[A2k] As a moderator,

[James Love]

On Wed, 2009-05-06 at 09:05 +0200, Denise Nicholson wrote:
> Just sending my question again as no one responded to it before. What hap=
pened to the A2K Treaty, which was being discussed a few years ago. A lot o=
f effort went into the first draft and it certainly had potential for a goo=
d Treaty for all users of information.  Surely this should be promoted at W=
iPO? The Treaty would have provisions for all users, including blind and de=
af persons? Would this not solve all these issues? Why is a separate Treaty=
 being considered for the Blind (I do not have anything against this though=
) when an A2K Treaty could be promoted at WIPO?
>
> Thanks
> Denise Nicholson

Dear Denise,

The situation with the A2K treaty is somewhat complicated, as the
ambitions of the proposal are quite broad, and there have been different
ideas about how to proceed.

You make reference to a 2005 draft treaty proposal that was the result
of a collaborative multi-stakeholder process, hosted in stages by
CPTech, TWN, IFLA and TACD.  This draft was an effort to elaborate
possible elements of such a treaty, following a proposal by Argentina
and Brazil in August 2004 to consider an A2K treaty at WIPO.

In its 2005 formulation, the a2k treaty proposal included a number of
elements that were almost modules, covering a wide range of topics,
including not only those relating to copyright, but also patents, and
issues not defined by patents or copyrights, such as certain measures to
support open  standards or public goods involving funding or
procurement.  Some of these modules have been refined and advanced
separately, such as for example elements of the 2005 proposal by Chile,
and the 2008 proposal by Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua and Uruguay, to work
on minimum limitations and exceptions to copyright, and some of the WIPO
SCP committee work on open standards and L&E in patent law.

The Library in Alexandria held a consultation on the a2k treaty, that
was quite useful, but also revealed some efforts by UNESCO to question
WIPO as a fora for such a treaty.  There is some talk of an EU directive
on a2k, or other regional efforts.

Strategically, there are some things one has to consider.  First, are
governments themselves prepared to propose concrete steps to advance a
negotiation, and if so, under what terms of reference?  Second, do
various constituencies, such as the education, library, or free software
communities, or the innovative services industries, believe that they
have the correct "ask" for a negotiation?  Third, what is the political
environment like?  Would a negotiation end us in a good result, or a bad
result?  Etc.

People are working on all of these issues right now.

--
James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International
http://www.keionline.org | mailto:james.love at keionline.org
Wk: +1.202.332.2671 | US Mobile +1.202.361.3040 | Geneva Mobile +41.76.413.=
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