Author: Thiru

6 December 2008

At the close of the final day of the 3rd Internet Governance Forum in Hyderabad, India, the Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS) released an agreement entitled the “Dynamic Coalition on Open Standards (DCOS) Agreement on Procurement in Support of Interoperability and Open Standards.”

Under the procurement agreement, governments, publicly funded and non-profit institutions agree to promote interoperability and accessibility through the use of open standards.

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The 3rd session of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) is meeting from 3-6 December 2008 in Hyderabad, India. According to the conference website, Hyderabad is

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The Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health is meeting in Bamako, Mali from November 17-19, 2008. This Ministerial is organized by the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED), Global Forum for Health Research, the Republic of Mali, the United Nations Cultural, Scientific and Educational Organization (UNESCO), the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), and coordinated by the Bamako 2008 Secretariat.

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Pakistan, on behalf of the Asian Group, gave unequivocal support for the World Blind Union proposal for a WIPO Treaty for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons. The Asian Group does not include China and Japan but includes such countries as India, Iran, Pakistan, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and South Korea.

Here is the Asian Group’s specific intervention on the World Blind Union proposal.

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At least sixteen non-governmental organizations from India representing the blind, the visual impaired, the disabled and the public interest sent a petition to India’s Registrar of Copyrights on November 3, 2008 expressing their support for the World Blind Union proposal for a WIPO Treaty for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons. Here is the letter below in full.

Mr. G. R. Raghavender

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William New of IP-Watch offers a perspicacious insight into WIPO’s upcoming Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in his piece entitled Participants Ready Agendas For New-Look WIPO Copyright Committee.

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According to a Wall Street Journal piece published on 28 October 2008, Microsoft has engaged in an assiduous campaign to outflank Linux by courting 13 African countries to use its software in government ministries and public schools.

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The penultimate day of the WIPO development committee held in-depth discussions on recommendation 20 of the Development Agenda which states:

To promote norm-setting activities related to IP that support a robust public domain in WIPO’s Member States, including the possibility of preparing guidelines which could assist interested Member States in identifying subject matters that have fallen into the public domain within their respective jurisdictions.

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On Wednesday (9 July 11, 2008) the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) steered away from the detailed financial and human resources discussions that characterized the first two days of discussion to more substantive discussions on competition policy.

The morning session considered recommendation 7 of the WIPO Development Agenda which calls upon WIPO to

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The second session of the the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) is meeting this week in Geneva (July 7-11, 2008). The first meeting of this development committee (March 2008) examined Cluster A (Technical Assistance and Capacity Building) of the 45 approved Development Agenda recommendations. Continue Reading →