare for these meetings, and to discuss the proposed
treaty on Access to Knowledge  TWN, CPTech and IFLA are hosting this
Experts Meeting. The invited participants will include Geneva based
delegates involved in TRIPS and WIPO negotiations from developing
countries; key academics, civil society NGOs from developed and
developing countries; representing diverse interests and areas of
expertise.

The two day meeting will begin with a short review of the status of the
WIPO Development Agenda and proceed with a detailed discussion on the
proposed treaty on Access to Knowledge. On the first day the discussion
will begin with the Development Agenda proposal for an instrument on
sharing access to government funded research. This will be followed by
discussions on proposals for minimum global limitations and exceptions
in the area of copyright. The second day will focus on emerging issues
for access to knowledge including the control of anti-competitive
practices, the open access publishing movement, promotion of open
source/free software, and proposals to address problems of patents on
(Internet and other) standards, and on public goods like the HapMap or
Human Genome databases. The meeting will close with  discussion on
strategy and the appropriate fora for the promotion of an Access to
Knowledge (a2k) campaign. 

We will also create a public archived discussion list for the meeting
called a2k-discuss at
http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k-discuss.

-----------------

PROGRAMME

EXPERTS MEETING ON WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION (WIPO)
DEVELOPMENT AGENDA AND TREATY ON ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE

A2K - DAY ONE 
FEBRUARY 3, 2005 (Thursday)

9:00 am -   Chairs, Martin Khor(TWN), James Love, CPTech, Winston Tabb
(IFLA)

Welcome and Introductions

9:30 am  -	Chair Martin Khor, TWN

General discussion on WIPO Development Agenda (DA) and proposed Access
to Knowledge (A2K) Treaty

11:00 am -	Tea Break

11:15 am -	Chair, Michelle Childs, CPTech

 (a2k proposals will be briefly introduced, and then discussed by the
meeting participants)

John Barton's a2k Treaty Proposal 

Copyright Limitations and Exceptions - 1st Session
General comments on L&E objectives
Libraries and Archives Proposal
Jaszi Proposal on limitations and exceptions
Regulation of Technological Protection Measures and Digital Rights
Management
Exceptions for the visually impaired
Distance Education
Update/Replacement of Berne Appendix

1:00 pm -	 Lunch Break in Area Restaurants

2:30 pm -	Chair, Winston Tabb - IFLA

Exceptions to patentability relating to certain public goods databases 

Copyright Limitations and Exceptions - 2nd Session
		Continuation from 1st session

4.00 pm -	Tea Break

4:10 pm  -  Chair Sangeeta, TWN

Copyright Limitations and Exceptions - 2nd Session

Public Domain/Commons

Peter Suber's Open-access proposal for the a2k treaty
Aigrain Pro-commons blanket clause for A2K
Limiting copyright terms
No TRIPS+, TRIPS Formalities, No Retroactive term extension
	Proposal on Financing Open Public Goods

6:00 pm -	Meeting adjourns



A2k - DAY TWO  
FEBRUARY 4, 2005 (Friday)


9:00 am -	Chair, Ruth Okediji, University of Minnesota

Proposal for developing country collection societies

Essential Internet Exceptions Relating to Copyright Policy
Hypertext linking
Search Engines
List serves
ISP exceptions

Emerging Issues for Access to Knowledge - 1st Session

Control of anticompetitive practices
Implementation of Article 40 of the TRIPS
Control of excessive pricing of knowledge goods
Government procurement and free/open source software
Technology transfer
Patents
Instrument for disclosure of patents on proposed standards 
Research exceptions
Exceptions related to interoperability

11:00 am -	 Tea Break 

11:15 am -	Chair Manon Ress, CPTech

Continuation from Emerging Issues, 1st Session


1:00 pm -	Lunch Break

2:00 pm - 	Chair,  Sisule Fredrick Musungu, South Centre

Emerging Issues for Access to Knowledge - 2nd Session
		Continuation from 1st Session

4.15 pm -	Tea Break

4:30 pm -	Co-Chair, James Love, Martin Khor and Winston Tabb

Discussion of Strategy and Fora

6:00 pm -	Close of meeting