[A2k] Huffington Post: U.S. government opposition to term "access to knowledge" in key WIPO negotiation

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/us-government-oppositio_b_51994.html

U.S. government opposition to term "access to knowledge" in key WIPO
negotiation
By Jamie Love
Posted June 13, 2007 | 01:17 PM (EST)

I'm in Geneva at a meeting on the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO), in a negotiation on something called the WIPO
"Development Agenda." As Thiru Balasubramaniam has written in this blog
entry
<http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=com_jd-wp&Itemid=39&p=40>,
the U.S. government, as well as other members of a rich country
negotiating block called "Group B," have opposed the use of the term
"access to knowledge," in the context of topics that should be discussed
by the UN agency responsible for setting global norms on intellectual
property policy. Other Group B countries also have taken this position.

Technically, we are discussing the draft text on "issues related to
norm-setting, flexibilities, public policy and the public domain," where
the controversial paragraph 3 now has the following brackets: 3. To
discuss possible new initiatives and strengthen existing mechanisms
within WIPO to facilitate [access to knowledge] and technology for
developing countries and LDCs and to foster creativity and innovation
within WIPO's mandate.

Canada said it "didn't understand" what "access to knowledge" meant. The
UK indicated that there was a sentiment by many countries that while
WIPO could discuss measures that would make access to knowledge hard,
such as tough new digital copyright laws, it shouldn't discuss
proposals, like a treaty to provide minimum access to works by
libraries, teachers and the blind, which would expand access.

Here "access to knowledge" is referred to by many simply as A2K, a term
that is apparently terrorizing the many lobbyists for publishers. I'm
hoping the U.S. will come around, and agree that yes, the U.N. can
actually "discuss possible new initiatives" to facilitate "access to
knowledge." It is rather amazing that this is even controversial.

--
Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney
judit.rius@keionline.org

Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
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