[Upd-discuss] #2 Copyright Brief History

[François Briatte]

(Quotes were cut down.)

>> "Much of the U.S. criticism of the UN stems from the fact that the 
>> United States pays a disproportionate percentage of the 
>> organization’s budget. That is not the case with the WIPO. Despite =

>> the fact that as, a hightechnology leader, the United States benefits =

>> directly and substantially from strong intellectual property 
>> protection, it pays less than 1 percent of the WIPO operating 
>> budget."
>
> Simply because there are 175 member nations, who, en masse, pay only =

> 7%,
> so it would be literally impossible for one member nation to pay 1 
> percent.
>
> So what is the point of the above tirade, other than being misleading?

The point is : governments have encouraged WIPO to live on its own 
funds.

> If the car makers of 175 countries tried to so something like this,
> they would be laughed out of town. . . .

Global Business Dialogue on eCommerce ?

>> -- in "WIPO, a success story", World Affairs, Fall  1997, vol. 160, =

>> #2, pages 104-108
>
> Hee hee!

I knew that title would make you smile :)
Obviously, a success for the WIPO staff.

>>> and that it is funded by a cartel of the
>>> major members of the worldwide publishing industry. . yet it
>>> hides itself under the flag of the United Nations
>>
>> That's an overstatement. WIPO is an intergovernmental organization in =

>> the first place. Blame the governments that listen to copyright 
>> industries and then lobby at WIPO for protectionist digital agendas =

>> (US, EU). WIPO mainly does what it is intended to do : although it 
>> has some sort of autonomy, it is primarily a state-driven 
>> organization.
>
> I must respectfully disagree:  this is, and always has been, business =

> driven,
> all the way back to the laws previous to The Statute Of Anne, which 
> only make
> The Statute Of Anne look decent by comparison to such awful rape and =

> pillage
> strategies that the laws of Queen Mary I were unenforceable as 
> demonstration
> in my previous message.

Businesses do not enact legislation, governmental bodies do, that's 
what I meant.

> I guess this depends on whose history you read. . .

Shu Zhang wrote an outstandingly well documented Ph. D. on the WIPO to 
GATT shift : « De l’OMPI au GATT », Litec, 1994 (French).

>> Note : the UNESCO Universal Copyright Convention was elaborated to 
>> help countries with little literary and artistic resources to enter =

>> the internatl. IP system through a "lighter" protection regime (25 
>> years or 25 years post mortem auctoris). The UCC is subordinated to =

>> the Berne Convention, however.
>
> I have heard rumors about this, but not anything substantive, other 
> than
> a few "show" events. . .can you tell us where it actually provided 
> countries
> with these 25 year or "life +25" copyrights?

I think that's Article 4 of the UCC.