This was distributed early this morning, and we are discussing it now.

World Intellectual Property Organization
Standing Committee On Copyright And Related Rights (SCCR)
Nineteenth Session
Geneva, December 14 to 18, 2009 Version 2.0
December 17, 2009

DRAFT CONCLUSIONS

prepared by the Chair

LIMITATIONS AND EXCEPTIONS

World Intellectual Property Organization
Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)
Nineteenth Session
Geneva, December 14 to 18, 2009

DRAFT CONCLUSIONS

prepared by the Chair

LIMITATIONS AND EXCEPTIONS

1.New studies: The Committee expressed its appreciation for the studies prepared by outanding experts, and thanked them for their presentations in the Information Meeting on Limitations and Exceptions for Educational Activities, organized on the first day of the meetings.

World Intellectual Property Organization
Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR)
Nineteenth Session
December 14-18, 2009

United States of America Statement on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Persons with Print Disabilities

As Delivered
December, 2009

Geneva, Switzerland

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The United States is proud to have a series of specific exceptions and limitations in our copyright law, including for education, libraries, and persons with print disabilities.

On Monday, December 14, the UNITAID board passed a resolution to establish a Patent Pool for AIDS medicines. The decision caped a dramatic debate on the proposal, which had been before UNITAID since 2006, and had been discussed in other fora since 2002. The following is a statement by KEI on the UNITAID decision, followed by background on the UNITAID patent pool proposal, including a copy of the UNITAID press release.

Statement of James Love, Director of KEI, on the UNITAID Patent Pool:

This is day one of a five day meeting of the WIPO SCCR, being held in Geneva. The main topic of discussion this week will be copyright limitations and exceptions.

On December 7, 2009, Ambassador Ron Kirk faxed a two page letter to Senator Bernie Sanders. (Page 1, Page 2). The letter made no concessions, and broke no new ground, as USTR continues to stonewall its critics on the transparency issue.

Kirk was responding to this November 23, 2009 letter from Senators Sanders and Brown to Kirk.

In a letter to the European Commission defending the Oracle acquisition of MySQL, Eben Moglen makes the following argument.

In a recent statement to Wired, USTR tried to justify the secrecy of the ACTA negotiations as follows:

The Administration also recognizes that confidentiality in international negotiations among sovereign entities is the standard practice to enable officials to engage in frank exchanges of views, positions, and specific negotiating proposals, and thereby facilitate the negotiation and compromise that are necessary to reach agreement on complex issues.

http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sccr/comments/2009/reply-2/

Organization/Comment

1 Meredith Filak
2 Malini Aisola, Knowledge Ecology International, and Meredith Filak
3 Pablo Lecuona, Tiflolibro
4 Brad Huther, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
5 Dan Pescod, Royal National Institute of Blind People
6 Nirmita Narasimhan, Centre for Internet and Society
7 Margaret Chase, Radio Reading Service
8 Robert Martinengo, Center for Accessible Publishing
9 Steven M. Rothstein, Perkins School for the Blind
10 Harold Martin, WVTF Public Radio

A KEI FOIA request for these seven documents was denied on the grounds of national security. (Links to March 2009 news storied about this here). You decide if these seven documents present a risk to the national security of the United States, or if the White House has been misusing the national security exception to avoid a public debate on public policy issues relating to the enforcement of intellectual property rights:

This sign-on letter has been closed

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has submitted the amendment 2858 to the health reform bill, to create an Ethical Pathway for the registration of generic medicines.

For background on the substance and rationale, I have a short blog describing the amendment here http://keionline.org/node/707.

December 4, 2009

Maria Pallante
Associate Register for Policy &
International Affairs
U.S. Copyright Office

Re: Notice of Inquiry and Request for Comments
on the Topic of Facilitating Access to Copyrighted
Works for the Blind and Other Persons with Disabilities

Dear Maria:

In 2009, the WBU and KEI have collaborated on a new pamphlet to provide background information on the proposed WIPO treaty for persons who are blind, visually impaired or have other disabilities. A PDF of the document is available here. A version in word is available here. We also have a pdf file that is more appropriate for professional printing.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has offered an amendment to the health care reform bill that would eliminate data exclusivity in cases where duplicating clinical trials involving human subjects would violate Article 20 of the Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human subjects. The relevant article from the Declaration of Helsinki reads as follows:

After attending the three day WTO Ministerial meeting in Geneva, I took the non-stop United Airlines Flight back to Washington, DC. On the airplane were a number of U.S. government officials including the head of USTR, Ambassador Ron Kirk. I had a chance to talk to Kirk about the secrecy of the ACTA agreement. He said the ACTA text would be made public, “when it is finished.” I told him it that was too late, and the public wanted the text out now, before it is too late to influence anything.