IGC25: Draft Recommendation to WIPO General Assembly (24 July 2013)

On 24 July 2013 the Ian Goss (Australia), the facilitator of the 25th session of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC/GRTKF),
prepared the following draft recommendation for consideration by the WIPO General Assembly in September 2013. Currently, WIPO member states are examining the text and will provide their comments on the draft recommendations when the plenary resumes this afternoon.

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WIPO IGC 25 and Traditional Cultural Expressions: Intervention of KEI on Article 3 on the scope of protection

From 15-24 July 2013, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is holding the 25th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC/GRTKF) . Currently, the IGC is chaired by Ambassador Wayne McCook of Jamaica.

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KEI statement on the Marrakesh agreement on copyright exceptions for blind persons

We are very happy with the agreement. There were a few areas where the treaty could have been better, but these are areas of minor quibbles. The first order issues all went in favor of blind persons. The treaty will provide a dramatic and massive improvement in access to reading materials for persons in common languages, such as English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Arabic, and it will provide the building blocks for global libraries to service blind persons. Continue Reading

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USA now isolated on TPMS in treaty for blind discussions

This was just passed out upstairs. There is now a proposal on TPMs by Australia, Switzerland, Argentina, Ecuador, Canada, Chile, Brazil, Holy See, Japan, India, African Group, Guatemala, Bangladesh, China, Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, to address TPMs with a single sentence, and it is quite good:

Proposal by Australia/Switzerland/Argentina/Ecuador/Canada/Chile/Brazil/Holy See/Japan/India/African Group/Guatemala/Bangladesh/China/Kenya/South Africa/Morocco

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KEI opening statement at Marrakesh diplomatic conference

Today NGOs were given 3 minutes for an opening statement. This is the text I used. Jamie

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Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) is a non-profit organization concerned with human rights. KEI wishes the delegates luck on a successful outcome. We are grateful for the work by the Secretariat on this issue, from top to bottom.

We will discuss our concerns about the negotiations.

There is a disparity between the lofty language in this hall, and the efforts to narrow user rights taking place downstairs, in the closed meeting.

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