[WSIS CS-Plenary] IPR : Strategic priorities for WGIG

[Federico Heinz]

On Thu, 2005-01-27 at 17:43 -0500, Milton Mueller wrote:
> Yes, the term "IPR" encompasses many issues that are not connected to
> Internet governance. But _some_ IPR issues, particularly those dealing
> with copyright and trademark, and perhaps software patents, are central
> to Internet governance. The creation of ICANN was prompted largely by
> the desire to protect trademarks in the domain name space. The WIPO
> Internet treaties (which is what WIPO calls them, not me) are about
> copyright protection on the....Internet. etc., etc.

...and that's exactly why neither patents, nor copyrights or trademarks
belong in WGIG. ICANN's attempts at "protecting trademarks in the domain
name space" (the infamous "Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy") amount,
in the words of Enrique Chaparro, to "a supranational legal framework
[...] without the provisions of due process and well beyond its charter,
in a field that is already covered by the law of sovereign countries".

These are issues that ought to be resolved in courts and legislatures,
not in routers and servers!

> It seems you have made a very basic logical error. You say: Because not
> all IPR issues fall within the domain of Internet governance, therefore
> an Internet governance WG should not touch IPR at all. It is a logicall
> fallacy. 

I beg to differ. I think that what he and others are saying is neither
trademarks, copyrights or patents have anything to do with internet
governance, but rather with real-world governance, and that is best left
to each country' legislatures, not to technical measures nor "government
bodies" that have not been elected nor have any such mandate.

	Fede
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