[Ecommerce] Techdaily: WIPO Agrees To Development Agenda

[Manon Ress]

International Roundup: October 6, 2004
WIPO Agrees To Development Agenda
by William New

The World Intellectual Property Organization, sometimes criticized by
nonprofit groups as favoring large intellectual property holders and
wealthy nations, this week agreed to continue work on a proposal to
integrate developing-country issues into the organization's activities.

The decision came after debate at the WIPO annual general assembly in
Geneva on a proposal from Brazil and Argentina to "fully incorporate"
and "take immediate action in providing for the incorporation of a
'development agenda.'" All developing countries in the 181-member
organization backed the proposal, WIPO said.

Further meetings, open to inter-governmental and non-governmental
organizations, will be held on that and future proposals from developing
countries. A seminar on intellectual property and development also will
be organized.

Also at the assembly, a proposal by Japan and the United States to move
forward with narrowed negotiations for a patent-law treaty failed to win
consensus. In addition, WIPO members agreed to continue negotiating
separate treaties on the rights of audiovisual performers and broadcasters.

Commenting on the development agenda, Cory Doctorow of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation said: "The ridiculous IP-at-any-cost position of
WIPO has been laid bare and revealed for a sham. Now the organization is
taking its first baby steps towards balance."

Jamie Love, director of the Consumer Project on Technology, called it a
"change in culture" for WIPO and said the body "supported an entirely
different approach," emphasizing previously neglected areas such as
open-source software, which allows users to view the underlying code.
"WIPO will never be the same," he said.

--
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