Knowledge Ecology International

There is a negotiation in the WIPO SCCR over the work program on copyright limitations and exceptions for persons with disabilities. Some countries favor a negotiation on a binding treaty. The US government is asking that the SCCR set aside work on the treaty, and focus instead on a non-binding recommendation to address a limited set of issues relating to the import and export of works created under an exception. The US government asserts that treaties would take a very long time to negotiate, ratify and implement. Continue Reading →

On 4 June 2010, Dr. Margaret Chan (Director General, World Health Organization) announced Dr. Anne Marie Worning as ‘acting Director, Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (PHI)’. According to the WHO website,

Dr Anne Marie Worning, a Danish national, is the Executive Director of the Director-General’s Office since April 2009.

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The following WTO aerogram contains the agenda for the upcoming WTO Council for TRIPS meeting to be held in Geneva from 8 June 2010 to 9 June 2010. Paragraph 2 and agenda items l and m will be of interest to readers of this blog. It should be noted that in the original document, the text is capitalized.

WTO/AIR/3562/Rev. 1

1. The next meeting of the Council for TRIPS will be held in the Center William Rappard on 8-9 June 2010. The meeting will start at 11 A.M. Tuesday, 8 June.

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The announcement this week that Al and Tipper Gore have separated brought back a number of memories. I first worked with Al Gore’s office in 1990, when I was an employee of the Center for the Study of Responsive Law, working with the American Library Association (ALA) and other library groups to overturn a Reagan era policy to privatize the distribution of government databases. Among other things, I had worked with Representative Charlie Rose to introduce a bill in the House of Representatives to create an online distribution system at the Government Printing Office (GPO). Continue Reading →

On May 27, 2010, the US government presented to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), a proposal for a “Consensus Instrument” for persons with disabilities related to reading printed publications.

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The upcoming WTO Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Council) meets on 8-9 June 2010 (next Tuesday and Wednesday); Martin Glass (Hong Kong) is the current chair of the TRIPS Council. Access to attend WTO TRIPS Council meetings is only granted to WTO Members and organizations with observer status to the TRIPS Council (such as the World Health Organization); consequently, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are not permitted to observe the proceedings of the TRIPS Council. Continue Reading →

Open-ended consultations on copyright limitations and exceptions for persons with print disabilities
Geneva, May 27, 2010

Mr. Chairman,

Yesterday, during the first round of the consultations, Brazil recalled the reasons why there is an urgent need for a treaty on Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons. As civil society representatives were not present yesterday, I will recall some of the main points Brazil holds dear in these discussions.

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On 19 May 2010, Global Health Progress (GHP) and the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) hosted a luncheon at the Vieux Bois in Geneva on the margins of the 63rd World Health Assembly for a targeted audience of over 90 persons including Ministers of Health, Ambassadors and senior officials from the Africa. Continue Reading →