[Ecommerce] FYI: FT Story on WIPO Open Development Models
Jeff Williams
jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Fri Oct 3 16:59:02 2003
Peter and all,
I agree that Lois is likely not to blame. Hence in part why I posted
the link I did, below, Peter. It is very likely that MS is lobbying
hard and from my sources this is quite true. Perhaps this lobbying
from MS is in part because the USG has officially chosen
MS as it's long term strategy as a platform. Bad idea IMHO...
Peter DiMauro wrote:
> It is doubtful that Lois Boland, the person allegedly to blame for sinking
> the WIPO meeting, is in any way involved with the "lobbying" concerns that
> Rep. Frank Wolf is investigating (see
> http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1003/100103cd1.htm ). She is simply in the
> wrong "policy shop" at the USPTO for that.
>
> The person most likely to know the USPTO party responsible for lobbying
> Congress to get the USPTO taken "off-budget", would be Mr. Wayne Paugh. Mr.
> Wayne B. Paugh is Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary of Commerce for
> Intellectual Property (James Rogan). Previously (up until 2002), Mr. Paugh
> was an IP counsel for the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO).
> His telephone number while at IPO is the same number which, today, is used
> for The 21st Century IP Coalition, the shell group of the IPO which is
> lobbying to get the USPTO to be taken off-budget. In fact, according to
> "Tech Law Journal Daily E-Mail Alert" of February 22, 2002, 9:00 AM ET,
> Alert No. 374, Mr. Paugh was the point man at IPO in charge of the 21st
> Century IP Coalition.
>
> So it would seem that this denizen of the revolving door might know the
> answer Rep. Wolf is seeking.
>
> It would be an insult to the public to have the USPTO be taken off-budget
> and thus even further removed from Congressional scrutiny, given their
> propensity to sua sponte expand the scope of patentable subject matter, and
> enhance quantity of issued patents while eradicating quality of work done.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff Williams [mailto:jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com]
> Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 3:45 AM
> To: Manon Ress
> Cc: ecommerce; James Love
> Subject: Re: [Ecommerce] FYI: FT Story on WIPO Open Development Models
>
> Manon and all,
>
> I wonder if the recent "lobbying" concerns being ask of late
> of the USPTO chief James Rogan also have an effect
> on this highly Politically charged concern?
> See: October 1, 2003
> Patent Office chief questioned about alleged
> lobbying
> By Molly M. Peterson
> http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1003/100103cd1.htm
>
> Manon Ress wrote:
>
> > http://search.ft.com/search/article.html?id=031001001065
> >
> > INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY: Hopes revive for talks on alternatives to patents
> > By Frances Williams in Geneva
> > Financial Times; Oct 01, 2003
> >
> > Officials of the World Intellectual Property Organisation still hope to
> > promote international discussion on ways to promote innovation by
> > sharing information rather than protecting it, even though the US killed
> > off earlier plans for a Wipo conference after heavy lobbying by the
> > proprietary software industry.
> >
> > "Quite a lot of people are interested in having a discussion of this
> > issue," Francis Gurry, Wipo deputy director-general, said yesterday. "I
> > think we will be able to revive it one way or another."
> >
> > However, Mr Gurry said Wipo was considering a broader focus for the
> > discussion that would look at various options for protecting
> > intellectual property and their impact on innovation.
> >
> > Wipo did not want to appear to be intervening in a current commercial
> > battle over open-source software in the US, Mr Gurry said.
> >
> > Open-source advocates accuse Microsoft, the world's biggest proprietary
> > software company, and the Business Software Alliance of which it is the
> > most prominent member, of lobbying the US patent and trademark office
> > (PTO) to stop Wipo going ahead with its original plans.
> >
> > Lois Boland, PTO international relations director, said last month that
> > open-source software ran counter to the mission of Wipo, which was to
> > promote intellectual property rights.
> >
> > "To have a meeting whose primary objective is to waive or remove those
> > protections seems to go against the mission," she told National
> > Journal's Technology Daily.
> >
> > The spat arose after more than 60 academics, researchers and consumer
> > activists - among them Nobel prizewinners Joseph Stiglitz (economics)
> > and Sir John Sulton (medicine) - wrote to Kamil Idris, Wipo
> > director-general, in July, asking Wipo to convene a meeting next year on
> > open and collaborative projects.
> >
> > Citing examples from the worldwide web to the human genome project and
> > the global positioning system, as well as open-source software, the
> > letter said they provided "evidence that one can achieve a high level of
> > innovation in some areas of the modern economy without intellectual
> > property protection, and indeed excessive, unbalanced, or poorly
> > designed intellectual property protections may be counterproductive".
> >
> > In his response to that letter, Mr Gurry said: "The director-general of
> > Wipo looks forward with enthusiasm to taking up the invitation to
> > organise a conference to explore the scope and application of these
> > models as vehicles for encouraging innovation." But Ms Boland complained
> > Wipo was allowing activists, rather than member states, to dictate the
> > agency's agenda.
> >
> > Many scientists and researchers have expressed concern that scientific
> > advances and innovations are being hampered by a proliferation of
> > patents, especially in the US.
> >
> > Mr Gurry said yesterday
> >
> > ******************************************************************
> >
> > More info here:
> > Text of letter to WIPO on open development models (most important is
> annex)
> > http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/kamil-idris-7july2003.pdf
> > http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/rndtf/
> >
> > Nature Article on WIPO meeting 10 July 2003
> > important quote... WIPO agrees to convene meeting
> > http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/Nature-WIPO-July.pdf
> >
> > August 19, 2003, Two articles by William New explaining Microsoft/US
> > opposition to meeting
> > http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/random-bits/2003-August/001090.html
> >
> > August 21, 2003, Krim's article in Washington Post on Microsoft/US
> > opposition to meeting
> > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23422-2003Aug20.html
> >
> > August 22, 2003, Larry Lessig blog on US opposition to meeting
> > http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/001436.shtml
> >
> > August 22, 2003 Slashdot article:
> > http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/03/08/22/2014231.shtml?tid=103&tid=117&tid=99
> >
> > August 22, 2003,
> > Open Source Industry Alliance, OSAIA letter to USPTO et all on WIPO event
> > http://www.osaia.org/documents/pto_letter_032108.pdf
> >
> > August 23, 2003, Paul Kedrosky slagging Jamie Love in the Canadian press:
> >
> http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id=238F46ED-4396-4CE9-A
> B21-4E05167D31D1
> >
> > 28 August 2003, NATURE|VOL 424 |28AUGUST 2003
> > Lobbying by US business interests has shot down a proposed meeting, to
> > be held by the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization
> > (WIPO) next year, to explore 'open' models of innovation.
> > http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/20030828-Nature-WIPO.pdf
> >
> > --
> > Manon Anne Ress
> > Consumer Project on Technology
> > www.cptech.org
> > PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
> > manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ecommerce mailing list
> > Ecommerce@lists.essential.org
> > http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/ecommerce
>
> Regards,
> --
> Jeffrey A. Williams
> Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 131k members/stakeholders strong!)
> "Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
> Pierre Abelard
> ===============================================================
> CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
> Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
> E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
> Contact Number: 214-244-4827 or 214-244-3801
>
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Regards,
--
Jeffrey A. Williams
Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 131k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Be precise in the use of words and expect precision from others" -
Pierre Abelard
===============================================================
CEO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security
Information Network Eng. Group. INEG. INC.
E-Mail jwkckid1@ix.netcom.com
Contact Number: 214-244-4827 or 214-244-3801