[DMCA-Activists] EFF: WIPO Shutting Out Public Interest Organizations

[Seth Johnson]

March 07, 2005

WIPO Shutting Out Public Interest Organizations

Experts on Development Won't Be Heard at Crucial Meetings

Geneva - Last week, the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO)  announced that it will shut out most public interest
organizations at  two important meetings devoted to intellectual
property and development.  As a result, WIPO delegates from 182
nations will discuss these issues  without hearing from many of
the world's best-qualified experts.

Scheduled for next month, two WIPO "Development Agenda" meetings
will  focus on the impact of copyright, patent, and other
intellectual  property rights regimes on the developing world.
Without the public  interest organizations, the discussions will
be heavily weighted toward  major motion picture studios,
broadcasters, pharmaceutical giants, and  other powerful
interests that want to expand copyright and patent law.

"This is an embarrassment for WIPO," explained EFF European
Affairs  Coordinator Cory Doctorow. "Settling the debate by
locking one side out  of the building isn't the way the UN is
supposed to work. We love the  Development Agenda -- it's
supposed to be a new direction for WIPO. A  one-sided discussion
isn't a new direction, though. It's just more of  the same."

These meetings are a response to the proposal put forward by
Brazil and  Argentina in the wake of the Geneva Declaration on
the future of WIPO,  which was signed by hundreds of individuals
and public interest  non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
including the Electronic Frontier  Foundation (EFF).

Most public interest groups have only recently begun
participating in  WIPO and are not yet permanently accredited by
the organization, since  the accreditation process takes a year
and they have always been able to  participate as "ad hoc"
observers in the past. On March 2, however, the  International
Bureau Secretariat advised EFF that only those NGOs that  are
currently accredited as "permanent" observers at WIPO will be 
allowed to attend these meetings. As a result, the bulk of civil
society  will be barred from attending.

"The Secretariat's exclusion of ad hoc observer NGOs raises
fundamental  questions about WIPO's commitment to a full and
thorough discussion of  the important issues in the Development
Agenda proposal," said EFF  International Affairs Director Gwen
Hinze.

EFF is accredited as a WIPO permanent observer and will be
attending the  meetings. The group will be reporting on the
proceedings and will  attempt to represent the viewpoints of some
of the other public interest  groups that are being excluded from
the process.

Contacts:

Cory Doctorow
European Affairs Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation
address@hidden

Gwen Hinze
International Affairs Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
address@hidden
Posted at 08:18 AM