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WIPO moves to exclude public interest NGOs

The well-funded content industry has long sent delegates to WIPO talks in Geneva, but public interest NGOs such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Union for the Public Domain have only recently begun to participate. Their presence as 'observers' brings much-needed balance and transparency to the proceedings, but very few are permanently accredited.

The forthcoming round of WIPO negotiations will discuss the Development Agenda brought forward by Brazil and Argentina. It's a crucial moment when WIPO needs to consider its entire raison d'etre - to set rules that benefit mankind, or to strengthen IP rights for the sake of it.

It is therefore extremely worrying that WIPO appears to be halting 'ad hoc' accreditations - the main route by which civil society organisations can participate in discussions. See this post from IP watch for detail on accreditations and a post by David Tannenbaum for more background information.

By peterlockley at 2005-02-25 11:57 | News | login or register to post comments

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EFF Petition

Together with activists in Brazil, the Electronic Frontier Foundation have drawn up a petition calling on WIPO to improve transparency and access to its meetings, as well as to give careful consideration to its mandate for international development.

Specific proposals in the petition include:

  • the granting of ad hoc observer status to public interest NGOs for forthcoming meetings
  • the inclusion at relevant meetings of all 14 states who proposed the Development Agenda, unlike at the recent meeting on Harmonisation of Intellectual Property Regimes, where only Brazil participated
  • the creation of a Treaty on Access to Knowledge and Technology
  • the explicit inclusion of International Development within the principles of WIPO (currently it is only included in that WIPO is a body of the UN, which aims to foster international development)

Click here to read and/or sign the petition.

By peterlockley at Mon, 2005-03-28 20:34 | login or register to post comments