The Yale Access to Knowledge conference has kicked off. Check out the A2K2 wiki for session notes and updates!

There's an interesting group of folks at the UCLA conference on the WIPO Development Agenda this weekend. Carolyn Deere from the Global Economic Governance Programme at Oxford gave a good talk discussing "the political dynamics of IP reform in developing countries: the relevance and influence of WIPO." She's concerned with how to make the Development Agenda real, on the ground, and her methodology for the work she presented was cross national comparison of what different countries are doing.

She's found that developing countries are actuallly quite diverse in the types of IPR regimes they have, and whether or not they take advantage of exceptions they're allowed. Some countries are adopting TRIPS+ requirements but there is not uniformity. For example, developing countries have until 2015 to implement TRIPS but 14 of the 32 LDCs implemented TRIPS plus legislation even while negotiating for more time (!) They didn't have bilaterals with the US, they hadn't been 301 listed, so why did they go so far so fast?

-- please visit www.uottawaglobe.ca, see discussion on library access in global health and development discussions.

I was fortunate to be exposed to some interesting history that led me to abandon a notion of ‘western knowledge’, and in fact decide that what was Western was increasingly proprietary approaches of knowledge. If we trace any disciplines’ knowledge there is a seamless transmission, even through paradigm shifts, and the development of a branch of science rests on the collection of knowledge from vast sources. In my undergrad, I kept being taught the history of philosophy as tracing from the Greeks, then stalling in the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance picking it up from Aristotle/Ptolemy, restoring humanism and rationalism leading through the Enlightenment to the modern era. This is a view of the history that places the tradition and its ownership squarely in the West.

--- I created a website at uOttawa, uOttawaglobe.ca (drupal as well), it would be wonderful if people join, and there is a topic under global health and development discussions on library access for developing country universities.

I'm the conceptual side of the site, I'm also looking for someone that could help a littel bit with the technical side.

Cheers,

Arif

More info on last week's WIPO meeting on the proposed Broadcaster: CPTech's Xcaster blog | WIPO press release | Final recommendations

Friday to Sunday, Yale Law School, 127 Wall Street, New Haven, CT 06511

In the digital era, most multinational corporations and policymakers
are of the view that the current trend characterised by increasing
intellectual property rights and corporate control over knowledge
best serve society's interests. At the same time, however, a growing
number of commentators believe that widespread access to knowledge
(A2K) and the preservation of a healthy knowledge commons are the
real basis for sustainable human development. Nonetheless,
intellectual property-based approaches continue to singlehandedly

In response to IP Blog's story "Big IP Skeptic Lovefest is Coming," rishab posted the following response: "what would be REALLY interesting: an IPR conference which banned any and all aid from products developed without IP rights, through e.g. academic research, open collaboration, traditional knowledge, non-patented inventions, etc. i'd love to see that. but i couldn't, because i couldn't see without my contact lenses (drawing on academic optical research), listen via a international telephone (communications satellite non-patented by clarke) or watch a web conference (based on non-patented tcp/ip, http, collaboratively developed technologies).

The current state of play: [A2k] Positions of WIPO Member States on an a2k Treaty - [del.icio.us wipo feed]

From the Communication Rights campaign: Are UNESCO and WIPO connected on the Development Agenda? / Newsroom / CRIS - Communication Rights in the Information Society - [del.icio.us wipo feed]

Excellent post describing the impact of NGO statements at today's WIPO meeting: NGO statements make jaws drop - [Inside, Wide-Eyed]

BoingBoing posted on the 'launch' of access2knowledge.org. Although technically, we've just entered beta development stage - the official launch won't be until the fall, probably. Thanks, in any case!

A2K Treaty draft Proposal for a Pro-Commons Blanket Clause (Preamble).

A2K Treaty draft Proposal for Access to Knowledge Watch List.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal on Obligation to Finance Free and Open Public Knowledge Goods.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal on issues related to the control of anticompetitive practices in contractual licenses.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal To Limit Patents Associated with Certain Public Good Databases.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal for the Protocol for the Development of Open Standards.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal on Patents on Internet Standards.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal for the importation of educational, scientific and cultural materials.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal on collection society activities in developing countries.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal for Distance Education.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal for an Update of the Berne Appendix.

A2K Treaty draft Proposal for Specific Provisions on Anti-Circumvention.