[Ecommerce] Re: [WG MD] victory (mostly) on IPR language in the UNESCO convention on cultural diversity

[Steve Buckley]

Dear Sasha

Thanks for the summary on the UNESCO draft convention and IPR. I agree this
is a good result. It is one of the most tangible outcomes of the
collaborative work that we have undertaken in CRIS and it is also a
testimony to the value of the Media Trade Monitor project which I do hope
can continue. When I went to the UNESCO meeting in Paris last September
there was great resistance to improving the IPR language and it is doubtful
that NGOs would have pressed for improvements if CRIS had not taken the
initiative.

Lets  make a final push on Article 17 by proposing alternative language.

Best wishes

Steve


At 17:31 01/08/2005 -0500, Sasha Costanza-Chock wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>This is a short update on the intellectual property language in the UNESCO
>draft convention on the protection and promotion of the diversity of
>cultural contents and artistic expressions (more commonly known as the
>Convention on Cultural Diversity).
>
>Thanks to all of you who signed on to the statements of the Communication
>Rights campaign regarding the draft UNESCO convention. There were over 100
>NGO signatures from all over the world, including several with UNESCO
>consultative status 'A,' which gave the statement  -  translated into all
>the major diplomatic languages - a good deal of weight.
>
>We should be quite encouraged that, while previous drafts of the
>Convention mentioned the need to protect or even strengthen the existing
>intellectual property regime (and, of course, fight 'piracy') more than 16
>times, the most recent (unofficial) draft of the text only makes one
>reference to intellectual property rights - and that comes in the
>preamble, rather than in the substantive body of the text.
>
>We should definitely consider this a victory, and one that we made a real
>contribution to - the Brazilian delegation, which has been the best and
>most vocal in opposing the horribly unbalanced IP language in earlier
>drafts, thanked us repeatedly for putting forward a strong civil society
>position on this issue.
>
>We should press the point home, though, by insisting that the single
>remaining reference to IPR, article 17 of the Preamble, which reads
>
>"17. Recognizing the importance of intellectual property rights in
>sustaining those involved in cultural creativity."
>
>still lacks balance between the need to reward creators with the need to
>protect access to knowledge, the public domain, and the cultural commons,
>in accordance with Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
>
>regarding our other demands (especially relation to other treaties),
>another email will follow in the next weeks with more analysis.
>
>peace,
>sasha costanza-chock
>
>http://www.mediatrademonitor.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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                          Steve Buckley
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