[DMCA-Activists] FT on Geneva Declaration: Development Needs "Override Intellectual Property Protection"

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Random-bits] FT on WIPO - Development needs 'override
intellectual property protection'
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 05:59:05 -0400
From: James Love <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden


> http://news.ft.com/cms/s/87d93e54-127e-11d9-863e-00000e2511c8.html


Development needs 'override intellectual property protection'


By Frances Williams in Geneva
Published: September 30 2004 03:00 | Last updated: September 30
2004 03:00

Five hundred scientists, academics, legal experts and consumer 
advocates, including two Nobel laureates, called yesterday for a
change  of course at the World Intellectual Property Organisation
to put  development concerns ahead of stronger intellectual
property rights.

The signatories of the so-called Geneva declaration on the future
of  Wipo include Sir John Sulston, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize
for  medicine, and Burton Richter, the 1976 physics laureate. The
declaration  also has the support of development groups such as
Oxfam and ActionAid.

"A 'one size fits all' approach that embraces the highest levels
of  intellectual property protection for everyone leads to unjust
and  burdensome outcomes for countries that are struggling to
meet the most  basic needs of their citizens," it says.

The declaration was launched ahead of a debate today at Wipo's
annual  assembly on a proposal by Brazil and Argentina for a Wipo
"development  agenda".

Their proposal includes the negotiation of a Wipo treaty to
promote  developing-country access to knowledge and technology,
and work on how  collaborative information-sharing mechanisms -
exemplified by the  worldwide web and the human genome project -
can stimulate innovation.

Although the two members have support from developing countries
in Latin  America and Africa, the proposal is opposed by
industrialised nations,  which argue that Wipo is already
responding to development needs.

Wipo was established in 1967 to promote intellectual property
protection  but in 1974, when it became a United Nations agency,
the organisation's  mission was expanded to include "appropriate
action to promote creative  intellectual activity" and the
facilitation of technology transfer to  poor countries.

However, supporters of a "development agenda" claim that, under
pressure  from industrialised nations, Wipo continues to give
undue weight to  strengthening intellectual property rights such
as patents, trademarks  and copyright, at the expense of the
public interest and other means of  fostering innovation and
creativity.

Developing countries complain that excessive intellectual
property  protection denies them access to new technologies and
research findings,  while many scientists and researchers argue
that stringent intellectual  property rights threaten to become a
drag on scientific and cultural  advance. www.wipo.org

-- 

James Love | Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org | mailto:address@hidden
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 200036
voice +1.202.387.8030 | fax +1.202.234.5176
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