[Ecommerce] quote about WIPO on Database and open source

[Manon Ress]

National Journal Tech Daily: International Roundup: Wednesday, December
15, 2004 William New

SNIP

WIPO To Look At Database Rights, 'Open Source'

The World Intellectual Property Organization, the U.N. body responsible
for copyright, trademark and patent policy, will consider database
protection and issues related to "open source" software in the future,
according to Deputy Director Rita Hayes.

"We are discussing databases as we were directed to do" by an earlier
decision by WIPO nations, Hayes said in a recent interview. "We will
continue to have discussions on databases" at the committee level, she said.

Hayes also said the body "will continue to look at all [open-source]
issues brought to us by member states and parties." WIPO has been
criticized in the past for ignoring the issues surrounding software
whose underlying code can be viewed and altered, issues that some
observers see as inimical to and inseparable from intellectual property
rights.

"One of the things that makes WIPO special is that we listen to all
issues brought before us," Hayes said.
--
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

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