I just finished a two day meeting in Manchester, England, in a meeting of Joe Stigltiz’s Initiative for Policy Dialogue (IPD) Task Force on Intellectual Property and Development. The meeting was held at the University of Manchester’s Brooks World Poverty Institute. The agenda and conference papers for the meeting are on the web here, including a paper on prizes I wrote with Tim Hubbard. Continue Reading
On Friday, May 29, the 18th Session of the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) agreed to consider a proposal submitted by the governments of Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay Relating to Limitations and Exceptions on a Treaty for Reading Disabled Persons at its next meeting in November 2009 (19th Session). KEI has collated views on the outcome of the 18th SCCR from the following countries and NGOs.
Views on the outcome of WIPO SCCR 18: Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay Treaty for Reading Disabled Persons
Zotero is an open source citation and bibliography manager. The project has been managed by George Mason University’s Center for History and New Media (CHNM), and supported by the Andrew Melon Foundation and other donors. There are several alternative citation managers, including the popular but pricey commercial product Endnote, owned by Thomson Reuters, the publishing giant that was created in 2008 by a merger of Thomson and Reuters.* The Zotero product has been around for a few years, steadily adding features, improving performance, and attracting users. Continue Reading
Our impressions about this appointment are positive, but we would like to hear from others. IBM has been very smart on IPR issues lately, recognizing that knowledge is often more valuable when shared. Coming from a successful technology firm, he will have both credibility and insight into innovation policy. He brings more balance to the job than anyone we can remember. Below are some interesting quotes from various articles.
On June 18, 2009, The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) issued a 2,000 word resolution on the enforcement of copyright, trademarks, patents and other intellectual property rights. The resolution is on the TACD web page here. A press release from the TACD IP-Working Group, with comments from several TACD members, is available on the web here.
The decision to restart the ACTA negotiations makes it important to understand the nature and consequence of proposed agreement. Following a complaint about transparency, this note focuses on damages and injunctions.
At least four imprints of Random House (Ballantine, Dell, Del Rey and Spectra) have turned off text to speech in Kindle books that they give away at a zero price. Random House is owned by Bertelsmann AG, the German publishing giant. What is the rationale for soundproofing* these books?
Here are some examples of DRM’d soundproof books that are free to Kindle users who do not have visual impairments.
A google search using the term: “Text-to-Speech: Not enabled” site:www.amazon.com today gives 13,500 hits. On May 17, 2009, the same search gave 343 hits.
Group B Countries, including the United States, 17 members of the European Union, Canada, Switzerland, the Holy See, and others, argued last week that consideration of *any* instrument to set norms for access to works by persons who are blind or have reading disabilities was “premature.” Others suggest action is “overdue.” In fact, the debate is quite old.
These are the final conclusions of SCCR 18.
World Intellectual Property Organization
SCCR Eighteenth Session
Geneva, May 25 to 29, 2009
CONCLUSIONS OF THE SCCR
prepared by the Chair
Limitations and exceptions