KEI, Richard Stallman, ORG, letter to European Commission opposing Oracle acquisition of MySQL assets from Sun The following is a letter that KEI, Richard Stallman and ORG have sent to the European Commission, asking the European Commission to prevent Oracle… Continue Reading
Updated October 16, 2009, 11:10 am
On November 4-6, 2009, the next round of negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Negotiations (ACTA) will take place in Seoul, Korea. The following is another strange chapter in the secrecy surrounding this negotiation.
Since ACTA was first announced, KEI has pressed the negotiating governments to provide more transparency, including recently, for example
The World Intellectual Property Organization has convened an “Open-Ended Forum on Proposed Development Agenda Projects” (October 13-14, 2009). According to WIPO,
In discussions about a possible WIPO Treaty for persons who are blind or have other reading disabilities, there have been suggestions by some that voluntary licensing by rights holders presents a sufficient solution to the problem. I studied several publications since 1985 to take a closer look at this viewpoint and find out what were the common perceptions.
Korean civil society has asked KEI to disseminate this request for solidarity and action in their efforts to reduce the price of Gleevec, a leukemia treatment pill. The current price is approximately 2,300 USD per month for an adult patient and the Korean government has been sued by Novartis for trying to reduce the price a 14%. Korean civil society is also requesting Novartis to introduce a higher form, 400 mg, in Korea.
REQUEST for Solidarity:
1994 Michael Widenius and David Axmark start developing MySQL 1995 Software company MySQL AB founded by Michael Widenius, David Axmark and Allan Larsson 23 May 1995 First internal release of MySQL April 1998 Michael Kunze coins the acronym LAMP for… Continue Reading
In 1985, the Executive Committee for the Berne Convention and the Intergovernmental Committee of the Universal Copyright Convention published a report by Ms Wanda Noel, a Barrister and Solicitor from Ontario, Canada, on the topic of Problems Experienced by the Handicapped in Obtaining Access to Protected Works, as Annex II to a report of an agenda item “Copyright Problems Raised by the Access by Handicapped Persons to Protected Works.”
Ms Noel’s report is 26 pages, and is a readable and concise presentation of the main issues facing the WIPO SCCR today.
USTR head Ambassador Ron Kirk made another speech on intellectual property on September 30, 2009. The text of his speech is here. Below are a few relevant quotes.
On access to medicine:
On October 1, 2009 the WIPO General Assembly renewed the mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee on Generic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore. Here below is the consensus decision reached by the General Assembly.
Bearing in mind the Development Agenda recommendations, the WIPO General Assembly agrees that that the mandate of the WIPO intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore be renewed as follows: