From smriti at sarai.net Mon Nov 1 09:53:04 2004 From: smriti at sarai.net (Smriti Vohra) Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 09:53:04 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Review of David Lange article Message-ID: <4185BA28.5080806@sarai.net> [Review of an article, as requested by Jeebesh] "Reimagining the Public Domain" by David Lange (from /Law and Contemporary Problems/, Vol. 66, pp. 463-83) This article is also available at http://www.law.duke.edu/journals/66LCPLange The author is Professor of Law, Duke University. A preliminary footnote to the article declares: "Copyright in this work is hereby disclaimed and abandoned." Some years ago I read Paolo Coelho's book /The Alchemist/, which has sold millions of copies worldwide. The author presents the (ironic) notion that one can wander in delusion all over the world (as well as the far corners of one's inner world, I suppose) in search of whatever one is looking for, or the fulfillment of a need, when in actuality everything one requires is right where one is, within easy reach, in one's own life/context/mind. I was instantly reminded of a parable by Jalaluddin Rumi, in the /Masnavi/, titled "In Baghdad, dreaming of Cairo: in Cairo, dreaming of Baghdad", which has this very idea presented through the figure of a man who goes on a journey seeking the buried treasure he saw a dream. I found the Rumi-Coelho parallel so striking, I looked through /The Alchemist/ for a preface, afterword, footnote, anything that might acknowledge Rumi as a source. But I never came across any such references. Each time I read a review of the book I would expect the critic to make the comparison, but thus far I haven't encountered one. Whether there actually is a link between the two texts is hypothetical, and it may be my own useless speculation. Very useful, however, was a sudden awareness of how conditioned I was to established notions of authorship and "transformative appropriation", to borrow a term from the essay reviewed here. Rumi himself would have laughed at the idea that he had individual rights as an author, and that he might need to protect his "intellectual property" against any appropriators, from any century or culture. (In any case the /Masnavi/ is shaped by a different mode of gnosis, one that has an inviolable "source code", so to speak, which belongs to everyone and to no one, and cannot be fixed within the bounds of any ideological domain, public or private...). David Lange's essay seeks to define the public domain, and examine its relations with authorship, creativity, imagination and rights. He categorically states that he wants the public domain, however it may be defined, to secure the "elemental aspirations" that are "innate in human kind: to think and to imagine, to remember and appropriate, to play and to create". He acknowledges that the term "public domain" is elastic and inexact, and can be "perhaps most usefully seen as a commons, set off against the fences that delimit the interests of individual rights holders"; this definition is invaluable for the purposes of imagining a "politics of the commons" that structures the operations of cyberspace. Discussing a paper on the subject by fellow scholar James Boyle, Lange asserts that he himself has a different perspective from Boyle, who sees the expansion of intellectual property rights as a second enclosure movement reminiscent of the English land enclosure movement of the nineteenth century. For Lange, the public domain contests the "expansionism" of intellectual property regimes, which are "boundary-fixing" encroachments upon the imagination, and a means of extracting payments for creativity/creative expression. He claims he has revised his earlier understanding of the public domain as mainly what was left over after intellectual property "had finished satisfying its appetite". According to Lange. the public domain: *Demanded recognition as an affirmative entity, conferring its own protection (in the form of rights) upon individual creators *Was no longer a lesser neighbourhood on the wrong side of the tracks, but a recognisable place of refuge for creative endeavour in its own right *Would become a place of sanctuary for individual creative expression, a sanctuary conferring affirmative protection against the forces of private appropriation that threatened such expression *Would accommodate the intellects/imaginations of those who "might be driven by pure need towards transient episodes of creative expression (in contrast to the "formal" and "organized") neither intended nor likely to find any public outlet *Would serve as a place of individual no less than collective entitlement *Would be sanctioned by law *Would be "a place like home, where, when you go there, they have to take you in and let you dance." Lange suggests that the problem with intellectual property was in the nature of property itself: not only in its staking a claim to creative territory, but in the central ability of proprietors to exclude others from their works "in plenary fashion", and to demand compensation for trespass "where no damage necessarily might follow". He wants a radical reconfiguration of proprietary rights regimes and a corresponding re-conceptualisation of the public domain itself. The new definition would imply an entity "enlarged in standing", which could "render presumptively paramount the rights it would confer as against the reduced proprietary rights it would constrain". He adds that the public domain has to be envisioned as autonomous, having an affirmative existence of its own, and strengthened accordingly. There is a need for its drastic revision, re-imagination, reconstruction. "Reform" of the public domain is not enough: there should be "revolution". According to Lange, the recurring metaphor for the public domain today is mainly that of place: a commons, a sanctuary, etc. But from the perspective of creativity, these metaphors are inadequate. It is perhaps better to imagine the public domain as a "status" that arises from "the exercise of the creative imagination, thus to confer entitlements, privileges and immunities in the service of that exercise; a status independently and affirmatively recognized in law, sometimes collective in nature and sometimes individual, but omnipresent, portable and defining; and a status meanwhile paramount to whatever inconsistent status may be conferred upon a work of authorship (or its author) from time to time, whether that work is protected as intellectual property, or is included within a so-called liability regime, or is otherwise provided for". Lange urges us to envision the public domain "as if it were a status like citizenship, but a citizenship arising from the exercise of creative imagination rather than as a concomitant of birth". This citizenship of the creative imagination confers protection, not merely recognition or definition. Protection for exercises of the creative imagination need to be secured against the rights that are invoked by intellectual property regimes. The public domain should be understood as* *"an affirmative source of entitlements capable of deployment, as, when and where required, against the encroachments upon the creative imagination threatened by intellectual property". Furthermore, it is essential to bring within reach of the public domain and its protection "those kinds of appropriations that are creative but do not necessarily result in any form of public expression, or that may result in no expression of any kind". Lange argues that imagination and its parameters form the central focus, reach and scope of the public domain. He asks whether "imagination" is distinct from "action", quoting from an article by Jed Rubenfeld in the /Yale Law Journal/: "The freedom of imagination demands that people be free to exercise their imagination. It is not* *a freedom to do what one imagines." Violence, intentional misrepresentation, misinformation,* *do not qualify. Additionally, when copyright law "bars simple piracy, it does not punish infringers for exercising their imagination. It punishes them for failing to exercise their imagination---for failing to add any new imaginative content to the copied material." By Rubenfeld's standard, peer-to-peer file-sharing in the Napster mode does not qualify as an exercise of imagination, but Lange feels that it does indeed, and moreover, does so in a "substantial" manner. He also says that creativity and appropriation "are inseparable", "as inseparable as creativity and memory"; and in his opinion, "they should remain so, at whatever cost may follow to whatever other belief systems (including copyright) may thus be obliged to stand aside". Copyright is omnipresent, and is also correspondingly over-extended. Lange states that it is "fundamentally wrong" to insist that children internalize the proprietary and moral values of the copyright system, as proprietary values inevitably encroach upon the formation and growth of creativity in young minds. He cites the example of Helen Keller, whose early efforts at creative self-expression were damaged "irreparably" by accusations of plagiarism (regarding a story she had written) levelled against her by her mentor Michael Anagnos, the director of the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Boston, that Keller attended. Lange also discusses copyright and the doctrine of fair use in terms of what he calls "transformative" or "creative" appropriations, reminding us that there may always be some level of functional and aesthetic "equivalency" between two works. "Creative appropriations" require affirmative protections. He defines piracy as "an appropriation unmotivated by any creative exercise, including an exercise of the creative imagination". Somewhat ambiguously, he defines appropriation as "creative" (and therefore qualifying as an exercise of the creative imagination) "when we see in it the qualities or attributes we recognise in conceptual art of any kind". He concludes his essay by citing the example of a poem by Anne Frank, written in Amsterdam to her friend Henny on the occasion of the latter's birthday party in 1940: "Dear Henny/Pluck roses on earth/and forget me not." It was later discovered that this poem appeared to have been "appropriated" verbatim from an anthology of poems widely available in the Netherlands at that time. Lange asks if, by the standards of contemporary copyright doctrines, Anne Frank could be classified as a creator, an author, a plagiarist, a pirate, a thief. He declares that it is wrong to challenge school children with responsibility for copyright, wrong for copyright to intrude into private lives, wrong to measure creativity by the standards of copyright. He states unequivocally that it is wrong* *to lay impediments (moral, intellectual, legal) before exercises of the imagination, whether great or small." We have to ensure that proprietary modes do not "rob us of this vital aspect of our citizenship: the right to think as we please and to speak as we think". I began this review by invoking a literary/philosophical dream from Rumi; I would like to end by invoking one of another kind. Lange's essay brought to mind the allegation some years ago that Dr Martin Luther King had plagiarised material for his doctoral thesis. I don't recall now whether the charge was proved or not. I recall asking myself whether it mattered, whether the charge of cheating, so to speak, was relevant, whether it in any way stained the heroic character of a man who had changed millions of lives with four words: "I have a dream..." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ___________________________________ An Internal Sarai List internal at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/internal From annymcbeal at gmail.com Tue Nov 2 13:28:40 2004 From: annymcbeal at gmail.com (anu) Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2004 13:28:40 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] piracy in india Message-ID: <8a1161ed041101235870cbd020@mail.gmail.com> here is the link to an interesting opinion on on piracy in india http://www.hindu.com/2004/11/02/stories/2004110203141000.htm From sunil at mahiti.org Thu Nov 4 03:20:44 2004 From: sunil at mahiti.org (Sunil Abraham) Date: Wed, 03 Nov 2004 21:50:44 +0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Please write a letter to the PM supporting the amendments to the FoI Act Message-ID: <1099518644.675.154.camel@box> From: NCPRI India Subject: Please write a letter to the PM supporting the amendments to the FoI Act Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 03:50:49 -0500 Dear Friends, I am writing to you to request you to address a letter to the Prime Minister of India on the proposed amendments to the Freedom of Information Act. As you perhaps know, the NDA government had enacted a somewhat weak and ineffective Freedom of Information Act, that had been passed by Parliament and was awaiting notification. However, the UDF Government's Common Minimum Plan stated that "The Right to Information Act will be made more progressive, participatory and meaningful". Accordingly, the National Advisory Council formulated a set of proposed amendments to the existing Freedom of Information Act, in fulfillment of this assurance. A copy of the proposed amendments, in tabulated form, showing the relevant clauses of the original act, is enclosed and is also available at the NAC web site: www.nac.nic.in. The recommendations of the NAC in this regard were forwarded by the Chairperson, Smt Sonia Gandhi, to the Prime Minister with a very strong endorsement. Subsequently, some of us sought an appointment with the Prime Minister and met him on 21 October, 2004, under the banner of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information (NCPRI), to discuss the status of the NAC recommendations. At this meeting the concerned secretary, who had been requested to be present, expressed doubts about various of the recommendations, but especially about the proposed penalty clauses and independent appeal mechanisms - see sections 12(1), (2), (3) and (4) of the proposed amendments. We did argue that a mere fine, especially for a junior level functionary who has little prospects of career advancement, might not be deterrent enough when the information sought could expose misappropriation of large amounts of money, with large financial inducements for withholding or "misplacing" it. We also argued that one central information commissioner and one commissioner in each state would not severely tax the financial resources of the Government of India. Besides, the savings of public funds, in terms of "prevented misappropriations", would be many times higher than any administrative costs - once the right to information started being used. However, we came away with the impression that a much greater effort is needed to prevent the recommended amendments from being significantly diluted. Therefore, we are requesting you to consider writing a letter to the Prime Minister, to support the amendments proposed by the NAC. For your convenience, a draft letter is enclosed which you could suitably modify. I would be happy to clarify any doubts that you might have and would be grateful for a copy of the letter that you finally send. I would also be grateful if you could FORWARD this email to any other person whom you think might be interested in supporting this cause. We believe the support of people like you would significantly help in our getting a strong RTI Law. With regards, Shekhar Singh Convenor National Campaign for People's Right to Information C 17A Munirka New Delhi 110 067 Telefax: +91 (0)11 26178048 __________ Text of the letter: Sender's Name Address Date Dear Shri Manmohan Singh ji, I write to you to express my support for the amendments proposed by the National Advisory Council to the existing "Freedom of Information Act". The recommended amendments, as posted on the NAC website, rightly stress on the strengthening of the act, in keeping with the commitment made by the UPA government, in the Common Minimum Programme, that "The Right to Information Act will be made more progressive, participatory and meaningful". Among other things, these proposed amendments are designed to make the penalty provisions of the act more stringent, especially introducing the notion of criminal culpability for deliberate and malafide distortion or destruction of information. The amendments also stress the need for an independent appeal mechanism in the form of information commissioners. As a citizen, I am of the firm opinion that unless these two recommendations are fully accepted, the proposed right to information act would not be effective in providing access to the sorts of information that are most needed to be made public. Therefore, I strongly urge you to urgently amend the existing Freedom of Information Act in accordance with the recommendations made by the NAC. With kind regards, Yours sincerely, Shri Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India 7 Race Course Road New Delhi Post to website at: http://pmindia.nic.in/write.htm Fax: +91-11-2301.9545/91-11-2301.6857 Thanks, ಸುನೀಲ್ -- Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mobile: +91 80 36701931 Currently on sabbatical with APDIP/UNDP Manager - International Open Source Network Wisma UN, Block C Komplex Pejabat Damansara. Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur. P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087 sunil at apdip.net http://www.iosn.net http://www.apdip.net From sudhir at circuit.sarai.net Fri Nov 5 21:12:23 2004 From: sudhir at circuit.sarai.net (sudhir at circuit.sarai.net) Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 16:42:23 +0100 (CET) Subject: [Commons-Law] George Washington Univ IP Fellow Message-ID: <1328.163.1.43.132.1099669343.squirrel@163.1.43.132> THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL Intellectual Property Fellow The George Washington University Law School is accepting applications for the position of Intellectual Property Fellow. This is a two-year position from Summer 2005 to Summer 2007 designed for persons who are interested in pursuing an academic career in some area of intellectual property law. JOB DESCRIPTION: The IP Fellow would teach two courses per academic year (at least one of which could be a seminar) and help with the administration of the Intellectual Property Program. At the same time, the IP Fellow would have the opportunity to pursue a scholarly project and prepare to enter the law teaching market, normally in the fall semester of the second year. The formal title of the position is Visiting Associate Professor and Administrative Fellow in the Intellectual Property Program. Compensation will be approximately $60,000 per year, plus benefits including health insurance. APPLICATION PROCEDURE: Applications should include: (1) a resume that includes a list of academic references; (2) a law school transcript; (3) copies of any published work or other writing samples in law or related fields; and (4) a proposal describing the candidate's scholarly interests and the specific project or projects he or she aims to complete while in residence at the Law School. Review of applications for this position will begin on January 15, 2005, and will continue until the position is filled. Applications, questions or inquiries should be sent to: CONTACT: Prof. Robert Brauneis Co-Director of the Intellectual Property Program The George Washington University Law School 716 20th Street, NW Washington, DC 20052 Email: MAILTO:rbrauneis at law.gwu.edu ____________________________________________________________ From venx at justice.com Sat Nov 6 05:03:23 2004 From: venx at justice.com (venx at justice.com) Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 15:33:23 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK Message-ID: <20041105233323.17828.h58.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Two questions for this group: (1) Does India assert a Geographical Indication in Kolhapuri slippers? (2) Are Kolhapuri slippers made by an identifiable ethnic group such that they can be considered Traditional Knowledge? Thanks a lot. Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan LL.M. (Columbia Law School) 186 Claremont Ave., Apt.1E New York, NY 10027 857-928-6159 vv2119 at columbia.edu _________________________________________________ FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community http://www.FindLaw.com Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email! http://mail.Justice.com From sunil at mahiti.org Sat Nov 6 19:08:10 2004 From: sunil at mahiti.org (Sunil Abraham) Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2004 13:38:10 +0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Asia Source: Tech camp for the voluntary sector [Details and Form] Message-ID: <1099748290.675.156.camel@box> Dear Friends, Please apply if you are interested in Free/Open Source Software and Development. AND/OR Please forward to your colleagues from the voluntary sector in South Asia / South East Asia. Thanks, Sunil -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Source: Tech camp for the voluntary sector [Details and Form] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangalore, India. January 28th to February 4th 2005. Asia Source hopes to bring together over 100 people from 20 countries to increase the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) amongst the voluntary sector in South and South East Asia. This week long event will bring together NGOs and NGO technology support professionals working at the grassroots level across the region to learn new skills, exchange tips, and share experiences. Together with regionally and globally renowned experts and specialists they will look at the use of FOSS within the non-profit sector from both an access and a content perspective. Offering participants the opportunity to explore the practical technical side of FOSS whilst providing a conceptual backdrop. Asia Source will be the first event of its kind in the region, bringing together regional non-profit professionals with a rights based focus, it will invite those from both the technical and content end of the spectrum to focus on the practical elements of FOSS deployment. Participants with a range of expertise will be provided with a space for intensive peer learning. They will be given the opportunity to develop their understanding of FOSS, learn how to select and apply alternative technologies, and be provided with the skills and tools to utilise this within the context of their daily work. They will also be encouraged to explore the challenges and the future potential of FOSS adoption within the social context. During this 'camp' style event, participants will take part in a range of sessions. From planning and helping an NGO to migrate to FOSS, to sharing tips and techniques on using FOSS tools for content development, advocacy and campaigning. In parallel to this they will look beneath user-level scenarios, and break-down tricky issues such as localisation techniques and how to develop total cost of ownership models. Four themes will flow throughout the event 1. 'FLOSSophy' for NGOs 2. Migration and Access 3. Tools for content and communication 4. Localisation Asia Source will be held in a small artists community on the outskirts of Bangalore. Its aim is to become a community building event, with the potential to seed connections and future partnerships across borders and between skillsets. The event is co-organised by Mahiti.org (Bangalore) and the Tactical Technology Collective (Amsterdam). The event is guided by an advisory board of established non-profit and FOSS professionals from across the South and South East Asian region. Asia Source belongs to a larger family of Source Events that seek to increase the viability of FOSS use by the non-profit sector. Other source events have taken place in South East Europe, Southern Africa and are planned in 2005 in Western Africa. For more information please visit http://www.tacticaltech.org/asiasource or http://www.mahiti.org/asiasource Participants will be selected by the advisory board based on their interest and experiences. There will be a small registration fee for the event. A limited number of travel and registration fee scholarships will be available and may be applied for on application. If you have any questions please write to asiasource at tacticaltech.org. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Source: Application Form -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please send the application to asiasource at tacticaltech.org. The deadline for sending applications is 19th of November 2004. We will confirm receipt of the application immediately and will ask you to check and reserve (if you do not have to pay for this) your flight to Bangalore, India. We will also ask people who need visas to check how they can apply for it. As we have limited space and funds, we cannot accept all participant applications and cannot reimburse the expenses for all of them. Between the 19th of November and 3rd of December 2004 we will personally inform each applicant by email if we are able to invite him/her and in some cases reimburse expenses. Dates:- Asia Source is a week-long meeting, to be held January 28th - February 4th 2005 in Bangalore, India. If you would like to participate, you will need to attend the entire event, which means arriving in Bangalore on or before January 27th and leaving on or after February 5th. Fees and subsidies:- Participants will arrange for their own travel to Bangalore, India. Once there, transport to the venue from the airport in Bangalore will be provided. All meals and accommodation during the meeting will be provided, for the modest participation fee of US$ 75. There are a limited number of participation fee subsidies available to cover this US$ 75 for those who are not able to raise the funds. Travel subsidies are also available for participants who would not otherwise be able to attend the meeting. Please apply as soon as possible for subsidies as there availability is limited. Who should attend? This is an event for experienced professionals actively working with the non-profit sector in South and South East Asian countries. To be eligible to attend, you will need to answer the questions below, providing detailed information about projects you have worked on. The application deadline is November 19th, 2004. We are interested in all kinds of non-profit and technical experience, but areas of particular focus will include the following: 1. Localisation and multi-language projects 2. The use of technology within monitoring or campaigning projects 3. The use of technology for organising and collaborating 4. Audio/video, streaming media and/or radio 5. Innovative use of technology within non-profit projects 6. Experience deploying FOSS operating systems or applications Demonstrating that you have worked on projects in one or more of the above areas will make your application stronger. All participants at Asia Source are required to be proficient desktop users of computers, have been involved in at least one NGO/technology project before and to have an existing awareness of the concept of Free and Open Source Software. Applications from women are highly encouraged by the event organisers. Application Questions:- Please answer the following questions. You do not need to write long responses, but please provide us with enough information to understand your skills and interests, and to have a sense of why you want to attend Asia Source and what you can contribute to the event. Please provide answers to all the following questions. 1) Basic personal information: a. Name: b. Gender: c. Nationality: d. Country where you live and work now: e. E-mail address: f. Telephone and emergency contact number(s): g. Anything else we should know about you (allergies, diet, medical condition, special needs): h. Do you need a visa to come to India? 2) What is your experience of working with non-profit organisations/the voluntary sector. What kinds of projects and initiatives have you worked on? 3) Have you been involved with any technology projects for non-profit or civil society organizations? If so please briefly explain them. 4) Where are you from, where do you live now, and what is your current professional affiliation (organization you work for, mission of the organization, position you have in the organization, is your organization a non-profit, etc.)? 5) Please describe your current technical expertise and ability. 6) Why are you interested in attending Asia Source; what do you hope to learn? 7) Asia Source participants are encouraged to teach as well as to learn. What tutorials, development sessions or discussions would you like to lead (or help lead)? 8) Will you need to receive a participation fee subsidy in order to attend Asia Source? If so, please explain why. 9) Will you need to receive a travel subsidy in order to attend Asia Source? If so, please explain why and estimate how much your round-trip travel to Bangalore will cost. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, ಸುನೀಲ್ -- Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mob: (60) 1-6311-1330 Currently on sabbatical with APDIP/UNDP Manager - International Open Source Network Wisma UN, Block C Komplex Pejabat Damansara. Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur. P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087 sunil at apdip.net http://www.iosn.net http://www.apdip.net "A world opened up by communications cannot remain closed up in a feudal vision of property" - Gilberto Gil, Minister of Culture, Brazil From shwetashree at hotmail.com Sat Nov 6 12:54:06 2004 From: shwetashree at hotmail.com (Shwetasree Majumder) Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2004 07:24:06 +0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK Message-ID: Dear Venx, 1) India has not yet applied for a GI in Kolhapuri slipers. The only GIs accepted for registration and advertised in the GI journal so far are Pochampally ikkat, Darjeeling tea and Chanderi fabric. Other GIs applied for include Salem fabric, Arumula Kanadi, Pannaiyur pavithramothiram, Mysore agarbathi, etc. I can give you the whole list on Monday if you like. Irrespective of application though, Kolhapuri slippers definitely qualify as subject-matter for GI registration althoug there's yet to be an application for it as the awareness about GIs in India is still nascent. The term Geographical Indication refers not only to the quality and uniqueness of the product from a specific geographical location, but also refers to the reputation that the product enjoys due to its origin and Kolhapuri chappals qualify on all counts. 2) Kolhapuri chappals are made by the villagers of a cluster of villages on the Maharashtra Karnataka border - to that extent their production is restricted to this group of people. The process however has undergone a sea change and there is a fair amount of modern technology that has crept in. In any event a subject-matter may involve traditional knowledge and may also qualify as a GI like the Pannaiyur pavithramothiram for instance. The latter protection is more concrete as there seems to be a complete lack of any legislative zeal to enact the TK act. Shwetasree >From: venx at justice.com >To: commons-law at sarai.net >Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK >Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 15:33:23 -0800 (PST) > >Two questions for this group: > >(1) Does India assert a Geographical Indication in Kolhapuri slippers? > >(2) Are Kolhapuri slippers made by an identifiable ethnic group such >that they can be considered Traditional Knowledge? > >Thanks a lot. > >Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan > >LL.M. (Columbia Law School) >186 Claremont Ave., Apt.1E >New York, NY 10027 >857-928-6159 >vv2119 at columbia.edu > >_________________________________________________ >FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community >http://www.FindLaw.com >Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email! >http://mail.Justice.com >_______________________________________________ >commons-law mailing list >commons-law at sarai.net >https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law _________________________________________________________________ Screensavers unlimited! Funny, serious, religious. http://www.msn.co.in/Cinema/screensaver/ Take your pick! From dev.gangjee at st-catherines.oxford.ac.uk Sat Nov 6 15:12:12 2004 From: dev.gangjee at st-catherines.oxford.ac.uk (Dev Gangjee) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 09:42:12 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] kohlapuri chappals update In-Reply-To: <20041106063009.61DBC28EE78@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <20041106094212.6E34F2DE1C@webmail217.herald.ox.ac.uk> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041106/bc00c9a7/attachment.pl From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Sat Nov 6 15:58:57 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 10:28:57 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Congrats Sudhir In-Reply-To: <1328.163.1.43.132.1099669343.squirrel@163.1.43.132> Message-ID: <20041106102857.23276.qmail@web8407.mail.in.yahoo.com> Dear All, Sudhir won an IP essay writing competition recently held by the Univ of Delhi and Vidya IP foundation (and I understand a significant sum of money too..). He's promised to post his essay here.. Shamnad ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Sat Nov 6 16:04:17 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 10:34:17 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] another round begins... In-Reply-To: <20041106094212.6E34F2DE1C@webmail217.herald.ox.ac.uk> Message-ID: <20041106103417.29342.qmail@web8402.mail.in.yahoo.com> see 'Hollywood Movie Studios Take Aim at Film Thieves' at http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/news/37918.html shamnad ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Sat Nov 6 16:38:23 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 11:08:23 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20041106110823.18386.qmail@web8409.mail.in.yahoo.com> Dev and Shwe are spot on. Being from Kerala however, I can't help but point this out: i) The name of the place is 'payyanur' (Kannur District, Kerala) and not 'pannaiyur'-the ring is therefore known as Payyanur Pavithra Mothiram (translates to 'sacred ring from payyanur). this ring has a unique knotted shape and is considered very very sacred. ii) In the case of the mirror ('kannadi'in malayalam), the name of the place is 'aranmula' (aranmula kannadi's are unique cast metal mirrors with handles). Sorry-but its all about the 'name' here-isnt it?? Or as Dev's recently presented paper at Oxford suggests, its all a 'name blame game'. Found this interesting parliamentary debate referencing GI's-again, reflects conceptual confusion amongst our elected rep's over patents vs other forms of IP protection (patent for champagne???). See http://parliamentofindia.nic.in/lsdeb/ls13/ses2/2522129902.htm. Its fun reading-if not for anything else.. Shamnad --- Shwetasree Majumder wrote: > > Dear Venx, > > 1) India has not yet applied for a GI in Kolhapuri > slipers. The only GIs > accepted for registration and advertised in the GI > journal so far are > Pochampally ikkat, Darjeeling tea and Chanderi > fabric. Other GIs applied for > include Salem fabric, Arumula Kanadi, Pannaiyur > pavithramothiram, Mysore > agarbathi, etc. I can give you the whole list on > Monday if you like. > > Irrespective of application though, Kolhapuri > slippers definitely qualify as > subject-matter for GI registration althoug there's > yet to be an application > for it as the awareness about GIs in India is still > nascent. The term > Geographical Indication refers not only to the > quality and uniqueness of > the product from a specific geographical location, > but also refers to the > reputation that the product enjoys due to its origin > and Kolhapuri chappals > qualify on all counts. > > 2) Kolhapuri chappals are made by the villagers of a > cluster of villages on > the Maharashtra Karnataka border - to that extent > their production is > restricted to this group of people. The process > however has undergone a sea > change and there is a fair amount of modern > technology that has crept in. In > any event a subject-matter may involve traditional > knowledge and may also > qualify as a GI like the Pannaiyur pavithramothiram > for instance. The latter > protection is more concrete as there seems to be a > complete lack of any > legislative zeal to enact the TK act. > > > Shwetasree > > > >From: venx at justice.com > >To: commons-law at sarai.net > >Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and > TK > >Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 15:33:23 -0800 (PST) > > > >Two questions for this group: > > > >(1) Does India assert a Geographical Indication in > Kolhapuri slippers? > > > >(2) Are Kolhapuri slippers made by an identifiable > ethnic group such > >that they can be considered Traditional Knowledge? > > > >Thanks a lot. > > > >Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan > > > >LL.M. (Columbia Law School) > >186 Claremont Ave., Apt.1E > >New York, NY 10027 > >857-928-6159 > >vv2119 at columbia.edu > > > >_________________________________________________ > >FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community > >http://www.FindLaw.com > >Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email! > >http://mail.Justice.com > >_______________________________________________ > >commons-law mailing list > >commons-law at sarai.net > >https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > > _________________________________________________________________ > Screensavers unlimited! Funny, serious, religious. > http://www.msn.co.in/Cinema/screensaver/ Take your > pick! > > _______________________________________________ > commons-law mailing list > commons-law at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony From sudhir at circuit.sarai.net Sat Nov 6 18:04:47 2004 From: sudhir at circuit.sarai.net (sudhir at circuit.sarai.net) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 13:34:47 +0100 (CET) Subject: [Commons-Law] IP Essay Message-ID: <2501.163.1.43.132.1099744487.squirrel@163.1.43.132> Dear all I had submitted this recently for an essay competition - it pursues, albeit briefly and in a non-academic style, how national development concerns and IP reform may come together. Would be great to hear back from any of you. Sudhir Indea Essay Competitition 2004 Main Theme: Indian Intellectual Property Sub-Theme: Are our IP laws promoting or suppressing Indian Intellectual Property Sudhir Krishnaswamy * As India wades into the 21st century we stand to make a strategic choice about how we imagine and institutionalize new modes of regulation of access, control and production of information, knowledge and cultural resources. The rapid legislative activity on intellectual property has so radically shifted the goalposts of the debate that we are still to catch our breath! This essay is an exercise in deep breathing and careful reasoning to relieve us from our present breathless state. Let us begin with Garrett Hardin’s contestable prognosis on the ‘tragedy of the commons’ which has grounded recent debate on intellectual property policy. Operating from his premises we can agree that the ideal regulatory framework for public goods is one that maximizes access and use of these goods while ensuring the sustainable preservation and regeneration of the resource. Even at this early stage in this essay we may deploy this ecological metaphor of the commons to set up a benchmark against which we may assess the relative merits of regulatory strategies which respond to analytically identical problems with information, knowledge and cultural resources. Let us name the two facets of this regulatory benchmark the ‘access maximizing’ and ‘sustainable production’ imperatives. Having got this far, the rest of this essay seeks to identify the best regulatory strategy as one that responds adequately to both these strategies simultaneously. The Ayyangar Committee Report on Patent law offers us a well articulated insight into the regulatory mindset of the Indian State with respect to patent policy in the 1970s. The Report takes stock of patents granted and pending applications to find that ownership of patents is primarily with multi-national companies. It recommends that the best response, ‘in the national interest’, to this situation is to adopt a defensive patent policy which accommodates the drive for the autarkic, endogenous development of the national economy. This policy which denied product patents in two key sectors of the economy: pharmaceutical drugs and agricultural chemicals endured till we signed the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement in 1994. Before going any further let’s assess this strategy. It was certainly successful in promoting domestic pharmaceutical and fertilizer companies in developing a low cost, high access generics market. These firms innovatively developed new production processes and novel formulations and modes of delivery and the technological capacity to emerge as new players in the global market for generics. However, even the most passionate advocate for this policy would grudgingly concede that this policy failed to discover newer drugs. These firms which exploited the commons of ideas created by the patent policy failed to sustain this commons by replenishing it with a culture of innovation and invention. The patent turn in the 1990s, though not clearly articulated in a policy document promises to reorient these priorities. We are likely to see a significant increase in the patenting of new drugs and molecules by foreign and Indian companies but there will be a concomitant rise in prices and deterioration in access to drugs for consumers. It may be that a vigorous competition or drug price control policy may contain some of the adverse affects of this turn, but it seems that we are condemned to the eternal play of one imperative at the cost of the other. Now we move from drugs to music! Till the early 1990s, the Gramaphone Company of India together with the public broadcasting behemoths, All India Radio and Doordarshan authored the cultural policies and market practices which defined both the content of music and the spatial and pricing terms on which it was accessed. The maverick Gulshan Kumar deployed a combination of superior production technology, guile and market savvy to unseat Gramaphone Company of India from its lofty perch. The Indian state had not, as we had discussed above with patent law, evolved a copyright law policy which paid heed to the imperative of reasonable access to these resources. What it lacked in policy it more than made up with lax implementation! The ability of the T-Series music phenomenon to storm the sound recording market with affordable classics and a rapidly expanding repertoire of musical forms in several languages is well documented by Peter Manuel. Lawrence Liang’s insightful legal analysis of this phenomenon goes beyond the stale legal binaries of legal and pirated music to unpack how Super Cassettes with the T-Series brand recreated the mass market by generating new audiences for sound recordings. Far from drawing support from copyright law policy, this market was created in the grey interstitial spaces in copyright law. Ironically, Super Cassettes Limited which was among the key beneficiaries of the lassitude of the Indian state to copyright enforcement is now among the most vigorous enforcers of its copyrights. The ongoing court battles on version recording and radio broadcasting are testimony to this new dynamic in the sound recording industry. Presently, satellite broadcasting and private FM radio threaten the broadcasting monopolies of All India Radio and Doordarshan much like T-Series did HMV! Hold on to your seats as the sloth bears of the public broadcasting era will be buffeted by stormy weather from the new upstarts who threaten to change the rules of the game. The Supreme Court’s efforts at offering ingenious public law remedies to facilitate low priced access to cricket match spectators, via Doordarshan, at Ten Sport’s expense failed to account for the costs of production involved. At this early stage it is unclear if the legal territory of broadcasting is likely to be defined in the realm of constitutional rights based writ litigation or by the creativity and foresight of private lawyers working the contours of copyright law. Radio Mirchi’s efforts at securing a compulsory license to broadcast music owned by Super Cassettes Limited is another early case that will etch out the likely contours along which copyright law will regulate broadcasting in India. As this contest is being played out in the courts, and not the executive and legislative branches of government, judges will need to display great dexterity in fashioning remedies which appreciate the twin imperatives of maximizing access while sustaining the production of goods of a public character. Copyright policy faces its sternest test in the realm of computer software. The open source movement while asserting copyright over code, has developed an innovative licensing strategy that keeps source code in the public domain. By ensuring that rights over distribution and further modification are not monetized, the virally transmitted obligations of the open source license satisfies the twin imperatives of the commons: of maximizing access while sustaining the production of public goods. When President Abdul Kalam endorses open source software as the development alternative for India in the field of information technology he pays heed only to the cost implications of such a move. In other words open source software, provides a contingent strategy which furthers the developmentalist visions of a surging Indian economy catching up with the west. Such a blinkered view, like the patent policy in the 1970s, blinds us to the crucial second imperative of a sustainable commons which is continually replenished by the production of public goods. This second limb holds out far greater revolutionary potential for the ways in which knowledge is configured, developed and used. The debate on protecting traditional knowledge in India best explicates the multi-dimensional character of the debate on the regulation of information, knowledge and cultural resources. We may usefully isolate two strands to this debate by the policy frameworks they offer in resolution of the problem. First, are those who entrap the policy debate in the tropes of colonialism where wealthy western nations and multi-national companies are seen to be expropriating ‘our’ indigenous knowledge to immense profit. The moral panics around neem, basmati and turmeric among others are testimonies of this view. The biopiracy agitators fail to interrogate the nationalist premises on which this polemic stands. Is the threat of biopiracy merely one that comes from without? Would we be content if it were established that Indian pharmaceutical companies exploited this knowledge? The nationalist lens which frames this view prompts a regulatory response which transfers control over traditional knowledge resources to a select cabal of state bureaucrats in a move which would rival the 19th – 20th century transfers of natural resources like forests to the hands of the colonial forest department. In ‘This Fissured Land’ Madhav Gadgil and Ramachandra Guha, explore the scale and perversion of the expropriation whereby state bureaucrats developed into a breed of rent seekers over forest lands to the exclusion of tribal communities. There is little evidence to suggest that the state bureaucracies constituted by the recently enacted Biological Diversity Act 2002 will conduct themselves in any different fashion. Our recent history teaches us that ‘nationalizing’ resources in the name of ‘our’ common heritage has a troubled legacy, and notwithstanding the emotive appeal of the biopiracy debate we must resist such an option with traditional knowledge. A second strand to the debate avoids the clutches of the self-aggrandizing state, and argues for a regulatory response which facilitates individuals and communities acting in their own interest by securing conventional intellectual property protection or a suitably designed sui generis property regime. It diagnoses the problem with traditional knowledge to merely be one of accommodating these knowledge forms within pre-existing legal formats or, if that proves too difficult, of devising new stronger property regimes which iron out these difficulties. By focusing on communities and individuals who operate out of the spotlight of urban intellectual property lawyers, organizations like Sristi and the National Innovation Foundation attempt to secure to innovators the fruits of intellectual property protection and venture capital funding which nurtures enterprises to scale. Such an approach supposes the problem not to be with a property regime per se but only with who the beneficiaries of such a regime are and the terms and conditions under which one secures legal protection. So if the Indian state or other civil society actors were to develop facilitating structures which allow previously excluded peoples to access these property regimes the market will take care of the rest. Ironically the role of such intermediaries in generating databases of traditional knowledge or ex situ and in situ conservation sites for biodiversity , whether motivated by developmental or ecological concerns, may have inadvertently obviated the possibility of protection under existing patent rules. Setting aside such crucial problems which arise with the extension of property protection to traditional knowledge, the success of this approach would be measured by the number of innovators earning financial rewards. There is no significant evidence of this as yet but in the event of such success there are likely to be serious issues relating to individual innovators laying claim to communal creations, or the need for trusts and societies representing communities of creators. This would call for a great deal of legal ingenuity and insight into the political economy of communal creation. The battles between the power loom weavers and traditional hand loom weavers with respect to the Geographical Indication filing for Pochampalli Sarees offers us a window into the kinds of issues that we will confront with such an approach. Both approaches to traditional knowledge, discussed above fail to satisfy the benchmarks identified at the start of this essay. While a state regulation model fails to deliver on both access maximizing and sustainable production standards, the property model will almost certainly fail to satisfy the latter standard. Art historian’s remind us about how active borrowing [read as copying!] from pre-existing weaving and art traditions like Ikat as well as the influence of political movements like Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement moulded the aesthetic practices of the Pochampalli Silk weavers. By freezing this tradition within an intellectual property format we will arrest this rich process of creativity enabled by a culture of sharing and borrowing. A property strategy threatens to ossify cultural creativity and starve the commons! As we peep over the ledge looking into the new century, our genius will lie in devising a regulatory policy for information, knowledge and cultural resources which revitalizes and sustains a vibrant public domain. A commons based approach does not automatically mean that all resources must be committed to an unregulated public domain. To the contrary a carefully designed legal strategy, like that developed by the Open Source movement which responds to the political economy of computer software, needs to be imagined and deployed in fields ranging from traditional knowledge protection to trademark and patent law. The Directory of Open Access Journals and the Public Library of Science are efforts in the field of academic publishing which pioneer the extension of public domain strategies beyond computer software. It’s only the vitality of our understanding and imagination and clarity of purpose that can see us through the battles over the regulation of information, knowledge and cultural resources that lie ahead! From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Sat Nov 6 18:08:34 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 12:38:34 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20041106123834.23622.qmail@web8408.mail.in.yahoo.com> --- Shwetasree Majumder wrote: > > Dear Venx, > > 1) India has not yet applied for a GI in Kolhapuri > slipers. sorry-had omitted to query this in my last mail. Would 'india' be the applicant here OR the particular community(ies) making these slippers (maybe represented by some industry or other association..). I understand Darjeeling was done by the Tea Board -does anyone know who the applicants have been in the other applications filed before our GI registry? on another note, does anyone know what came of the TK legislation-what stage are we at? I knew there was a bill sometime back... shamnad ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony From sudhir at circuit.sarai.net Sat Nov 6 18:26:13 2004 From: sudhir at circuit.sarai.net (sudhir at circuit.sarai.net) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 13:56:13 +0100 (CET) Subject: [Commons-Law] on EMRs and access to drugs In-Reply-To: <2505.163.1.43.132.1099745395.squirrel@163.1.43.132> References: <2505.163.1.43.132.1099745395.squirrel@163.1.43.132> Message-ID: <2509.163.1.43.132.1099745773.squirrel@163.1.43.132> Dear all The 2005 transition to a TRIPs compliant Patent regime poses several tough problems for access to drugs campaigners. One that has, for the most part, escaped critical attention is the fate of generic producers who market drugs for which EMR applications have already been filed. Posted below is a query from MSF Brazil which resembles the problems which have cropped in India. Shamnad had published an ET article responding precisely to this question. May I request you to respond to Michel on the Indian position on this crucial issue. I'm sure there are others on this list who've done useful work in this field and may usefully respond to this request. Best Sudhir > Hello there > > I am Michel Lotrowska, access campaign liaison in Brazil and I have a > question on EMRs in Brazil. > > Aventis has requested a patent on taxotere in Brazil on 7th june 1995, > (PI 9508789-3) which is in the mailbox period of Brazil. Until now the > result of the patent hasn't been given but it is known that INPI would > grant the patent while the "prior consent" of the ANVISA would probably > not grant the patent (the Prior consent being an analysis of the patent > made by the DRA since 2001 in Brazil for human medicine in complement to > the INPI). The final decision of the patent analysis has not been > publicized yet and in the meantime 4 competitors entered the market (one > of them being Novartis) with other docetaxel similar products, driving > (slowly) prices down for government purchases which are done through > public tenders ...Novartis won a few contracts with cheaper prices. > > Up to now, Brazil has not notified WTO on how he would use the EMRs and > there is no reference in Brazilian law (that I know of) on EMRs. > On 15th of june 2004, the president of INPI (that has been replaced > since then) signed a certificate granted EMRs to Aventis based on the > paragraph 9 of the article 70 (referring to the point 8-a of the > article) of the TRIPS agreement and all competitors had to stop selling > the product. > > Some lawyers in Brazil seem to say that the decree that incorporated the > TRIPS into Brazilian legislation (Decree 1355 of 30 december 1994) is > enough to justify the concession of the EMRs while others seem to say > that if there is no specification of how the EMRs will be implemented, > TRIPS is not enough justify the use of EMRs. > > Any idea on what should be don in this specific case ? > > Best regards > Michel Lotrowska > Access Campaign Liaison for MSF in Brazil > Tel Office:+5521-2220-3523 > Mobile: +5521-8111-3-666 > Rua Santa Luzia 651-11 > Cep:20030-040 > Rio de Janeiro - Brasil > > > > -- > From paivakil at yahoo.co.in Sat Nov 6 17:35:01 2004 From: paivakil at yahoo.co.in (Mahesh T. Pai) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 17:35:01 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK In-Reply-To: <20041106110823.18386.qmail@web8409.mail.in.yahoo.com> References: <20041106110823.18386.qmail@web8409.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20041106120501.GC4520@nandini.home> Shamnad Basheer said on Sat, Nov 06, 2004 at 11:08:23AM +0000,: > i) The name of the place is 'payyanur' (Kannur > District, Kerala) and not 'pannaiyur'-the ring is > therefore known as Payyanur Pavithra Mothiram > (translates to 'sacred ring from payyanur). this ring > has a unique knotted shape and is considered very very > sacred. Which compells me to raise an interesting question. If granted, will this protection extend to use of the name Payyannur before the words `pavithra mothiram'? or to the entire phrase including `pavithra mothiram'? If the protection is to the latter, what happens if somebody from someother place (say `Foo') decides to make the same thing and call it the `Foo pavithra mothiram'? After all, the pavithra mothiram, and the design on it, is in public domain. Brahimins all over India use during religious ceremonies, a ring like thing made of the `darbha' grass, and put it on the right hand index finger during ceremonies. The `payyannur pavithra mothiram' is simply an etch (I may be using a technically wrong word - it is not exactly etching) in gold of this `pavithra knot' made using the `darbha' grass. Of course, on gold, it will be very, very small. -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity. From shekhar at crit.org.in Sun Nov 7 02:12:05 2004 From: shekhar at crit.org.in (Shekhar Krishnan) Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 02:12:05 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Call for Placements at COSMOS Mumbai Message-ID: <51A2366C-3034-11D9-B19B-000A95A05D12@crit.org.in> Dear All: Please circulate this to interested friends and colleagues. Respond to Comet Media Foundation at comet_media at vsnl.com, marking the subject line COSMOS placement. All applicants are expected to be resident in Mumbai full-time. Best Shekhar _____ CALL for PLACEMENTS for COSMOS: A Space for New Media Practices, Mumbai Comet Media Foundation (Comet) is an organisation formed in 1985. Our activities involve creating knowledge artefacts in film and print, distributing ready knowledge materials, conducting workshops and conducting resource festivals. Comet’s work has won a number of awards, including the Jules Verne Prize of the European Union, an international award given for outstanding efforts in science communication. At present we are working towards setting up a media practice space called COSMOS. This we hope will be a part of a movement to get people to think more critically about the place of science and technology, particularly the role of media, in their lives and to give expression to this thinking in the form of new media. In this age when all media formats are merging into a common digital language, we see a need for media workers who can combine skills hitherto seen as separate disciplines, in a creative way. What will be the education of such media creators, activists and researchers, and what will be Comet’s agenda, the concerns we wish to imbue these learners with? Apart from being equipped to understand the technologies and the environment through which these new forms of expression work, their education has to be a process of building perspectives that will enable them to think in a cross-disciplinary way and to aspire to goals of social equity and justice. The focus of the COSMOS activity is threefold: • training of media designers, makers and researchers with an emphasis on science communication, material culture, issues of social change and related activism. • a media production facility oriented to increasing awareness of science engineering and technology (SET) issues. • pursuing of linked activities with associate autonomous local units of media makers (ALUMs), run by independent film makers, alumni and practitioners emerging from the training and production activities of this centre and many other centres all over the country. These three are not sequential but parallel activities, with each activity boosting the others as it moves along, involving a somewhat uncertain gestation period at the outset. The uncertainty is tied to availability of funding, a crucial enabling factor at the start of the process. CALL for PLACEMENTS at COSMOS: 1. Principal Project Manager at COSMOS To implement this project we need a person initially to be the Principal Project Manager. S/he would own all aspects of the project including, but not limited to: • surveying the current scene in education regarding new media • ascertaining the knowledge needs of different groups of potential learners • guiding the development of courses of differing durations accordingly • locating suitable resource persons and resource agencies • documenting the process of arriving at different concepts • popularising the concept of COSMOS in different fora • detailing a project report, time plan and budget for implementation • identifying appropriate funding agencies and raising funds • liaising with governments (state and central) to obtain support, material or otherwise • leading a small team to achieve the above We expect this initial phase of the project to last about a year. We are looking for a mid career manager who would take this up as a challenge. The person could join us on a sabbatical and if all works out, can join full-time. We would expect this person to play a leading role in COSMOS, once it is operational – either as the Director, leading COSMOS or as a Trustee, guiding the professionals leading COSMOS. 2. Proposal Developer at COSMOS To implement the academic aspect of the project, we need a person who would initially be termed as a Proposal Developer working alongside the Coordinator. The task of this person would be to understand the objectives and interests of potential funders vis-à-vis the COSMOS proposal in order to design components which would enable the implementation of the plans of COSMOS. S/he would work on all aspects of the project including, but not limited to: • ascertaining the knowledge needs of different groups of potential learners • developing the proposals for funding accordingly • identifying appropriate funding agencies • liaising with state and central governments and other funding bodies to obtain support • raising funds • documenting the process of seeking and raising funds • detailing a project report, time plan and budget for implementation • functioning as part of a team to achieve the above A person with 5-7 years of work experience would be suitable for this position. We expect this initial phase of the project to last about a year. Subsequently, we would expect this person to play a role in COSMOS, once it is operational. 3. Course Content Developer at COSMOS To implement the academic aspect of the project, we need a person who would initially be the Course Content Developer. S/he would work on all aspects of the project including, but not limited to: • surveying the current scene in education regarding new media • ascertaining the knowledge needs of different groups of potential learners • developing the course contents of various courses of differing durations accordingly • locating suitable resource persons and resource agencies • building relationships with them to create new courses with their expertise • documenting the process of arriving at different concepts • identifying appropriate funding agencies • detailing a project report, time plan and budget for implementation • liaising with governments (state and central) and other bodies to obtain support, material or otherwise • functioning as part of a team to achieve the above A person with 5-7 years of work experience would be suitable for this position. We expect this initial phase of the project to last about a year. Subsequently, we would expect this person to play a role in COSMOS, once it is operational. 4. Researcher-Documentationist at COSMOS To implement the project, we need a person who would initially be termed a Researcher-Documentationist, to work alongside the Principal Project Manager. S/he would work on all aspects of the project including, but not limited to: • conducting correspondence • developing and building databases of potential learners, institutions, resource persons, funders and others • tracking progress of developments outside and within the team to see that deadlines and targets are met as planned • documenting the process of seeking and raising funds • detailing components which would enable the implementation of the plans of COSMOS • working on the project report, time plan and budget for implementation • functioning as part of a team to achieve the above A person with 2-3 years of work experience would be suitable for this position. We expect this initial phase of the project to last about a year. Subsequently, we would expect this person to play a role in COSMOS, once it is operational. Please respond with CVs, queries and recommendations at comet_media at vsnl.com, marking the subject line COSMOS placement. The deadline is tomorrow morning! Sincerely, COMET MEDIA FOUNDATION Topiwala Lane School Lamington Road Mumbai 400 007, India +91.22.2386.9052, +91.22.2382.6674 http://www.cometmedia.org _____ Shekhar Krishnan 9, Supriya, 2nd Floor Plot 709, Parsee Colony Road no.4 Dadar, Mumbai 400014 India http://crit.org.in/members/shekhar From ijlt at nls.ac.in Sun Nov 7 22:53:11 2004 From: ijlt at nls.ac.in (Indian Journal of Law and Technology) Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 22:53:11 +0530 (IST) Subject: [Commons-Law] Introducing IJLT Message-ID: <58375.202.54.87.179.1099848191.squirrel@202.54.87.179> The Law and Technology Committee of National Law School of India University, Bangalore is publishing a journal on technology law called Indian Journal of Law and Technology (IJLT). IJLT will be edited by a student Editorial Board and peer reviewed by external referees. The first issue of the journal will come out in June 2005. IJLT accepts submissions (articles, notes, book reviews) discussing legal issues on technology in general, including on e-commerce, cyber crime, biotechnology, bioethics, competition law, outsourcing, relevant public policy, and intellectual property issues posed by technology, telecommunications, and evidentiary technology. Kindly visit http://www.nls.ac.in/students/IJLT/index.html for more details. Please direct your general enquiries to ijlt at nls.ac.in or mail ijltedit at nls.ac.in for Editorial Board’s assistance. Thank you, Law and Technology Committee National Law School of India University From latha at knspartners.com Sat Nov 6 10:53:37 2004 From: latha at knspartners.com (Latha) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 10:53:37 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK Message-ID: <004e01c4c3c0$c4ab8a10$dd00a8c0@ks> Dear Venkatesh, I am a practising lawyer and my firm K&S Partners (New Delhi) has done tremendous amount of work on geographical indications and I have been involved in advising the government of India in the protection of Basmati and Darjeeling. Currently, I am authoring a book on GIs along with my colleague Rajendra. This topic is quite interesting and I am taking the liberty to respond to your mail although I am not a part of the 'group' you are referring to in your mail. In your response, please let me know if I can be part of this group since I have been forwarded interesting stuff in the past by my friends which were again forwards from this group.. Coming to your query, in my opinion, Kolhappuri slippers may not be asserted as a geographical indication for the reason that it has become a generic term to describe a type of slippers hand made in leather rather than a slipper hand-made only in Kolhappur and having a specific appearance. For a name to be a geographical indication, the most essential element is the nexus between the product and the geographical region from where it originates. Today, you find Kolhapuri slippers are made all over India. I have myself witnessed them being made in Lajpat Nagar and South Extension in New Delhi. You may be aware of the two factors that cause genericide of a GI namely, delay and acquiescence. In the case of Kolhappuri slippers, I am not aware if any of the makers of this slipper from Kolhappur ever objected to these slippers being made outside Kolhappur when they first came to know about it. In any case, it is too late for them to object now. However, despite all this, the Indian Geographical Indication registry has stated in its journals that Kolhappuri slippers is a geographical indication. I respectfully, disagree. The practical difficulties that would be faced by any applicant if they were to apply for registering this as a geographical indication would be that they have to explain how the product serves to designate the goods as originating from the said region in respect of the specific quality, reputation, or other characteristics of which are dut exclusively or essentially to the geographical environment with its natural and human factors and the production processing or preparation of which takes place in such region. In other words, they have to explain the product-place link in any potential application (see Section 11(1) (2) of the India GI Act). I would love to hear any contrary views on this so that I may be educated further.... As for your second query, I think there is an overlap between TK and GIs. While all GIs may be protected as TK all TK are not GIs. Those TK which have a product-place link may be considered a GI. My knowledge on TK is not so deep, but I believe, Kolhappuri slippers may be protected as TK since they are a part of our cultural expression. If you receive answers to this query, may I request you to forward them to me? Best wishes, Latha Latha R. Nair (Ms.) Senior Associate K&S Partners 84-C, C-6 Street Sainik Farms New Delhi - 110 062 Tel # 91-11-2653-3182, 2653-3187, 2686-5955 Extn: 108 Fax # 91-11-2653-4077, 2653-3889 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This transmission is from the law firm of K&S Partners and contains information confidential and/or legally privileged. It is intended for use only by the person to whom it is directed. If you have received this message in error, please notify us by telephone or fax or e-mail as provided above immediately. ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 5:03 AM Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK > Two questions for this group: > > (1) Does India assert a Geographical Indication in Kolhapuri slippers? > > (2) Are Kolhapuri slippers made by an identifiable ethnic group such > that they can be considered Traditional Knowledge? > > Thanks a lot. > > Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan > > LL.M. (Columbia Law School) > 186 Claremont Ave., Apt.1E > New York, NY 10027 > 857-928-6159 > vv2119 at columbia.edu > > _________________________________________________ > FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community > http://www.FindLaw.com > Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email! > http://mail.Justice.com > _______________________________________________ > commons-law mailing list > commons-law at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > From jagdish.damania at hp.com Sat Nov 6 13:54:55 2004 From: jagdish.damania at hp.com (DAMANIA, JAGDISHCHANDRA U) Date: Sat, 6 Nov 2004 13:54:55 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] RE: [bytesforall_readers] Asia Source: Tech camp for the voluntary sector [Details and Form] Message-ID: Hi Sunil I would be interested in the Tech camp. I am based in the Bangalore and does not requires travel or staying facility. Best Regards, Jagdish Damania - PMP HP, GDIC Holiday 11th Nov to 15th Nov HP Global Delivery India Center 4F Embassy Icon, #3 Infantry Road, Bangalore 560 001. India +91 80 2205 1375 DID +91 98440 69931 Mobile Disclaimer: This e-mail, and any files transmitted with it are "HP Confidential" and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received this e-mail in error, please discard the message and notify me directly. -----Original Message----- From: Sunil Abraham [mailto:sunil at mahiti.org] Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 7:08 PM To: Indian Center for NGO Professionals; Bytesforall Readers; Commons Law Cc: projects at mahiti.org Subject: [bytesforall_readers] Asia Source: Tech camp for the voluntary sector [Details and Form] Dear Friends, Please apply if you are interested in Free/Open Source Software and Development. AND/OR Please forward to your colleagues from the voluntary sector in South Asia / South East Asia. Thanks, Sunil -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Source: Tech camp for the voluntary sector [Details and Form] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangalore, India. January 28th to February 4th 2005. Asia Source hopes to bring together over 100 people from 20 countries to increase the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) amongst the voluntary sector in South and South East Asia. This week long event will bring together NGOs and NGO technology support professionals working at the grassroots level across the region to learn new skills, exchange tips, and share experiences. Together with regionally and globally renowned experts and specialists they will look at the use of FOSS within the non-profit sector from both an access and a content perspective. Offering participants the opportunity to explore the practical technical side of FOSS whilst providing a conceptual backdrop. Asia Source will be the first event of its kind in the region, bringing together regional non-profit professionals with a rights based focus, it will invite those from both the technical and content end of the spectrum to focus on the practical elements of FOSS deployment. Participants with a range of expertise will be provided with a space for intensive peer learning. They will be given the opportunity to develop their understanding of FOSS, learn how to select and apply alternative technologies, and be provided with the skills and tools to utilise this within the context of their daily work. They will also be encouraged to explore the challenges and the future potential of FOSS adoption within the social context. During this 'camp' style event, participants will take part in a range of sessions. From planning and helping an NGO to migrate to FOSS, to sharing tips and techniques on using FOSS tools for content development, advocacy and campaigning. In parallel to this they will look beneath user-level scenarios, and break-down tricky issues such as localisation techniques and how to develop total cost of ownership models. Four themes will flow throughout the event 1. 'FLOSSophy' for NGOs 2. Migration and Access 3. Tools for content and communication 4. Localisation Asia Source will be held in a small artists community on the outskirts of Bangalore. Its aim is to become a community building event, with the potential to seed connections and future partnerships across borders and between skillsets. The event is co-organised by Mahiti.org (Bangalore) and the Tactical Technology Collective (Amsterdam). The event is guided by an advisory board of established non-profit and FOSS professionals from across the South and South East Asian region. Asia Source belongs to a larger family of Source Events that seek to increase the viability of FOSS use by the non-profit sector. Other source events have taken place in South East Europe, Southern Africa and are planned in 2005 in Western Africa. For more information please visit http://www.tacticaltech.org/asiasource or http://www.mahiti.org/asiasource Participants will be selected by the advisory board based on their interest and experiences. There will be a small registration fee for the event. A limited number of travel and registration fee scholarships will be available and may be applied for on application. If you have any questions please write to asiasource at tacticaltech.org. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Source: Application Form -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please send the application to asiasource at tacticaltech.org. The deadline for sending applications is 19th of November 2004. We will confirm receipt of the application immediately and will ask you to check and reserve (if you do not have to pay for this) your flight to Bangalore, India. We will also ask people who need visas to check how they can apply for it. As we have limited space and funds, we cannot accept all participant applications and cannot reimburse the expenses for all of them. Between the 19th of November and 3rd of December 2004 we will personally inform each applicant by email if we are able to invite him/her and in some cases reimburse expenses. Dates:- Asia Source is a week-long meeting, to be held January 28th - February 4th 2005 in Bangalore, India. If you would like to participate, you will need to attend the entire event, which means arriving in Bangalore on or before January 27th and leaving on or after February 5th. Fees and subsidies:- Participants will arrange for their own travel to Bangalore, India. Once there, transport to the venue from the airport in Bangalore will be provided. All meals and accommodation during the meeting will be provided, for the modest participation fee of US$ 75. There are a limited number of participation fee subsidies available to cover this US$ 75 for those who are not able to raise the funds. Travel subsidies are also available for participants who would not otherwise be able to attend the meeting. Please apply as soon as possible for subsidies as there availability is limited. Who should attend? This is an event for experienced professionals actively working with the non-profit sector in South and South East Asian countries. To be eligible to attend, you will need to answer the questions below, providing detailed information about projects you have worked on. The application deadline is November 19th, 2004. We are interested in all kinds of non-profit and technical experience, but areas of particular focus will include the following: 1. Localisation and multi-language projects 2. The use of technology within monitoring or campaigning projects 3. The use of technology for organising and collaborating 4. Audio/video, streaming media and/or radio 5. Innovative use of technology within non-profit projects 6. Experience deploying FOSS operating systems or applications Demonstrating that you have worked on projects in one or more of the above areas will make your application stronger. All participants at Asia Source are required to be proficient desktop users of computers, have been involved in at least one NGO/technology project before and to have an existing awareness of the concept of Free and Open Source Software. Applications from women are highly encouraged by the event organisers. Application Questions:- Please answer the following questions. You do not need to write long responses, but please provide us with enough information to understand your skills and interests, and to have a sense of why you want to attend Asia Source and what you can contribute to the event. Please provide answers to all the following questions. 1) Basic personal information: a. Name: b. Gender: c. Nationality: d. Country where you live and work now: e. E-mail address: f. Telephone and emergency contact number(s): g. Anything else we should know about you (allergies, diet, medical condition, special needs): h. Do you need a visa to come to India? 2) What is your experience of working with non-profit organisations/the voluntary sector. What kinds of projects and initiatives have you worked on? 3) Have you been involved with any technology projects for non-profit or civil society organizations? If so please briefly explain them. 4) Where are you from, where do you live now, and what is your current professional affiliation (organization you work for, mission of the organization, position you have in the organization, is your organization a non-profit, etc.)? 5) Please describe your current technical expertise and ability. 6) Why are you interested in attending Asia Source; what do you hope to learn? 7) Asia Source participants are encouraged to teach as well as to learn. What tutorials, development sessions or discussions would you like to lead (or help lead)? 8) Will you need to receive a participation fee subsidy in order to attend Asia Source? If so, please explain why. 9) Will you need to receive a travel subsidy in order to attend Asia Source? If so, please explain why and estimate how much your round-trip travel to Bangalore will cost. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks, ಸುನೀಲ್ -- Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mob: (60) 1-6311-1330 Currently on sabbatical with APDIP/UNDP Manager - International Open Source Network Wisma UN, Block C Komplex Pejabat Damansara. Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur. P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087 sunil at apdip.net http://www.iosn.net http://www.apdip.net "A world opened up by communications cannot remain closed up in a feudal vision of property" - Gilberto Gil, Minister of Culture, Brazil ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/C7EolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: bytesforall_readers-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ From kat at nls.ac.in Mon Nov 8 11:59:10 2004 From: kat at nls.ac.in (kat at nls.ac.in) Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 11:59:10 +0530 (IST) Subject: [Commons-Law] Re: commons-law Digest, Vol 16, Issue 6 In-Reply-To: <20041107063004.5C74728EE38@mail.sarai.net> References: <20041107063004.5C74728EE38@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <33780.202.54.87.179.1099895350.squirrel@202.54.87.179> "on another note, does anyone know what came of the TK legislation-what stage are we at? I knew there was a bill sometime back... Shamnad" Hi! I am a student at the National Law School. The TK Legislation is still in the draft stage. After the drafts of NSG and Pravin Anand did not find favour (I believe), it is now being drafted by law school under the supervision of Prof. Ramakrishna (Head of CIPRA). Best regards, Karthik From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Mon Nov 8 14:32:24 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 09:02:24 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK In-Reply-To: <20041106120501.GC4520@nandini.home> Message-ID: <20041108090224.14165.qmail@web8405.mail.in.yahoo.com> MAHESH, TO BEGIN WITH, I'M CURIOUS AS TO WHY YOU'RE SINGLING OUT THE PAYYANUR EXAMPLE FOR THE POINTS YOU RAISE. ARENT THESE ISSUES RAISED IN THE CONTEXT OF OTHER GI'S-WOULD THE ISSUES BE ANY DIFFERENT IN THE CASE OF SAY, KOLHAPUR CHAPPALS? MORE SPECIFICALLY: > Which compells me to raise an interesting question. > If granted, will > this protection extend to use of the name > Payyannur before the words > `pavithra mothiram'? or to the entire phrase > including `pavithra > mothiram'? QUITE OBVIOUSLY, THE PROTECTION WOULD MAKE SENSE ONLY IF IT INCLUDED 'PAYYANUR'-I.E. THAT WOULD, TO THE BEST OF MY UNDERSTANDING, BE THE ESSENCE OF ANY GI PROTECTION. > If the protection is to the latter, what happens > if somebody from > someother place (say `Foo') decides to make the same > thing and call it > the `Foo pavithra mothiram'? After all, the pavithra > mothiram, and the > design on it, is in public domain. AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, THE ESSENCE OF THE PROTECTION WOULD BE THE NAME PAYYANUR-SO I GUESS CALLING IT BY ANY OTHER NAME SHOULD BE OKAY (PERHAPS JUST THE SAME WAY THAT 'FOO TEA' WOULD BE SEEN IN RELATION TO 'DARJEELING TEA'). ON ANOTHER NOTE, WHY WOULD THE FACT THAT THE DESIGN IS IN PUBLIC DOMAIN IMPACT PROTECTABILITY AS A 'GI'. AFER ALL, IT IS NOT A 'DESIGN' OR 'PATENT' PROTECTION THAT IS BEING SOUGHT HERE. AS SHWE'S AND DEV'S MAIL ILLUSTRATE, PROTECTION COULD EVEN ACCRUE ON A DEMONSTRATION OF 'REPUTATION'. > > Brahimins all over India use during religious > ceremonies, a ring like > thing made of the `darbha' grass, and put it on > the right hand index > finger during ceremonies. > > The `payyannur pavithra mothiram' is simply an etch > (I may be using a > technically wrong word - it is not exactly > etching) in gold of this > `pavithra knot' made using the `darbha' grass. Of > course, on gold, it > will be very, very small. > > -- > Mahesh T. Pai <<>> HERE AGAIN, ONE NEEDS TO LOOK AT THE BASIS OF PROTECTION. UNLIKE OTHER IP'S THAT ARE BASED ON 'INVENTIVENESS'(PATENT) OR 'ORIGINALITY' (COPYRIGHT), A GI PROTECTION COULD ACCRUE FROM MERE 'REPUTATION' IN SOME CASES. SO THE FACT THAT IT IS NOT A 'NEW DESIGN' SHOULDNT REALLY MATTER-AT LEAST IN TERMS OF THE LAW AS IT STANDS NOW. I HOPE THESE ADDRESS SOME OF THE ISSUES YOU RAISE. MAYBE THE GI EXPERTS (DEV, SHWE ETC) COULD HELP US OUT MORE. SHAMNAD ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Mon Nov 8 14:39:10 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 09:09:10 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] IP Essay In-Reply-To: <2501.163.1.43.132.1099744487.squirrel@163.1.43.132> Message-ID: <20041108090910.2977.qmail@web8407.mail.in.yahoo.com> Another piece of good news. It turns out that in the very same essay competition, Dev was placed second! Congratulations Dev. Wonderful to have 2 active members of this list winning this competition. Congratulations again. I hope Dev posts his essay here as well. Shamnad --- sudhir at circuit.sarai.net wrote: > Dear all > > I had submitted this recently for an essay > competition - it pursues, > albeit briefly and in a non-academic style, how > national development > concerns and IP reform may come together. Would be > great to hear back from > any of you. > > Sudhir > > Indea Essay Competitition 2004 > > Main Theme: Indian Intellectual Property > Sub-Theme: Are our IP laws promoting or suppressing > Indian Intellectual > Property > > > Sudhir Krishnaswamy * > > As India wades into the 21st century we stand to > make a strategic choice > about how we imagine and institutionalize new modes > of regulation of > access, control and production of information, > knowledge and cultural > resources. The rapid legislative activity on > intellectual property has so > radically shifted the goalposts of the debate that > we are still to catch > our breath! This essay is an exercise in deep > breathing and careful > reasoning to relieve us from our present breathless > state. > > Let us begin with Garrett Hardin’s contestable > prognosis on the ‘tragedy > of the commons’ which has grounded recent debate on > intellectual property > policy. Operating from his premises we can agree > that the ideal regulatory > framework for public goods is one that maximizes > access and use of these > goods while ensuring the sustainable preservation > and regeneration of the > resource. Even at this early stage in this essay we > may deploy this > ecological metaphor of the commons to set up a > benchmark against which we > may assess the relative merits of regulatory > strategies which respond to > analytically identical problems with information, > knowledge and cultural > resources. Let us name the two facets of this > regulatory benchmark the > ‘access maximizing’ and ‘sustainable production’ > imperatives. Having got > this far, the rest of this essay seeks to identify > the best regulatory > strategy as one that responds adequately to both > these strategies > simultaneously. > > The Ayyangar Committee Report on Patent law offers > us a well articulated > insight into the regulatory mindset of the Indian > State with respect to > patent policy in the 1970s. The Report takes stock > of patents granted and > pending applications to find that ownership of > patents is primarily with > multi-national companies. It recommends that the > best response, ‘in the > national interest’, to this situation is to adopt a > defensive patent > policy which accommodates the drive for the > autarkic, endogenous > development of the national economy. This policy > which denied product > patents in two key sectors of the economy: > pharmaceutical drugs and > agricultural chemicals endured till we signed the > Trade Related > Intellectual Property Rights Agreement in 1994. > > Before going any further let’s assess this > strategy. It was certainly > successful in promoting domestic pharmaceutical and > fertilizer companies > in developing a low cost, high access generics > market. These firms > innovatively developed new production processes and > novel formulations > and modes of delivery and the technological capacity > to emerge as new > players in the global market for generics. However, > even the most > passionate advocate for this policy would grudgingly > concede that this > policy failed to discover newer drugs. These firms > which exploited the > commons of ideas created by the patent policy failed > to sustain this > commons by replenishing it with a culture of > innovation and invention. > The patent turn in the 1990s, though not clearly > articulated in a policy > document promises to reorient these priorities. We > are likely to see a > significant increase in the patenting of new drugs > and molecules by > foreign and Indian companies but there will be a > concomitant rise in > prices and deterioration in access to drugs for > consumers. It may be that > a vigorous competition or drug price control policy > may contain some of > the adverse affects of this turn, but it seems that > we are condemned to > the eternal play of one imperative at the cost of > the other. > > Now we move from drugs to music! Till the early > 1990s, the Gramaphone > Company of India together with the public > broadcasting behemoths, All > India Radio and Doordarshan authored the cultural > policies and market > practices which defined both the content of music > and the spatial and > pricing terms on which it was accessed. The maverick > Gulshan Kumar > deployed a combination of superior production > technology, guile and market > savvy to unseat Gramaphone Company of India from its > lofty perch. The > Indian state had not, as we had discussed above with > patent law, evolved a > copyright law policy which paid heed to the > imperative of reasonable > access to these resources. What it lacked in policy > it more than made up > with lax implementation! The ability of the T-Series > music phenomenon to > storm the sound recording market with affordable > classics and a rapidly > expanding repertoire of musical forms in several > languages is well > documented by Peter Manuel. Lawrence Liang’s > insightful legal analysis > of this phenomenon goes beyond the stale legal > binaries of legal and > pirated music to unpack how Super Cassettes with the > T-Series brand > recreated the mass market by generating new > audiences for sound > recordings. Far from drawing support from copyright > law policy, this > market was created in the grey interstitial spaces > in copyright law. > Ironically, Super Cassettes Limited which was among > the key beneficiaries > of the lassitude of the Indian state to copyright > enforcement is now among > the most vigorous enforcers of its copyrights. The > ongoing court battles > on version recording and radio broadcasting are > testimony to this new > dynamic in the sound recording industry. > > Presently, satellite broadcasting and private FM > radio threaten the > broadcasting monopolies of All India Radio and > Doordarshan much like > T-Series did HMV! Hold on to your seats as the sloth > bears of the public > broadcasting era will be buffeted by stormy weather > from the new upstarts > who threaten to change the rules of the game. The > Supreme Court’s efforts > at offering ingenious public law remedies to > facilitate low priced access > to cricket match spectators, via Doordarshan, at Ten > Sport’s expense > failed to account for the costs of production > involved. At this early > stage it is unclear if the legal territory of > broadcasting is likely to be > defined in the realm of constitutional rights based > writ litigation or by > the creativity and foresight of private lawyers > working the contours of > copyright law. Radio Mirchi’s efforts at securing a > compulsory license to > broadcast music owned by Super Cassettes Limited is > another early case > that will etch out the likely contours along which > copyright law will > regulate broadcasting in India. As this contest is > being played out in the > courts, and not the executive and legislative > branches of government, > judges will need to display great dexterity in > fashioning remedies which > appreciate the twin imperatives of maximizing access > while sustaining the > production of goods of a public character. > > Copyright policy faces its sternest test in the > realm of computer > software. The open source movement while asserting > copyright over code, > has developed an innovative licensing strategy that > keeps source code in > the public domain. By ensuring that rights over > distribution and further > modification are not monetized, the virally > transmitted obligations of the > open source license satisfies the twin imperatives > of the commons: of > maximizing access while sustaining the production of > public goods. When > President Abdul Kalam endorses open source software > as the development > alternative for India in the field of information > technology he pays heed > only to the cost implications of such a move. In > other words open source > software, provides a contingent strategy which > furthers the > developmentalist visions of a surging Indian economy > catching up with the > west. Such a blinkered view, like the patent policy > in the 1970s, blinds > us to the crucial second imperative of a sustainable > commons which is > continually replenished by the production of public > goods. This second > limb holds out far greater revolutionary potential > for the ways in which > knowledge is configured, developed and used. > > The debate on protecting traditional knowledge in > India best explicates > the multi-dimensional character of the debate on the > regulation of > information, knowledge and cultural resources. We > may usefully isolate two > strands to this debate by the policy frameworks they > offer in resolution > of the problem. First, are those who entrap the > policy debate in the > tropes of colonialism where wealthy western nations > and multi-national > companies are seen to be expropriating ‘our’ > indigenous knowledge to > immense profit. The moral panics around neem, > basmati and turmeric among > others are testimonies of this view. The biopiracy > agitators fail to > interrogate the nationalist premises on which this > polemic stands. Is the > threat of biopiracy merely one that comes from > without? Would we be > content if it were established that Indian > pharmaceutical companies > exploited this knowledge? The nationalist lens which > frames this view > prompts a regulatory response which transfers > control over traditional > knowledge resources to a select cabal of state > bureaucrats in a move which > would rival the 19th – 20th century transfers of > natural resources like > forests to the hands of the colonial forest > department. In ‘This Fissured > Land’ Madhav Gadgil and Ramachandra Guha, explore > the scale and > perversion of the expropriation whereby state > bureaucrats developed into a > breed of rent seekers over forest lands to the > exclusion of tribal > communities. There is little evidence to suggest > that the state > bureaucracies constituted by the recently enacted > Biological Diversity Act > 2002 will conduct themselves in any different > fashion. Our recent history > teaches us that ‘nationalizing’ resources in the > name of ‘our’ common > heritage has a troubled legacy, and notwithstanding > the emotive appeal of > the biopiracy debate we must resist such an option > with traditional > knowledge. > > A second strand to the debate avoids the clutches of > the self-aggrandizing > state, and argues for a regulatory response which > facilitates individuals > and communities acting in their own interest by > securing conventional > intellectual property protection or a suitably > designed sui generis > property regime. It diagnoses the problem with > traditional knowledge to > merely be one of accommodating these knowledge forms > within pre-existing > legal formats or, if that proves too difficult, of > devising new stronger > property regimes which iron out these difficulties. > By focusing on > communities and individuals who operate out of the > spotlight of urban > intellectual property lawyers, organizations like > Sristi and the National > Innovation Foundation attempt to secure to > innovators the fruits of > intellectual property protection and venture capital > funding which > nurtures enterprises to scale. Such an approach > supposes the problem not > to be with a property regime per se but only with > who the beneficiaries of > such a regime are and the terms and conditions under > which one secures > legal protection. So if the Indian state or other > civil society actors > were to develop facilitating structures which allow > previously excluded > peoples to access these property regimes the market > will take care of the > rest. Ironically the role of such intermediaries in > generating databases > of traditional knowledge or ex situ and in situ > conservation sites for > biodiversity , whether motivated by developmental or > ecological concerns, > may have inadvertently obviated the possibility of > protection under > existing patent rules. > > Setting aside such crucial problems which arise with > the extension of > property protection to traditional knowledge, the > success of this approach > would be measured by the number of innovators > earning financial rewards. > There is no significant evidence of this as yet but > in the event of such > success there are likely to be serious issues > relating to individual > innovators laying claim to communal creations, or > the need for trusts and > societies representing communities of creators. This > would call for a > great deal of legal ingenuity and insight into the > political economy of > communal creation. The battles between the power > loom weavers and > traditional hand loom weavers with respect to the > Geographical Indication > filing for Pochampalli Sarees offers us a window > into the kinds of issues > that we will confront with such an approach. > > Both approaches to traditional knowledge, discussed > above fail to satisfy > the benchmarks identified at the start of this > essay. While a state > regulation model fails to deliver on both access > maximizing and > sustainable production standards, the property model > will almost certainly > fail to satisfy the latter standard. Art historian’s > remind us about how > active borrowing [read as copying!] from > pre-existing weaving and art > traditions like Ikat as well as the influence of > political movements like > Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement moulded the > aesthetic practices of the > Pochampalli Silk weavers. By freezing this tradition > within an > intellectual property format we will arrest this > rich process of > creativity enabled by a culture of sharing and > borrowing. A property > strategy threatens to ossify cultural creativity and > starve the commons! > > As we peep over the ledge looking into the new > century, our genius will > lie in devising a regulatory policy for information, > knowledge and > cultural resources which revitalizes and sustains a > vibrant public domain. > A commons based approach does not automatically mean > that all resources > must be committed to an unregulated public domain. > To the contrary a > carefully designed legal strategy, like that > developed by the Open Source > movement which responds to the political economy of > computer software, > needs to be imagined and deployed in fields ranging > from traditional > knowledge protection to trademark and patent law. > The Directory of Open > Access Journals and the Public Library of Science > are efforts in the > field of academic publishing which pioneer the > extension of public domain > strategies beyond computer software. It’s only the > vitality of our > understanding and imagination and clarity of purpose > that can see us > through the battles over the regulation of > information, knowledge and > cultural resources that lie ahead! > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > commons-law mailing list > commons-law at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Mon Nov 8 14:44:10 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 09:14:10 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Re: TK In-Reply-To: <33780.202.54.87.179.1099895350.squirrel@202.54.87.179> Message-ID: <20041108091410.12972.qmail@web8402.mail.in.yahoo.com> Dear Karhik, Thank you very much for this information. Are you working with Prof Ramkrishna on this? If you are, could you please let us know as to what were the problems with the earlier drafts. And how the present effort seeks to rectify that. More broadly, what are the key areas sought to be addressed by NLS in this attempt? Thanks again-Shamnad ps: I'm not sure how much of the above information can be disclosed publicly-to the extent that some of it can, would be great to have it mooted on this list. --- kat at nls.ac.in wrote: > "on another note, does anyone know what came of the > TK > legislation-what stage are we at? I knew there was a > bill sometime back... > Shamnad" > Hi! > I am a student at the National Law School. > The TK Legislation is still in the draft stage. > After the drafts of NSG > and Pravin Anand did not find favour (I believe), it > is now being drafted > by law school under the supervision of Prof. > Ramakrishna (Head of CIPRA). > Best regards, > Karthik > > > _______________________________________________ > commons-law mailing list > commons-law at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony From shashank_krishna at rediffmail.com Mon Nov 8 23:06:13 2004 From: shashank_krishna at rediffmail.com (shashank krishna) Date: 8 Nov 2004 17:36:13 -0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] free speech and copyright Message-ID: <20041108173613.21277.qmail@webmail31.rediffmail.com> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041108/0c401ef5/attachment.html -------------- next part --------------  hi, i am a student of National Law School of India University, Bangalore. i was currently working on Free speech and Copyright in the context of indian constitution. this is in partial fulfilment of my course on IP. i had some specific querries and some ideas (at a preliminary stage) and was wondering if there is somebody who has worked on this area, so i could bounce them around for comments and feedback and also seek consultation? shashank krishna 4th year NLSIU Bangalore From jason_keith_fernandes at yahoo.co.in Tue Nov 9 08:44:05 2004 From: jason_keith_fernandes at yahoo.co.in (Jason Fernandes) Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 03:14:05 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK In-Reply-To: <004e01c4c3c0$c4ab8a10$dd00a8c0@ks> Message-ID: <20041109031405.91603.qmail@web8506.mail.in.yahoo.com> ok...i hope i am not making a humoungous fool of myself, but i believe that while kholapuri chappals are made all over india today, the originial kholapuri chappal was the result of a certain process. i remember this from an ancient episode of Surabhi, where they mnetioned that the original slippers used a soil of the region, to bind the leather together? my idle two pice having been contributed, i'll let the experts now decide.... cheers, Jason --- Latha wrote: > Dear Venkatesh, > > I am a practising lawyer and my firm K&S Partners > (New Delhi) has done > tremendous amount of work on geographical > indications and I have been > involved in advising the government of India in the > protection of Basmati > and Darjeeling. Currently, I am authoring a book on > GIs along with my > colleague Rajendra. This topic is quite interesting > and I am taking the > liberty to respond to your mail although I am not a > part of the 'group' you > are referring to in your mail. In your response, > please let me know if I > can be part of this group since I have been > forwarded interesting stuff in > the past by my friends which were again forwards > from this group.. > > Coming to your query, in my opinion, Kolhappuri > slippers may not be asserted > as a geographical indication for the reason that it > has become a generic > term to describe a type of slippers hand made in > leather rather than a > slipper hand-made only in Kolhappur and having a > specific appearance. For a > name to be a geographical indication, the most > essential element is the > nexus between the product and the geographical > region from where it > originates. Today, you find Kolhapuri slippers are > made all over India. I > have myself witnessed them being made in Lajpat > Nagar and South Extension in > New Delhi. You may be aware of the two factors that > cause genericide of a > GI namely, delay and acquiescence. In the case of > Kolhappuri slippers, I am > not aware if any of the makers of this slipper from > Kolhappur ever objected > to these slippers being made outside Kolhappur when > they first came to know > about it. In any case, it is too late for them to > object now. However, > despite all this, the Indian Geographical Indication > registry has stated in > its journals that Kolhappuri slippers is a > geographical indication. I > respectfully, disagree. > > The practical difficulties that would be faced by > any applicant if they were > to apply for registering this as a geographical > indication would be that > they have to explain how the product serves to > designate the goods as > originating from the said region in respect of the > specific quality, > reputation, or other characteristics of which are > dut exclusively or > essentially to the geographical environment with its > natural and human > factors and the production processing or preparation > of which takes place in > such region. In other words, they have to explain > the product-place link in > any potential application (see Section 11(1) (2) of > the India GI Act). > > I would love to hear any contrary views on this so > that I may be educated > further.... > > As for your second query, I think there is an > overlap between TK and GIs. > While all GIs may be protected as TK all TK are not > GIs. Those TK which > have a product-place link may be considered a GI. > My knowledge on TK is not > so deep, but I believe, Kolhappuri slippers may be > protected as TK since > they are a part of our cultural expression. If you > receive answers to this > query, may I request you to forward them to me? > > Best wishes, Latha > > Latha R. Nair (Ms.) > Senior Associate > K&S Partners > 84-C, C-6 Street > Sainik Farms > New Delhi - 110 062 > > Tel # 91-11-2653-3182, 2653-3187, 2686-5955 > Extn: 108 > Fax # 91-11-2653-4077, 2653-3889 > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > This transmission is from the law firm of K&S > Partners and contains > information confidential and/or legally privileged. > It is intended for use > only by the person to whom it is directed. If you > have received this > message in error, please notify us by telephone or > fax or e-mail as provided > above immediately. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: > To: > Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 5:03 AM > Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK > > > > Two questions for this group: > > > > (1) Does India assert a Geographical Indication in > Kolhapuri slippers? > > > > (2) Are Kolhapuri slippers made by an identifiable > ethnic group such > > that they can be considered Traditional Knowledge? > > > > Thanks a lot. > > > > Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan > > > > LL.M. (Columbia Law School) > > 186 Claremont Ave., Apt.1E > > New York, NY 10027 > > 857-928-6159 > > vv2119 at columbia.edu > > > > _________________________________________________ > > FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community > > http://www.FindLaw.com > > Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email! > > http://mail.Justice.com > > _______________________________________________ > > commons-law mailing list > > commons-law at sarai.net > > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > > > > _______________________________________________ > commons-law mailing list > commons-law at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > ________________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony From dev.gangjee at st-catherines.oxford.ac.uk Tue Nov 9 15:10:58 2004 From: dev.gangjee at st-catherines.oxford.ac.uk (Dev Gangjee) Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 09:40:58 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Response to Jason on Kolhappuris In-Reply-To: <20041109063007.C0D5E28EEB1@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <20041109094058.0000522658@webmail219.herald.ox.ac.uk> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041109/4801f04a/attachment.pl From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Tue Nov 9 22:48:31 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 17:18:31 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Re: Letter from healthgap on patent bill... In-Reply-To: <20041109094058.0000522658@webmail219.herald.ox.ac.uk> Message-ID: <20041109171831.22355.qmail@web8402.mail.in.yahoo.com> November 8, 2004 The Honorable Dr. Manmohan Singh Prime Minister of India South Block, Raisina Hill New Delhi, India 110 011 Sent by Facsimile: +91.11.23019545 Dear Mr. Prime Minister, I am writing on behalf of Health GAP (Global Access Project), a U.S. advocacy organization fighting for access to affordable HIV treatment in developing countries. India, a major source of the world's generic medicines supply, is in the process of becoming compliant with the World Trade Organization's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). TRIPS requires that, by January 1, 2005, India protect and enforce product patents on pharmaceuticals. Widespread generic production in India has been possible because India currently only recognizes patents on pharmaceutical processes. The dramatic change to India's patent regime that will take place by January 1, 2005 will effectively eliminate a major source of supply of generic versions of new medicines for importing countries, while also jeopardizing access for Indians in need of affordable treatment. Health GAP is gravely concerned that the draft amendments to the Patents Act currently under consideration by the Group of Ministers will not remedy this situation. In fact, the amendments proposed would worsen the future of medicines access for people in need--in India and around the world. India is a signatory to the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (the "Doha Declaration"), which reaffirmed the right of all WTO Members to implement the TRIPS Agreement "in a manner supportive of WHO Members' right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all." [1] India has made repeated public commitments to cooperate and collaborate with other developing countries and use the flexibilities afforded by the TRIPS Agreement to increase access to more affordable generic medicines. We strongly urge you to uphold your commitment, and to make full use of your rights under the TRIPS Agreement, as reaffirmed by the Doha Declaration, in order to prioritize public health and access to medicines for all over excessive monopoly rights for pharmaceutical companies. Therefore, we call on you to take the following steps as you consider amendments to the Patents Act: * Retain the pre-grant opposition procedure. This procedure permits opposition to patent applications the public feels are frivolous, protecting consumers against high prices on non-innovative pharmaceutical products under consideration for patent protection. The pre-grant opposition procedure aids in protecting India from wasting limited resources conferring monopoly rights on products that do not warrant patent protection. * Simplify and streamline India=B9s compulsory licensing procedure. Routine issuance of compulsory licenses after January 1, 2005 in India is critical if the rapid entry of generic versions of important pharmaceuticals is to continue. However, compulsory licensing in India is unnecessarily cumbersome and time consuming. The Indian regime for compulsory licensing must be reformed to facilitate routine and expedited compulsory licensing of important medicines. A strictly enforced deadline of one to three months should be established for the grant of a compulsory license, and rights of appeal should not include permission for injunctive relief that would impede the use of the license. * Remove draft provisions for new-use or second-use patents, currently described in Section 3(d) of the Patents Act. TRIPS does not require the granting of additional patents for new uses or new dosage forms for known medicines. New use or second use patents do not reward or encourage true innovation; they will however increase the cost of important medicines, compromise patient access, and extend monopolies over a longer period of time. Many of the pharmaceutical patent applications filed in India's patent "mailbox" are patent requests for second- or new-uses. * Fully implement the decision of the WTO General Council on the implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration for countries that lack sufficient domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity (the "August 30th Decision"). The draft amendment to the Patents Act would not permit export of compulsorily licensed medicines from India without a compulsory license granted in the importing country. Countries that need to import a low-cost generic medicine produced by compulsory license in India, but do not have a patent for the compulsorily licensed medicine in force, would not be allowed to import compulsorily licensed medicines exported by India, even though the August 30th Decision clearly permits this. Finally, we call on you to support a transparent process for the consideration of amendments to the Patents Act. We are extremely troubled by rumors that the Patents Act will be amended by Ordinance, which will eliminate the opportunity for the public to comment on and influence the amendment process. I look forward to your response to this urgent request. Sincerely, Asia Russell Director, International Policy Health GAP (Global Access Project) cc: The Honorable Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers The Honorable Minister Kamal Nath, Ministry of Commerce and Industry The Honorable Union Minister Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare The Honorable Ronen Sen, Ambassador of India to the United States of Americ= a Dr. Peter Piot, Director, UNAIDS Dr. Jong-Wok Lee, Director General, World Health Organization ------------------------------ FOOTNOTE: [1] "Declaration on the TRIPS agreement and public health,=B2 WT/MIN(01)/DEC/2, 20 November 2001 --__--__-- Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partneronline. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041109/35d4b359/attachment.html From jaynakothari at justice.com Wed Nov 10 13:05:11 2004 From: jaynakothari at justice.com (jaynakothari at justice.com) Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 07:35:11 +0000 (America/Los_Angeles) Subject: [Commons-Law] new copyright judgement Message-ID: <20041110073512.9489.h50.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Dear all, The Karnataka High Court has passed a recent judgement on copyright infringement in NRI Film Production Associated P Ltd.v. Twentieth century Fox Film Corporation and Anr. (ILR 2004 KAR 4350) This was in an Appeal from a suit filed by the appellant from Mysore who claimed that the film 'Independence Day' made by Twentieth Century Fox was taken from his script for a film titled 'Extra Terrestrial Mission'! He states that the core theme of his script was that aliens attack the earth and how the U.S. president intervenes and saves the world, which was taken by Independance Day. He also claimed that several scenes in the film such as the description of the spaceships, the alien missile attack etc were taken from his film script. Justice Shreedhar Rao , in quite a badly written judgement relied on R.G. Anand vs. M/s. Delux Films & Ors and held that there was no copyright infringement and reiterated that there could be no copyright in ideas, themes or plots, but only their expression and that the common scenes of the alien attack, missiles etc were 'scenes a faire' which would be conjured by every author of a science fiction film, and which had no uniqueness. I wonder if the judge actually watched the entire film Independence Day to guage whether or not he found any similarity with the film script ...I doubt it. Atleast his judgement does not give any indication that he watched any part of the film at all. this judgement may be available on manupatra...I'll try and get hold of a soft copy for all those who may be interested, cheers Jayna Ashira Law Advocates and Legal Consultants 50/6 Palace Road Bangalore 56 00 52 Ph: 0091-80-2261090 _________________________________________________ FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community http://www.FindLaw.com Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email! http://mail.Justice.com From lawrence at altlawforum.org Wed Nov 10 14:52:33 2004 From: lawrence at altlawforum.org (Lawrence Liang) Date: Wed, 10 Nov 2004 14:52:33 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] new copyright judgement In-Reply-To: <20041110073512.9489.h50.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Message-ID: Hi jayna Thanks for the update. The ability to pass judgment on a text/film without having to watch / read the text seems to a special trait that judges have, In Bobby Arts International v. Om pal Singh (The Bandit Queen case), in which the judges have to decide whether the whole country can or cannto watch the film, one of the first things that they say after narrating the story is " We have not viewed the film. The story thereof as set out above comes from the judgment under appeal" and then of course go on to confidently determine whether we can watch it. I guess from our perspective in the Independence Day case, it is a relief that eh arrived at the conclusion that eh did without even watching the film. A more recent example which is quite hilarious is the Calcutta high court decision on the Barbara Taylor Bradford case where the judge meticulously informs the 'reader' that he has not read the book but he indeed knows the book very well since he has asked his wife politely ("for how else can one ask one's wife") to read the book and narrate the story to him for fifteen minutes a day while having breakfast... Lawrence From vishwas123_ at hotmail.com Thu Nov 11 10:00:16 2004 From: vishwas123_ at hotmail.com (Vishwas Devaiah) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 04:30:16 +0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] AS BIZZARE AS IT GETS: PATENTS OVER COLA! Message-ID: Cola crop: Soft drinks double up as pesticides Add to Clippings POTHIK GHOSH & CHAITALI CHAKRAVARTY TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2004 01:51:11 AM] NEW DELHI: Not everybody in the world is willing to buy Coca-Cola as a sweet fizzy drink that washes down pizzas or uttapams. Bottled colas might be America's single-most important contribution to the world, but the country can hardly go to war � much as it may want to � to make sure that these colas are consumed the way Uncle Sam wants them to be consumed. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh, for one, believe that it�s used better as a pesticide. Cotton, chilli and tobacco cultivators in the state are spraying colas on their crops. And it�s apparently working. And though a cola major official says: �This is an attempt to mislead farmers and create confusion,� there�s hardly anything he can do to stop one culture from using what it borrows from another in its own natively ingenious fashion. Some hard-boiled American might think that colas are the next best thing after Hollywood, but does he understand that India could have its own ancient take on how to crack the cola nut? Officials at Coke headquarters in Atlanta have said, �Soft drinks do not act in a similar way to pesticides when applied to the ground or crops.� Now, that�s an unfairly narrow view. These honchos can�t deny the Indian farmer his native wisdom. The cola majors are not comfortable if the farmers say, �yeh dil maange more.� Coke, Pepsi, Thums Up, et al are modern-day substitutes for the sugary solution that the jugaad-genius Indian farmer has used all along on his crop to attract red ants that eat up the larvae of the various pests. So, are the cola cos hassled only about bad press? Or, does their anxiety stem from the fact that the Andhra farmers would soon begin to ask for a patent on the new use that they have discovered for the aerated beverages. They shouldn�t worry because Indian farmers are not ungrateful creatures, after all. They wouldn't ever forget how the cola companies provided them with a cheap pesticide option. For them, it�s Life ho to aisi. Hello Uncle Sam, don't be angry. Why bother as long as your bottled fare is paid for and picked off the retail crates by the consumer. Especially when sales are down and the global headquarters are looking at India and China for growth. Then on it�s his baby. Sorry bottle. He can pour it down his gullet, or toilet commode. Tell them uncle, to take a leaf out of the washing machine MNCs book. They weren�t upset at all when they learnt that the well-fed Punjab da puttars were using their gadgets, not to wash clothes, but to get their breakfast ready? Washing machines in Punjab have been used, for some time now, to skim butter out of milk. And besides, none of us have ever looked askance at the average WASP tourist, who comes to India to mix and match dope and raunchy nudism with Advaita Vedanta. So, why should the �yea-yea Yank� feel outraged that his staple potion is being used to snuff out a bollworm's life? He should know, if he doesn�t already, that the automobile engine has been used in Indian pushcarts and rickshaws to put them more in tune with the fast-moving world. And have they heard of this Hakim, in the back-of-the-beyond Uttar Pradesh, who thinks that prescribing two tablespoons of Lacto Calamine to his patients would cure them of that terrible itch _________________________________________________________________ The happening world of BPO! Know all that you need to know! http://www.bpowatchindia.com/msn/ Keep in step with what�s hot! From tahir.amin at btopenworld.com Thu Nov 11 11:33:43 2004 From: tahir.amin at btopenworld.com (TAHIR AMIN) Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 06:03:43 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Brazil Leads the Way in the Free Software Movement Message-ID: <20041111060343.25847.qmail@web86103.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> TECHNOLOGY: Brazil Leads the Way in the Free Software Movement Mario Osava RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 25 (IPS) - Despite the challenges involved, Brazil is forging ahead with its decision to adopt free or open-source software throughout the country's massive public sector. The shift from proprietary operating systems to open-source systems in government agencies will encompass close to 300,000 computers. Some believe this could lead the way to the predominance of open-source software in this country of close to 180 million people and to a major expansion in the national software industry, with considerable international repercussions. But in addition to the technical difficulties involved in undertaking this technological shift, Brazil will also face resistance from Microsoft and other big information technology (IT) transnationals. The federal government's goal is for 30 percent of its computers to be operating with the new system by September 2005, in line with the plan formulated by the Committee for the Implementation of Free Software (CISL). It is impossible to estimate the current number of computers that have already switched to open-source software, because the IT sector in the government is totally decentralised, and hybrid systems are commonly used, explained Ricardo Bimbo, the coordinator of the transfer plan. "Perhaps five percent," he told IPS, adding that the proportion rises to 70 percent in the case of secure servers. Bimbo described the plan as a complex process representing "a shift in paradigm and a breaking of monopolies," and one that faces both "technical and cultural resistance." As a result, the transfer will be slow and gradual, and there is no way of fixing a precise deadline for the total migration of the public sector. There are several reasons for the switch to open-source software, noted Bimbo, an advisor to the National Institute of Information Technology (ITI), the government agency working to promote digital inclusion. The first reason is "macroeconomic", he said. Brazil spent 1.1 billion dollars on royalties and licensing fees for imported software programs in 2002, a considerable jump in comparison with the 600 million dollars spent in 1999. High costs like these are an obstacle to the country's digital inclusion efforts, aimed at extending the benefits of information and communication technology to the entire population. "For example, you can just imagine how much would have to be spent on royalties for the plan to computerise 100,000 schools, with 20 computers each," said Bimbo. National security is another major consideration. In proprietary software systems, the programming codes are hidden from the users, who therefore have no way of determining if there are "backdoors" vulnerable to attack by viruses and hackers. This is not a risk that the Brazilian government wants to take, and it explains why the armed forces have been particularly supportive of the shift to open-source software, explained Bimbo. Technological autonomy and independence were also major considerations in the decision adopted by the government of left-leaning Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva. The use of proprietary software and operating systems in the public sector can lead to a dangerous dependency on private corporations, Bimbo said. The Brazilian Ministry of Labour, for example, is currently caught up in a legal battle with the transnational IT company Unisys, which is threatening to cut off some of the services it provides in retaliation for the ministry's failure to pay part of the 30-million-dollar annual fees stipulated in their contract. The Brazilian authorities argue that the company has not justified some of the expenses for which it is charging. They allege that the contract with Unisys is open to fraudulent activity because the government has no access to the underlying source codes, and this essentially gives the corporation ownership of official data banks. Rodrigo Afonso, the IT director of the Brazilian Information Network for the Third Sector (RITS), told IPS that security and autonomy are much more important than saving money on royalties and copyright payments. RITS already uses open-source software for 80 percent of its services. A survey of 15 Brazilian government agencies that have adopted free software revealed savings of 10 million dollars, with costs reduced to a mere three percent of what would have been paid for proprietary programs, according to the ITI. But there is no way of calculating the unnecessary costs and potential for fraud that would result if the government remains "hostage" to the closed-source systems of private corporations, argued Afonso. Yet another major factor behind the adoption of free software as a government policy is the freedom it allows in the sharing of information. "The knowledge that grows and moves forward is knowledge that is shared," said Bimbo, while proprietary software "holds everyone prisoner." He pointed to the example of the Internet, the "worldwide web" of computers that would never have been possible if its underlying bases had been patented by a private company. Unlike the hidden development codes of proprietary computer programs, open-source software codes are available to be used, modified and reproduced by anyone, and Afonso believes this will open the door for a boom in the Brazilian software development sector. In his opinion, the Brazilian government chose to carry out this shift at an ideal time, when the Linux open-source operating system and compatible programs had been developed to the necessary degree for taking this step. Although there are governments that are further advanced in the use of free software, like in Germany, Brazil can still be considered a "pioneer" in this area for having adopted it as a key focus of its information technology and digital inclusion policies, Bimbo concluded. (END/2004) ___________________________________________________________ Moving house? Beach bar in Thailand? New Wardrobe? Win 10k with Yahoo! Mail to make your dream a reality. Get Yahoo! Mail http://uk.mail.yahoo.com From latha at knspartners.com Tue Nov 9 09:49:23 2004 From: latha at knspartners.com (Latha) Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 09:49:23 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK References: <20041109031405.91603.qmail@web8506.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <002101c4c613$4b0c92d0$dd00a8c0@ks> Jason, Thanks for your mail. Despite the fact that these were originally made in Kolhapur using the soil to bind the sole, the name has today become a generic term to describe a type of chappal because for a long time these chappals have been made outside Kolhappur and I don't think they are made using the soil in Kolhapur as you say in your mail. So I stick to what I said earlier that it is not a GI anymore. Cheers, Latha ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jason Fernandes" To: "Latha" ; ; Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2004 8:44 AM Subject: Re: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK > ok...i hope i am not making a humoungous fool of > myself, but i believe that while kholapuri chappals > are made all over india today, the originial kholapuri > chappal was the result of a certain process. > > i remember this from an ancient episode of Surabhi, > where they mnetioned that the original slippers used a > soil of the region, to bind the leather together? > > my idle two pice having been contributed, i'll let the > experts now decide.... > > cheers, > > Jason > > > --- Latha wrote: > > Dear Venkatesh, > > > > I am a practising lawyer and my firm K&S Partners > > (New Delhi) has done > > tremendous amount of work on geographical > > indications and I have been > > involved in advising the government of India in the > > protection of Basmati > > and Darjeeling. Currently, I am authoring a book on > > GIs along with my > > colleague Rajendra. This topic is quite interesting > > and I am taking the > > liberty to respond to your mail although I am not a > > part of the 'group' you > > are referring to in your mail. In your response, > > please let me know if I > > can be part of this group since I have been > > forwarded interesting stuff in > > the past by my friends which were again forwards > > from this group.. > > > > Coming to your query, in my opinion, Kolhappuri > > slippers may not be asserted > > as a geographical indication for the reason that it > > has become a generic > > term to describe a type of slippers hand made in > > leather rather than a > > slipper hand-made only in Kolhappur and having a > > specific appearance. For a > > name to be a geographical indication, the most > > essential element is the > > nexus between the product and the geographical > > region from where it > > originates. Today, you find Kolhapuri slippers are > > made all over India. I > > have myself witnessed them being made in Lajpat > > Nagar and South Extension in > > New Delhi. You may be aware of the two factors that > > cause genericide of a > > GI namely, delay and acquiescence. In the case of > > Kolhappuri slippers, I am > > not aware if any of the makers of this slipper from > > Kolhappur ever objected > > to these slippers being made outside Kolhappur when > > they first came to know > > about it. In any case, it is too late for them to > > object now. However, > > despite all this, the Indian Geographical Indication > > registry has stated in > > its journals that Kolhappuri slippers is a > > geographical indication. I > > respectfully, disagree. > > > > The practical difficulties that would be faced by > > any applicant if they were > > to apply for registering this as a geographical > > indication would be that > > they have to explain how the product serves to > > designate the goods as > > originating from the said region in respect of the > > specific quality, > > reputation, or other characteristics of which are > > dut exclusively or > > essentially to the geographical environment with its > > natural and human > > factors and the production processing or preparation > > of which takes place in > > such region. In other words, they have to explain > > the product-place link in > > any potential application (see Section 11(1) (2) of > > the India GI Act). > > > > I would love to hear any contrary views on this so > > that I may be educated > > further.... > > > > As for your second query, I think there is an > > overlap between TK and GIs. > > While all GIs may be protected as TK all TK are not > > GIs. Those TK which > > have a product-place link may be considered a GI. > > My knowledge on TK is not > > so deep, but I believe, Kolhappuri slippers may be > > protected as TK since > > they are a part of our cultural expression. If you > > receive answers to this > > query, may I request you to forward them to me? > > > > Best wishes, Latha > > > > Latha R. Nair (Ms.) > > Senior Associate > > K&S Partners > > 84-C, C-6 Street > > Sainik Farms > > New Delhi - 110 062 > > > > Tel # 91-11-2653-3182, 2653-3187, 2686-5955 > > Extn: 108 > > Fax # 91-11-2653-4077, 2653-3889 > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > This transmission is from the law firm of K&S > > Partners and contains > > information confidential and/or legally privileged. > > It is intended for use > > only by the person to whom it is directed. If you > > have received this > > message in error, please notify us by telephone or > > fax or e-mail as provided > > above immediately. > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: > > To: > > Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2004 5:03 AM > > Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK > > > > > > > Two questions for this group: > > > > > > (1) Does India assert a Geographical Indication in > > Kolhapuri slippers? > > > > > > (2) Are Kolhapuri slippers made by an identifiable > > ethnic group such > > > that they can be considered Traditional Knowledge? > > > > > > Thanks a lot. > > > > > > Venkatesh Vijayaraghavan > > > > > > LL.M. (Columbia Law School) > > > 186 Claremont Ave., Apt.1E > > > New York, NY 10027 > > > 857-928-6159 > > > vv2119 at columbia.edu > > > > > > _________________________________________________ > > > FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community > > > http://www.FindLaw.com > > > Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email! > > > http://mail.Justice.com > > > _______________________________________________ > > > commons-law mailing list > > > commons-law at sarai.net > > > > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > commons-law mailing list > > commons-law at sarai.net > > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partner online > Go to: http://yahoo.shaadi.com/india-matrimony From paivakil at yahoo.co.in Sun Nov 14 11:47:05 2004 From: paivakil at yahoo.co.in (Mahesh T. Pai) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 11:47:05 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK In-Reply-To: <002101c4c613$4b0c92d0$dd00a8c0@ks> References: <20041109031405.91603.qmail@web8506.mail.in.yahoo.com> <002101c4c613$4b0c92d0$dd00a8c0@ks> Message-ID: <20041114061705.GA6254@nandini.home> Latha said on Tue, Nov 09, 2004 at 09:49:23AM +0530,: > Despite the fact that these were originally made in Kolhapur using > the soil to bind the sole, the name has today become a generic term > to describe a type of chappal because for a long time these ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I think you mean `a particular design of chappal', don't you?? And that is what I have in mind on the Payyannur ring too. Leaving aside the specific case of Kolhapuri chappals, What benefit does GI provide to the consumer if somebody can use the same kind of designs, patterns or `style'? And what exactly is the `geographical area'?? Are products manufactured in Hosur `Made in Bangalore'?? Is `Made Thane' (or Navi Mumbai) same as `Made in Mumbai'?? And the third issue - what if the artisan decides to relocate? If a person from Payyannur / Kolhapur moves out of that area, and continues with the job (s)he has been doing for generations, do they lose the right to call their wares by the GI? And does an_MNC_gold_manufacturer get the right to call their wares by the GI if they set up a multi million dollar facility in the area?? (Ok, I _am_ dumb when it comes to things like this, but still ... the expanding horizons of protections afforded to incorporeal property worries me) -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com ``Those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither security nor liberty'' From dev.gangjee at st-catherines.oxford.ac.uk Sun Nov 14 16:07:33 2004 From: dev.gangjee at st-catherines.oxford.ac.uk (Dev Gangjee) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 10:37:33 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] kolhapuris - response to mahesh In-Reply-To: <20041114063005.8A6F728EE8C@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <20041114103733.6682F131AB@webmail221.herald.ox.ac.uk> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041114/06c99793/attachment.pl From lawrence at altlawforum.org Sun Nov 14 18:31:55 2004 From: lawrence at altlawforum.org (Lawrence Liang) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 18:31:55 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] kolhapuris - response to mahesh In-Reply-To: <20041114103733.6682F131AB@webmail221.herald.ox.ac.uk> Message-ID: Hi Dev Had some queries, does the principle of generic marks in TM have any equivalent in GI? Many GI's seem to have a similar 'social' life in that they enter popular parlance, like Kohlapuris. (incidentally I wasn't clear about the soil conditions as condition for the production Kohlapuris, what eactly does that mean?) The next question would be that for someone interested, and I guess that is also Mahesh's motive , in asking about the excessiveness that we see in all realms of IP protection, what are the kinds of dangers that accrue in respect to GI. Lawrence On 11/14/04 4:07 PM, "Dev Gangjee" wrote: > Hi Mahesh > > (a) Regarding the type/particular design clarification, I'm not sure I see a > difference between Latha's usage and yours. Where does it lead? > > (b) I find your query about limiting GI protection to names and not designs, > patterns or styles much more interesting as it gets to the heart of the > traditional knowledge protection debate in IP. > > Some feel that GIs are inadequate for precisely this reason while others feel > that because culture is such a fluid and porous boundary to draw around any > collectivity, GIs are the optimal balance as they let the 'content' i.e. > designs or knowledge roam free but retain some value by way of a 'brand'. > Quite similar to an open source model in that regard... > > Empirical research in the European context shows that consumers are willing to > pay more for a traditional regional product if its origin is guaranteed and > this is precisely what GIs aim to do. > At the same time GIs permit the osmosis of the technology/designs outwards, > allowing other products to act as near substitutes [Champagne vs Californian > Sparkling wine or Spanish Cava]. I think this is a reasonable balance, given > that the development of most GIs themselves involves a process of borrowing > and learning from outside the region - Nithya's recent paper on Pochampally > saris on this list documents this quite superbly. > At the risk of oversimplifying, GIs will designate a traditional product as > 'authentic' in the market, but not stop other near-substitutes from being > produced, so long as they are named differently. > > (c) The drawing of geographic boundaries is always a tricky process - the old > pretence for traditional GIs such as wines was that a region could be bounded > on the basis of 'terroir'. Regions could be identified by looking at their > soil conditions, microclimate etc. However when it comes to products such as > crafts, then historical records and social science research is brought to bear > to define the region. Often some degree of politics is involved. When they > were drawing the boundary for Champagne in the early years of the 20th century > there were riots in parts of France which were excluded and this problem is > one of the major stumbling blocks for establishing a basmati GI as well. > Australia has > also recently seen litigation regarding the Coonawarra region being defined > and > this is one of the reasons why many feel that there should be a 'state' > presence > in the GI registration process. A public or quasi-public body may be the best > bet to negotiate a boundary in these inevitably tricky situations. > > (d) The question with regard to traditional producers moving out of the area > and continuing to produce is perhaps the trickiest of them all! > Where there is a more 'scientifically' verifiable link between product and > place - say the taste and organoleptic qualities of the wine produced in that > region can be distinguished from others produced elsewhere - there are reasons > why the emigre's product should not be called by the same name. It simply does > not have the same qualities. > > In the case of crafts, its much more difficult as the production skills can be > easily transported elsewhere. > > The policy basis for seeking to protect such products would be 'embeddedness' > - > a desire to tie production to place for rural/regional developmental reasons. > It could be justified on the basis that the culture that creates such crafts > has historical links (and even physical manifestations in the production > process such as the local soil in the kohlapuri case) to the particular region > and so the goodwill generated by successive generations from that region > should be retained there. No one is stopping production outside the region, > but then laying claim to the goodwill by way of the GI name should not be > permitted. The reputation has been collectively developed and tied to that > region, and when you choose to opt out you're free to do so and continue > production, but not tap into the goodwill, which is still tied to the region, > any longer. > > And with regard to your 'MNC factory churning out gold rings', new entrants to > the region are free to produce, so long as they follow the traditional and > collectively evolved methods of production. There is always a GI production > blueprint involved at the registrataion stage and anyone wishing to use the GI > label must follow it. The value of such craft products often lies in their > artisanal production. I don't think a factory would qualify although an > entrepreneur employing several traditional craftspeople probably would qualify > for a GI, provided the specifications are followed. > > I now need a strong cup of tea as its way too early on a Sunday morning to be > talking GIs for this long... > > Best wishes > > Dev > > > >> From: "Mahesh T. Pai" >> Subject: Re: [Commons-Law] Kolhapur slippers - GI and TK > >> Latha said on Tue, Nov 09, 2004 at 09:49:23AM +0530,: >> >>> Despite the fact that these were originally made in Kolhapur using >>> the soil to bind the sole, the name has today become a generic term >>> to describe a type of chappal because for a long time these >> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >> >> I think you mean `a particular design of chappal', don't you?? >> >> And that is what I have in mind on the Payyannur ring too. Leaving >> aside the specific case of Kolhapuri chappals, What benefit does GI >> provide to the consumer if somebody can use the same kind of designs, >> patterns or `style'? >> >> And what exactly is the `geographical area'?? Are products >> manufactured in Hosur `Made in Bangalore'?? Is `Made Thane' (or Navi >> Mumbai) same as `Made in Mumbai'?? >> >> And the third issue - what if the artisan decides to relocate? If a >> person from Payyannur / Kolhapur moves out of that area, and continues >> with the job (s)he has been doing for generations, do they lose the >> right to call their wares by the GI? And does an_MNC_gold_manufacturer >> get the right to call their wares by the GI if they set up a multi >> million dollar facility in the area?? >> >> (Ok, I _am_ dumb when it comes to things like this, but still ... the >> expanding horizons of protections afforded to incorporeal property >> worries me) >> >> -- >> Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com >> ``Those willing to give up a little liberty for a >> little security deserve neither security nor liberty'' >> > _______________________________________________ > commons-law mailing list > commons-law at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law From lawrence at altlawforum.org Sun Nov 14 18:40:51 2004 From: lawrence at altlawforum.org (Lawrence Liang) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 18:40:51 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Privacy in cyber caf =?iso-8859-1?q?=E9?= 's Message-ID: Hi all Sorry for cross posting, but ridiculous proposal that authorises cyber café owners to take a photo of you if you do not have an id card Lawrence ========= >From http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4000515.stm Bangalore's cyber-cafe crackdown By Habib Beary BBC correspondent in Bangalore Net user Sushma will take a wait-and-see approach on the new rule Priya breezes into the cyber cafe talking non-stop on her mobile. The 17-year-old will soon be locked in a long online chat with her friend. She revels in the freedom, so her enthusiasm may well take a knock the next time she checks into the internet kiosk. Officials of India's first cyber-crime cell, headquartered in the hi-tech capital of Bangalore, will oversee a law that keeps a watch on internet users as a security measure. Internet cafes will soon have to keep a log book carrying details of users. If a user does not carry an identity card, the cyber-cafe owner is authorised to photograph the person using a web camera. Obscene email "The last thing I want is to be photographed at the internet parlour. Are you sure this is going to happen? What about our privacy?" asks Priya in disbelief. If it is going to prevent any harm then why not have such a system? David, internet user Nothing to be worried about, says deputy inspector general of police, P Ravindranath, of the cyber-crime branch. "We are not interested with what they are doing. This is only to ensure the identity of the browser," says Dr Ravindranath. Authorities say most of India's hate and obscene email emerges from internet centres, which are growing by their thousands across India. Deputy superintendent of police, Chandramohan Singh, estimates that in Bangalore alone there could be 5,000 internet parlours. "We will soon call a meeting to seek their support for the new legislation," he says, legislation that is intended to deter misuse of cyber parlours and check internet-savvy criminals. Licence threat Opinion on the new legislation is divided. "It is a good thing. If it is going to prevent any harm then why not have such a system?" says David, a surfer at an internet cafe on Brigade Road, a fashionable avenue in central Bangalore. Inspector Radha Mani (L) says there won't be much opposition Sushma, another avid surfer, says: "I don't know whether it will work well. I have had no experience of such regulations before." A cyber-cafe owner adds: "It is a pain. It will only lead to police harassment." Cyber cafes that do not comply with the new laws are not only liable to be fined $550 but also stand to lose their licence. "Cyber users will get used to this new measure," says Radha Mani, the inspector at the cyber-crime station that handles cases of hacking, data theft, source code theft, web site defacement, obscenity and harassment. "I don't think there will be much opposition." She says many young women are being targeted with obscene email sent mainly from cyber cafes that have provided anonymity till now. "Having a record of users will definitely help us track the culprits," says Ms Mani. Police in Bombay and Ahmedabad are also planning such regulations. But Ashish Saboo, president of the Association of Public Internet Access Providers, opposes the new rules. "Such rules do not observe the standards of a democracy in protecting personal freedoms. The fight against terrorism and cyber crime should not lead to systematic monitoring of internet users. "Can we depend on the cyber-cafe operators' capability to safeguard the data from being misused or stolen?" Mr Saboo says he fears internet users will be deterred from using cyber cafes and that up to half could close. From paivakil at yahoo.co.in Sun Nov 14 21:21:18 2004 From: paivakil at yahoo.co.in (Mahesh T. Pai) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 21:21:18 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] kolhapuris - response to mahesh In-Reply-To: <20041114103733.6682F131AB@webmail221.herald.ox.ac.uk> References: <20041114063005.8A6F728EE8C@mail.sarai.net> <20041114103733.6682F131AB@webmail221.herald.ox.ac.uk> Message-ID: <20041114155118.GA18416@nandini.home> Dev Gangjee said on Sun, Nov 14, 2004 at 10:37:33AM +0000,: > new entrants to the region are free to produce, so long as they > follow the traditional and collectively evolved methods of > production. Ah. Thanks for the clarification. > There is always a GI production blueprint involved at the > registrataion stage and anyone wishing to use the GI label must > follow it. The value of such craft products often lies in their > artisanal production. I don't think a factory would qualify > although an entrepreneur employing several traditional craftspeople > probably would qualify for a GI, provided the specifications are > followed. Ummm. Here, we have a Post Office inside the university campus. One intelli-gent guy started a private, unaided, unaffiliated institution within the delivery area of this Post Office and named the institution as if it is a department of the University. In the full page advertisements put up by this intelli-gent, the most prominent line in the address was `XXXXX University P.O.', and he was truthful enough to say, in bold print, that his institution is `not recognised'. Ummm.... I am now waiting for somebody to make Pupsee chappals, made by Pupsee International Private Limited, Kolhapur. Or Pavithra(TM) rings from ``Payyannurlal Jhaveri Prasad International Limited, (Regd under Act I of 1956) Payyannur''. The company's MD will have a wife, daughter, or ancestor conveniently named "pavithra". ;-) -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com Encryption: A powerful algorithmic encoding technique employed in the creation of computer manuals. From trupthi at hotmail.com Sun Nov 14 23:29:43 2004 From: trupthi at hotmail.com (trupthi ....) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 17:59:43 +0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Help? Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041114/cd66069d/attachment.html From dev.gangjee at st-catherines.oxford.ac.uk Mon Nov 15 00:45:17 2004 From: dev.gangjee at st-catherines.oxford.ac.uk (Dev Gangjee) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 19:15:17 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] response to lawrence on kolhapuris In-Reply-To: <20041114175752.8832B28EF20@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <20041114191517.904D6131AB@webmail221.herald.ox.ac.uk> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available Url: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041114/598a944a/attachment.pl From keith at thememorybank.co.uk Mon Nov 15 02:16:12 2004 From: keith at thememorybank.co.uk (Keith Hart) Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 21:46:12 +0100 Subject: [Commons-Law] response to lawrence on kolhapuris In-Reply-To: <20041114191517.904D6131AB@webmail221.herald.ox.ac.uk> References: <20041114191517.904D6131AB@webmail221.herald.ox.ac.uk> Message-ID: <4197C414.9010605@thememorybank.co.uk> dev, Thanks for this extremely useful post on what i sbecoming a record-breaking thread. >Champagne is generic for a style of making sparkling wine > In the current intellectual property hysteria, the original opriducer sare doing quite well in preventing the label being used as a generic. At the Cancun WTO meetings, the European Commission tried to get some forty trademarks for foodstuffs recognized as exclusive private property of the original producers, including Jose Bove's beloved Roquefort cheese. They balked, however, at submnitting Silvio Berlusconi's demand that use of the designation 'Italian restaurant' should be denied to the thousands of non-Italins using it around th eworld. It would seem that, in these retrograde times, becoming a generic is reversible. Keith Hart www.thememorybank.co.uk From rajlakshmi_nesargi at yahoo.com Mon Nov 15 14:07:11 2004 From: rajlakshmi_nesargi at yahoo.com (Rajlakshmi Nesargi) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 00:37:11 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Commons-Law] coca-cola used as pesticides... Message-ID: <20041115083711.69205.qmail@web51607.mail.yahoo.com> Dear group, Related to the topic of TM and usage of trademarked product as product not being trademarked is the issue dealt with in the below-mentioned article.... Cola crop: Soft drinks double up as pesticides Add to Clippings POTHIK GHOSH & CHAITALI CHAKRAVARTY TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, NOVEMBER 08, 2004 01:51:11 AM] NEW DELHI: Not everybody in the world is willing to buy Coca-Cola as a sweet fizzy drink that washes down pizzas or uttapams. Bottled colas might be America's single-most important contribution to the world, but the country can hardly go to war � much as it may want to � to make sure that these colas are consumed the way Uncle Sam wants them to be consumed. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh, for one, believe that it�s used better as a pesticide. Cotton, chilli and tobacco cultivators in the state are spraying colas on their crops. And it�s apparently working. And though a cola major official says: �This is an attempt to mislead farmers and create confusion,� there�s hardly anything he can do to stop one culture from using what it borrows from another in its own natively ingenious fashion. Some hard-boiled American might think that colas are the next best thing after Hollywood, but does he understand that India could have its own ancient take on how to crack the cola nut? Officials at Coke headquarters in Atlanta have said, �Soft drinks do not act in a similar way to pesticides when applied to the ground or crops.� Now, that�s an unfairly narrow view. These honchos can�t deny the Indian farmer his native wisdom. The cola majors are not comfortable if the farmers say, �yeh dil maange more.� Coke, Pepsi, Thums Up, et al are modern-day substitutes for the sugary solution that the jugaad-genius Indian farmer has used all along on his crop to attract red ants that eat up the larvae of the various pests. So, are the cola cos hassled only about bad press? Or, does their anxiety stem from the fact that the Andhra farmers would soon begin to ask for a patent on the new use that they have discovered for the aerated beverages. They shouldn�t worry because Indian farmers are not ungrateful creatures, after all. They wouldn't ever forget how the cola companies provided them with a cheap pesticide option. For them, it�s Life ho to aisi. Hello Uncle Sam, don't be angry. Why bother as long as your bottled fare is paid for and picked off the retail crates by the consumer. Especially when sales are down and the global headquarters are looking at India and China for growth. Then on it�s his baby. Sorry bottle. He can pour it down his gullet, or toilet commode. Tell them uncle, to take a leaf out of the washing machine MNCs book. They weren�t upset at all when they learnt that the well-fed Punjab da puttars were using their gadgets, not to wash clothes, but to get their breakfast ready? Washing machines in Punjab have been used, for some time now, to skim butter out of milk. And besides, none of us have ever looked askance at the average WASP tourist, who comes to India to mix and match dope and raunchy nudism with Advaita Vedanta. So, why should the �yea-yea Yank� feel outraged that his staple potion is being used to snuff out a bollworm's life? He should know, if he doesn�t already, that the automobile engine has been used in Indian pushcarts and rickshaws to put them more in tune with the fast-moving world. And have they heard of this Hakim, in the back-of-the-beyond Uttar Pradesh, who thinks that prescribing two tablespoons of Lacto Calamine to his patients would cure them of that terrible itch. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Check out the new Yahoo! Front Page. www.yahoo.com From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Wed Nov 17 19:54:13 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 14:24:13 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] patent terrorism... In-Reply-To: <20041115083711.69205.qmail@web51607.mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20041117142413.4823.qmail@web8402.mail.in.yahoo.com> >From MS claiming a nexus between software copyright infringement and "terrorism", we now have someone, paradoxically, referring to the very act of patent enforcement as 'patent terrorism'. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/technology/16patent.html?oref=login&oref=login Shamnad ps: the article in general concerns the internet auction of certain patents-that is causing some concern as some of them cover key facets of online commerce. unfortunately, its an NY times article-needs a username-password... Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partneronline. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041117/cf7db160/attachment.html From asimov at vsnl.com Wed Nov 17 20:01:50 2004 From: asimov at vsnl.com (Badri Natarajan) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 20:01:50 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] patent terrorism... In-Reply-To: <20041117142413.4823.qmail@web8402.mail.in.yahoo.com> References: <20041117142413.4823.qmail@web8402.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: > > >ps: the article in general concerns the internet auction of certain >patents-that is causing some concern as some of them cover key >facets of online commerce. unfortunately, its an NY times >article-needs a username-password... > I hate this username/password business at so many sites: just go to http://www.bugmenot.com and use one of the passwords from there for the Times (and most other newspaper sites). B. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041117/eb8c3145/attachment.html From sudhir at circuit.sarai.net Wed Nov 17 21:08:38 2004 From: sudhir at circuit.sarai.net (sudhir at circuit.sarai.net) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 16:38:38 +0100 (CET) Subject: [Commons-Law] Critical review of Wikipedia Message-ID: <3936.163.1.43.132.1100705918.squirrel@163.1.43.132> Dear all I'm aware that many on this list are sympathetic to, involved with, and contribute to, the Wikipedia effort. I've been very interested myself in the process of knowledge creation that one understands to occur in projects such as these. Unlike open source software, where we have more concrete standards of 'what works' as a success criterion, how might one assess Wikipedia style projects? What follows below is an acerbic review by the former editor in chief of Encyclopedia Brittanica. Would be great to hear any responses to this provocative argument! Best Sudhir http://www.techcentralstation.com/111504A.html The Faith-Based Encyclopedia By Robert McHenry Published 11/15/2004 Away back about 1993, '94 -- in retrospect, the last of the halcyon days when a relatively small and rather homogeneous group of people around the globe could reasonably consider themselves as constituting the Internet community and could take a strongly proprietary view of its future development -- back then, I am recalling, a cluster of enthusiasts coalesced in an online discussion group devoted to the creation of an encyclopedia on the Internet, an Interpedia, as they called it. As one of the proponents described it, "the Interpedia will be a reference source for people who have connectivity to the internet. It will encompass, at the least, articles submitted by individuals, and articles gleaned from non-copyrighted material. It will have mechanisms for submission, browsing, and authentication of articles. It is, currently, a completely volunteer project with no source of funding except for the contributions of the volunteers and their respective institutions. It also has no governing structure except for a group of people who have volunteered to do specific tasks or who have made major contributions to the discussion?. Everyone is encouraged to make a contribution, small or large." The discussion group generated a great quantity of writing, none of it encyclopedic in nature. There were discussions of the software needed for authoring and databasing and registering and validating and so on; discussions of how to attract contributors and of how teams for larger articles might be organized; of how to ensure that articles were editable but at the same time protected from unauthorized alteration. Every so often there were rhapsodic explanations of why the Interpedia, as a noncommercial and collaborative project, was ipso facto superior to all existing encyclopedias, all of which were published for [shudder] profit and all of which had their origin in [shudder] print. Every so often, as the discussion went on and on, a burst of enthusiasm would overcome one of the participants, who would post a message along the lines of "Okay, great! How do we start? What can I do, right now?" There never came an answer to that question. Instead, the discussion would begin another great swing around the circle of technical and procedural matters, to end only when another naïf would beg to be given some concrete direction. Eventually the discussion petered out, in part because some real encyclopedias developed Internet presences, and in part because the volunteer nonleaders of the ungoverned, unstructured project truly did not know where or how to begin. But the dream did not die. A decade later, the Wikipedia project is flourishing. As of November 2004, according to the project's own counts, nearly 30,000 contributors had written about 1.1 million articles in 109 different languages, though some of these language versions of Wikipedia remained quite small. The Manx Gaelic version, for example, had only 3 articles, the Guarani 10, and the Klingon (yes, from the Star Trek series) 48. The largest, the English language version, contained over 382,000 pages that were thought "probably" to be encyclopedic articles. (The "probably" tells as much about the limits of Wikipedia's oversight as any single word possibly could.) This is an impressive amount of work to have been accomplished in the three years since the project began, and the founders were obviously correct in believing that a vast reservoir of willing volunteers awaited just such an opportunity as Wikipedia would offer. The effort has not gone unnoticed, either. A page on the Wikipedia site lists well over a hundred positive mentions this year in the world's media, including the Economist, the Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor, the Washington Post, Slate.com, Slashdot.com, and, yes, TCS. Wikipedia is "one of the most fascinating developments of the Digital Age"; "brilliant"; an "incredible example of open-source intellectual collaboration"; and so forth. Credit the founders, then, with having overcome the obstacles that the Interpedia nonleaders failed to surmount. They built the software (the "wiki" in Wikipedia), they attracted the needed contributors, and they generated the all-important buzz. (They also found that they needed to create a background hierarchy of administrators, sysops, bureaucrats (actually so called), and stewards, watched over by an arbitration committee and finally the founder himself, who retains ultimate authority. Even online, democracy has its limits.) The question is, however, just what have they created? Let's first see what they intended to create. The general FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page tells us: "Wikipedia's goal is to create a free encyclopedia --- indeed, the largest encyclopedia in history, both in terms of breadth and depth and also to become a reliable resource." Note the adjectives, and the order in which they appear: ? free ? largest (breadth) ? largest (depth) "and also" ? reliable This statement of purpose must be taken with at least a grain of salt, however, because it, like everything else on the Wikipedia site, is editable, by anyone. We can take it that the statement represents the view of the last person to modify it, and those of unknown others who have chosen not to modify it further or to "revert" it, in the lingo, meaning to return it to a prior state. It is entirely consonant with other statements on the site and with instructions given to volunteer editors and copy editors: "Please remember that the original author took the trouble to write a new page for Wikipedia and that however good or bad it is, if you are taking the trouble to copy-edit it then it is probably a valuable contribution." Again with the "probably." The idea that animates the entire undertaking, and links it with the Interpedia of yore, is expressed in the discussion of editing policy: "However, one of the great advantages of the Wiki system is that incomplete or poorly written first drafts of articles can evolve into polished, presentable masterpieces through the process of collaborative editing. This gives our approach an advantage over other ways of producing similar end-products. Hence, the submission of rough drafts should also be encouraged as much as possible." In other words, the process allows Wikipedia to approach the truth asymptotically. The basis for the assertion that this is advantageous vis-à-vis the traditional method of editing an encyclopedia remains, however, unclear. The general FAQ does offer one mild caveat: "As anyone can edit any article, it is of course possible for biased, out of date or incorrect information to be posted. However, because there are so many other people reading the articles and monitoring contributions using the Recent Changes page, incorrect information is usually corrected quickly. Thus the overall accuracy of the encyclopedia is improving all the time as it attracts more and more contributors. You are encouraged to help by correcting articles and passing on your own knowledge." One person's "knowledge," unfortunately, may be another's ignorance. To put the Wikipedia method in its simplest terms: 1. Anyone, irrespective of expertise in or even familiarity with the topic, can submit an article and it will be published. 2. Anyone, irrespective of expertise in or even familiarity with the topic, can edit that article, and the modifications will stand until further modified. Then comes the crucial and entirely faith-based step: 3. Some unspecified quasi-Darwinian process will assure that those writings and editings by contributors of greatest expertise will survive; articles will eventually reach a steady state that corresponds to the highest degree of accuracy. Does someone actually believe this? Evidently so. Why? It's very hard to say. One possibility that occurs to me is this: The combination of prolificacy and inattention to accuracy that characterizes this process is highly suggestive of the modern pedagogic technique known as "journaling." For decades, (following, we are probably meant to assume, some breakthrough research at a school of education somewhere) young students have been not merely encouraged but required to fill pages of their notebooks with writing. Not stories, nor essays, nor any other defined genre of writing; just writing. The writing is judged solely on bulk: So many pages are required per week or semester, but the writing on those pages need not be grammatical or even intelligible. Even the "talented and gifted" program at my own sons' school employed journaling as a principal activity, merely raising the quota over that of standard classrooms. It may well be that the practice of journaling in the schools, along with the acceptance of "creative spelling" as a form of personal expression not to be repressed, underlies much of the success of Wikipedia. Superimpose on this intellectual preparation the moist and modish notion of "community" and some vague notions about information "wanting" to be free, et voilà! But conceding for a moment that this exercise in encyclopedia making is enjoyed and even believed in fervently by many thousands of participants, let us take note of someone who is absolutely central to the concept of an encyclopedia but who is hardly acknowledged at all by the Wikipedians. I mean, of course, the user. As in the reader. The person who comes to Wikipedia in search of accurate information. I know as well as anyone and better than most what is involved in assessing an encyclopedia. I know, to begin with, that it can't be done in any thoroughgoing way. The job is just too big. Professional reviewers content themselves with some statistics -- so many articles, so many of those newly added, so many index entries, so many pictures, and so forth -- and a quick look at a short list of representative topics. Journalists are less stringent. To see what Wikipedia is like I chose a single article, the biography of Alexander Hamilton. I chose that topic because I happen to know that there is a problem with his birth date, and how a reference work deals with that problem tells me something about its standards. The problem is this: While the day and month of Hamilton's birth are known, there is some uncertainty as to the year, whether it be 1755 or 1757. Hamilton himself used, and most contemporary biographers prefer, the latter year; a reference work ought at least to note the issue. The Wikipedia article on Hamilton (as of November 4, 2004) uses the 1755 date without comment. Unfortunately, a couple of references within the body of the article that mention his age in certain years are clearly derived from a source that used the 1757 date, creating an internal inconsistency that the reader has no means to resolve. Two different years are cited for the end of his service as secretary of the Treasury; without resorting to another reference work, you can guess that at least one of them is wrong. The article is rife with typographic errors, styling errors, and errors of grammar and diction. No doubt there are other factual errors as well, but I hardly needed to fact-check the piece to form my opinion. The writing is often awkward, and many sentences that are apparently meant to summarize some aspect of Hamilton's life or work betray the writer's lack of understanding of the subject matter. A representative one runs thus: "Arguably, he set the path for American economic and military greatness, though the benefits might be argued." All these arguments aside, the article is what might be expected of a high school student, and at that it would be a C paper at best. Yet this article has been "edited" over 150 times. Some of those edits consisted of vandalism, and others were cleanups afterward. But how many Wikipedian editors have read that article and not noticed what I saw on a cursory scan? How long does it take for an article to evolve into a "polished, presentable masterpiece," or even just into a usable workaday encyclopedia article? The history page for this article reveals a most interesting story. Originally, the 1757 birth date was used. Thus the internal inconsistencies of ages and dates that I saw are artifacts of editing. Originally, the two citations of the year Hamilton resigned from the Cabinet agreed; editing has changed one but not the other. In fact, the earlier versions of the article are better written overall, with fewer murky passages and sophomoric summaries. Contrary to the faith, the article has, in fact, been edited into mediocrity. Is this a surprising result? Not really: Take the statements of faith in the efficacy of collaborative editing, replace the shibboleth "community" with the banal "committee," and the surprise dissolves before your eyes. Or, if you are of a statistical turn of mind, think a little about regression to the mean and the shape of the normal distribution curve. However closely a Wikipedia article may at some point in its life attain to reliability, it is forever open to the uninformed or semiliterate meddler. It is true, unfortunately, that many encyclopedia users, like many encyclopedia reviewers, have low expectations. They are satisfied to find an answer to their questions. I would argue that more serious users, however, have two requirements: first, an answer to their questions; second, that those answers be correct. Of course, this may be just me. I have had the experience of making this argument before a roomful of sales executives and marketing people and being met with looks of bafflement on the one hand and dismissal on the other. The user who visits Wikipedia to learn about some subject, to confirm some matter of fact, is rather in the position of a visitor to a public restroom. It may be obviously dirty, so that he knows to exercise great care, or it may seem fairly clean, so that he may be lulled into a false sense of security. What he certainly does not know is who has used the facilities before him. Robert McHenry is Former Editor in Chief, the Encyclopædia Britannica, and author of How to Know (Booklocker.com, 2004). Copyright © 2004 Tech Central Station - www.techcentralstation.com From sunil at mahiti.org Thu Nov 18 07:18:30 2004 From: sunil at mahiti.org (Sunil Abraham) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 01:48:30 +0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Critical review of Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <3936.163.1.43.132.1100705918.squirrel@163.1.43.132> References: <3936.163.1.43.132.1100705918.squirrel@163.1.43.132> Message-ID: <1100742510.1628.243.camel@box> Dear Sudhir, Some reasons why I prefer Wikipedia:- ONE In the last week I looked up "Open access", "Open standard", "Richard Stallman", "Embrace, extend and extinguish", "Attachment theory" on Wikipedia. On the free area of www.britannica.com these searches draw blanks. TWO I don't know of any objective measure of expertise, for example none of my gurus have formal qualifications or accreditation in Computer Science. So I don't buy Robert McHenry's argument. THREE I have read and understood the disclaimer - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer FOUR Let us now compare first two paragraphs of article on Linux from both sources. britannica.com [free area: anybody has a password??? ;)] Nonproprietary operating system (OS) for digital computers. In 1991 Linus Torvalds of Finland began asking for volunteer programmers over the Internet to collaborate on the development of a UNIX-like OS for personal computers; the “1.0” release of Linux was in 1994. A true multiuser, multitasking system, Linux contained features (e.g., virtual memory, shared libraries, memory management, and TCP/IP networking) formerly only found on mainframe computers. With its source code freely available, thousands of volunteers, as well as several companies that sell prepackaged Linux products, have contributed to the OS. A reliable, fast-performing system with good security features, Linux is popular for corporate computer network and Web servers wikipedia.org: Linux is the name of a computer operating system and its kernel. It is the most famous example of free software and of open-source development. The name Linux strictly refers only to the Linux kernel, but it is commonly used to describe entire Unix-like operating systems (also known as GNU/Linux) that are based on the Linux kernel and libraries and tools from the GNU project. Linux distributions typically bundle large quantities of software with the core system. britannica.com does not mention free software or open-source. It also does not clarify that some people [like FSF] believe that the term Linux refers to the kernel and not the whole operating system. This to me is as serious as getting Alexander Hamilton's date of birth wrong. Especially when the search from GNU on britannica.com does not lead to an article on GNU.org or FSF.org FIVE Finally, if I have strong opinions regarding an article on britannica.com, I cannot do anything about it. SIX There are over 100 articles in Hindi - http://hi.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Most of my examples related to computer science, and therefore I should end by saying that maybe britannica.com is better for other areas. I guess different strokes for different folks. Sunil On Wed, 2004-11-17 at 15:38, sudhir at circuit.sarai.net wrote: > Dear all > > I'm aware that many on this list are sympathetic to, involved with, and > contribute to, the Wikipedia effort. I've been very interested myself in > the process of knowledge creation that one understands to occur in > projects such as these. Unlike open source software, where we have more > concrete standards of 'what works' as a success criterion, how might one > assess Wikipedia style projects? > > What follows below is an acerbic review by the former editor in chief of > Encyclopedia Brittanica. Would be great to hear any responses to this > provocative argument! > > Best > Sudhir Thanks, ಸುನೀಲ್ -- Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mob: (60) 1-2205-3895 Currently on sabbatical with APDIP/UNDP Manager - International Open Source Network Wisma UN, Block C Komplex Pejabat Damansara. Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur. P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087 sunil at apdip.net http://www.iosn.net http://www.apdip.net "A world opened up by communications cannot remain closed up in a feudal vision of property" - Gilberto Gil, Minister of Culture, Brazil From asimov at vsnl.com Thu Nov 18 00:25:09 2004 From: asimov at vsnl.com (Badri Natarajan) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 00:25:09 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Critical review of Wikipedia In-Reply-To: <1100742510.1628.243.camel@box> References: <3936.163.1.43.132.1100705918.squirrel@163.1.43.132> <1100742510.1628.243.camel@box> Message-ID: >Dear Sudhir, > >Some reasons why I prefer Wikipedia:- > >ONE >In the last week I looked up "Open access", "Open standard", "Richard >Stallman", "Embrace, extend and extinguish", "Attachment theory" on >Wikipedia. On the free area of www.britannica.com these searches draw >blanks. One of the biggest criticisms of Wikipedia - which this writer doesn't address - is that given its origins, it is filled with articles that go into incredible detail on subjects that appeal to the computer/tech community - not just programming, but even stuff like science fiction and so on. If you look up (say) Renaissance art, you're going to find much less depth. They're trying to solve this problem nowadays. However, one of the key advantages of Wikipedia, is that it is very topical and always up to date - as I read somewhere online, where's the Britannica article on the US Election 2004? Besides, although some of his criticisms are justified I think that's the beauty of the model - it achieves things which the older model can't, and makes some sacrifices to that end - it's not perfect. Badri From zainabbawa at yahoo.com Thu Nov 18 10:11:12 2004 From: zainabbawa at yahoo.com (Zainab Bawa) Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2004 20:41:12 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Commons-Law] Public Space and Claims Message-ID: <20041118044112.78558.qmail@web41101.mail.yahoo.com> Dear All, I am one of the latest entrants to this list. My current research work entails researching the seafront and the railway station in Mumbai as public spaces. One of the themes of this research is examining who is the insider and who is the outsider in each of these public spaces and what are the terms of politics of inclusion and exclusion. I write this mail out of curiosity and with questions in my mind. A consistent attitude that I encounter in Mumbai City (where land is a premium) is that of 'territoriality'. And this 'territoriality' extends to the ideas and practices of property. One of the recent trends in the city is a move to evict hawkers. Along the seafront at Nariman Point, the four 7-star hotels in the area have pooled in money and have got the police and municipality to not just evict the hawkers, but to regularly be at the area and ensure that the hawkers do not come back. This therefore means that a grey coloured, prison-like looking van is stationed at Nariman Point in the mornings and evenings and there is heavy surveillance. Similarly, residents of the Churchgate area, around the station, have pooled in money and called in the police and municipality to survey and ensure the removal of the hawkers. The question I raise here is not one of surveillance, but that of space and claim. Who has claims over space and by space, I don't simply mean the physical land, but space by itself in all of its forms - cultural space, public space, political space? It appears that at least in Mumbai City, we are working on the basis of 'first claims' i.e. I set my eyes upon it first and therefore, I claim it, whether my claim is legal or illegal, whether it violates any rights or not. Hawkers are not neccessarily holier than thou - they have their own politics of space and 'first claims'. I wonder whether this issue of claims also falls into the domain of intellectual and cultural property. And when we talk of public property, public space, who is the public? And by what virtue does it become their space? What frightens me in the case of Mumbai is the fact that 'money power' joins 'police power' and we are talking about 'legal muscle power'. And while it don't affect the public which frequents the area, at least as of now, I wonder whether we are feeling happy too soon because tomorrow, we ourselves might be surveilled upon for legitimate and illegitimate reasons. I have no idea as of yet as to why the four hotels have 'pooled in money' towards this move - is it due to economic reasons whereby hawkers pose threats to their business? Or do the hotels have 'public interest' at their heart and want to widen the open space at the promenade? No clue! As the conflict in the urban, at least in the case of Mumbai, moves into the domain of surveillance, public spaces, etc. I also question whether the issue of claims then waters down the concept and practice of rights ... Are we compromising too much? Zainab Bawa Zainab Bawa Mumbai www.xanga.com/citybytes --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! � Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041117/71601a22/attachment.html From anasuya_s at yahoo.com Thu Nov 18 10:51:43 2004 From: anasuya_s at yahoo.com (Anasuya Sengupta) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 10:51:43 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] new copyright judgement In-Reply-To: <20041110073512.9489.h50.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> References: <20041110073512.9489.h50.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Message-ID: <419C3167.5040202@yahoo.com> A far better case could have been fought by Arthur C Clarke... anyone remember Childhood's End and the way it begins?? I'm confused about the badly written judgement's differentiating between 'ideas, themes and plots' and their 'expression' - is this justifiable at all? anasuya jaynakothari at justice.com wrote: >Dear all, > >The Karnataka High Court has passed a recent judgement >on copyright infringement in NRI Film Production >Associated P Ltd.v. Twentieth century Fox Film >Corporation and Anr. (ILR 2004 KAR 4350) > >This was in an Appeal from a suit filed by the >appellant from Mysore who claimed that the film >'Independence Day' made by Twentieth Century Fox was >taken from his script for a film titled 'Extra >Terrestrial Mission'! He states that the core theme of >his script was that aliens attack the earth and how the >U.S. president intervenes and saves the world, which >was taken by Independance Day. He also claimed that >several scenes in the film such as the description of >the spaceships, the alien missile attack etc were taken >from his film script. > >Justice Shreedhar Rao , in quite a badly written >judgement relied on R.G. Anand vs. M/s. Delux Films & >Ors and held that there was no copyright infringement >and reiterated that there could be no copyright in >ideas, themes or plots, but only their expression and >that the common scenes of the alien attack, missiles >etc were 'scenes a faire' which would be conjured by >every author of a science fiction film, and which had >no uniqueness. > >I wonder if the judge actually watched the entire film >Independence Day to guage whether or not he found any >similarity with the film script ...I doubt it. Atleast >his judgement does not give any indication that he >watched any part of the film at all. > >this judgement may be available on manupatra...I'll try >and get hold of a soft copy for all those who may be >interested, > >cheers >Jayna > >Ashira Law >Advocates and Legal Consultants >50/6 Palace Road >Bangalore 56 00 52 >Ph: 0091-80-2261090 >_________________________________________________ >FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community >http://www.FindLaw.com >Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email! >http://mail.Justice.com >_______________________________________________ >commons-law mailing list >commons-law at sarai.net >https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > > > From sunil at mahiti.org Fri Nov 19 01:10:15 2004 From: sunil at mahiti.org (Sunil Abraham) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 19:40:15 +0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Use Linux and you will be sued, Ballmer tells governments Message-ID: <1100806814.649.67.camel@box> Dear Friends, Just wanted to say that any government that recognises Software Patents after this threat deserves to be sued. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/18/ballmer_linux_lawsuits/ http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=6851307&src=rss/technologyNews§ion=news http://swpat.ffii.org/players/in/index.en.html Please see a typical example of Microsoft's software patent: http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3406551 I guess if Ballmer says that our countries are "magic" and that he will provide hundreds of jobs - then our media conveniently forgets how to multiply 4,000,000 with the cost of MS Windows XP and MS Office. http://www.rediff.com/money/2004/nov/17ms.htm Thanks, Sunil Use Linux and you will be sued, Ballmer tells governments By John Lettice Published Thursday 18th November 2004 10:34 GMT Asian governments using Linux will be sued for IP violations, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said today in Singapore. He did not specify that Microsoft would be the company doing the suing, but it's difficult to read the claim as anything other than a declaration of IP war. According to a Reuters report (which we fervently hope will produce one of Ballmer's fascinating 'I was misquoted' rebuttals), Ballmer told Microsoft's Asian Government Leaders Forum that Linux violates more than 228 patents. Come on Steve, don't hold back - what you mean 'more than 228' - 229? 230? Don't pull your punches to soften the blow to the community. "Some day," he continued, "for all countries that are entering the WTO [World Trade Organization], somebody will come and look for money owing to the rights for that intellectual property." This reference is possibly more interesting than the infringement number scare itself, because it suggests that Microsoft sees the wider implementation of corporation-friendly IP law that is part of the entry ticket to the WTO as being a weapon that can be used against software rivals. More commonly, getting WTO members to 'go legit' is viewed as having a payoff in terms of stamping out counterfeit CDs, DVDs and designer gear, but clearly Microsoft's lawyers are busily plotting ways to embrace and extend this to handy new fields. It could be used to throttle emergent OSS companies, and it could conceivably be used to take the new generation of US (and maybe EU too) anti digital piracy and IP laws global. The venue for Ballmer's menacing claims was nicely judged. Microsoft's Government Leaders Conferences are pitched as select events where chosen senior representatives and influencers from target governments are wined, dined, schmoozed and impressed by the cream of the Microsoft high command (We've explained them before.) They'll be intended to take away the message from this dynamic, hospitable and successful company that OSS is dangerous and will make you poor. But if countries who want to join the WTO and get developed and rich should consider the dangers inherent in OSS, what about all of those countries who're already members of the WTO? They should perhaps also get the message about how Microsoft sees IP law being used in the future. Which might well have a helpful collateral damage effect in Europe, if Europe's leaders are paying attention. Yesterday the Polish Government backed out of support for the EU patents directive, in a move which threatens to derail it (because the directive may not now achieve a qualified majority in the council of ministers). This on its own may be no more than a temporary setback for the patents lobby (prominent members in Europe include Microsoft and Sun), but the sound of Microsoft threatening all-out IP war really ought to strengthen the opposition's hand, and make the European Parliament, which opposes software patents, more determined to fight. So well done, Steve, we look forward to the rebuttal. Reuters report here. Thanks, ಸುನೀಲ್ -- Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mob: (60) 1-2205-3895 Currently on sabbatical with APDIP/UNDP Manager - International Open Source Network Wisma UN, Block C Komplex Pejabat Damansara. Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur. P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087 sunil at apdip.net http://www.iosn.net http://www.apdip.net "A world opened up by communications cannot remain closed up in a feudal vision of property" - Gilberto Gil, Minister of Culture, Brazil From vasumank at yahoo.com Thu Nov 18 21:22:35 2004 From: vasumank at yahoo.com (Vasuman Khandelwal) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 07:52:35 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Commons-Law] Open source and GPL In-Reply-To: <20041110073512.9489.h50.wm@smtp.sc0.cp.net> Message-ID: <20041118155236.74524.qmail@web50909.mail.yahoo.com> http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,,1353190,00.html Fair and share Don't fall into the trap of confusing free with freedom when using Linux's open source code, says Mary Branscombe Thursday November 18, 2004 The Guardian Do you use open source software? You probably do. If you have a GPS navigator, a wireless router or an NAS network storage device, they may well be based on an embedded version of Linux. This is available free, complete with source code, which is attractive for developers who don't want to start from scratch. But if you are not sure what the Free Software Foundation's General Public Licence (GPL), which governs Linux source code, means by "free", you could end up in court or, like TomTom Software, making a significant donation as an apology. Briefly, the GPL means that if you base your program on source code protected by the GPL, you have to make your source code available to others in the same way the original was available to you. Others can use it, change it and make their source code available in turn. That does not mean you cannot charge for software released under Richard Stallman's GPL licence, based on GPL source code: you can charge as much as you want, although technically you are selling a service rather than the code itself. As the GPL puts it: "When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom not price." But you still have to include the source code with your software or make it available to anyone who asks (for what it costs you to copy and send it on). Your customers can therefore take your code, base their own product on it, and create a competitor. However, you do not have to use the GPL licence if you are writing applications to run on Linux (unless you are basing them on someone else's GPL code). And if you don't distribute your GPL-based software outside your company, you don't have to release the source code, either. That covers the kind of development that goes on in most IT departments. But if you are building an appliance such as a firewall or GPS tracker, do not include any secrets or proprietary code that you don't want to pass on, unless they are in separate programs: you could end up giving away a lot more than you intended. Also, never assume that because the open source movement doesn't have a big company behind it, that no one will come after you. The GPL-violations.org volunteer project has reminded companies such as Asus, Belkin, Siemens and Fujitsu-Siemens to make their source code available: TomTom is just the latest. The practice of settling out of court and setting up websites to distribute source code means we do not know what a court might deem to be appropriate penalties. But TomTom, Allnet and Fujitsu-Siemens all made what the project calls a "significant donation" to organisations such as the Free Software Foundation Europe and the Chaos Computer Club. However, in April, a German court issued an injunction stopping Sitecom from selling a wireless router based on GPL software when it refused to follow the GPL rules. That was the first time the licence has been tested, and upheld, in court. Many companies want to use open source while avoiding the GPL, and there is now a long list of licences with their fans and detractors. The Open Source Initiative lists 54, and many of them lack the GPL's "contamination clause", which obliges the next developer down the line to give other users the benefits they themselves have enjoyed. Andrew St Laurent's new book, Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing, is a guide to the legal implications of a dozen of them. If you decide to create an open source project, you can pick whichever licence you like, or write your own. As Giles Palmer, of software developers Runtime Collective, points out, altruism is not the only reason to make code open source. "You can share the burden. I use this software in my business, but I don't want to sell it, because it's not my core business. If I can, I would like to share the costs of improving it. If I make it open source, others will start to use it and improve it so I will benefit." There is also another issue to bear in mind: software patents and intellectual property rights. Open source licences guarantee that source code is not covered by someone else's patents, or that it does not compromise anyone's intellectual property (IP). As IP lawyer Just Ellis puts it: "By their nature, software patents are incompatible with open source software, which is based on the sharing of source code and using one developer's code in another's work." If you distribute code that infringes patents, even if the infringement was in the open source code you started with, you could be liable. For example, there are versions of the open source FreeType font engine that potentially infringe TrueType font hinting patents held by Apple, so you might need a patent licence to use or distribute them. (There are also versions that do not.) Both Novell and IBM have said they will not use their patents against open source developers, but that is not particularly reassuring because open source developers are generally too poor to make suing them worthwhile. It is also noticeable that IBM, while promoting its support for Linux, uses other people's distributions. "When IBM made the decision to embrace Linux as key to the company strategy, we worked very hard to partner with the industry rather than to disintermediate the major players. Our decision was made consciously to partner, not compete with the open community players," says IBM's Joe Hanley. However, in an online interview, Dr Karl-Heinz Strassemeyer, a distinguished engineer from IBM Germany, explained why his team abandoned the idea of using Linux in a product. "We didn't want to do a distribution, because we didn't want a patent infringement being detected. If somebody would have taken us to court we might have had to stop shipping our product," he says. If you take the benefits of open source, you also take on any risks. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Discover all that�s new in My Yahoo! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041118/cb2b91d5/attachment.html From skbalganesh at rediffmail.com Fri Nov 19 20:37:28 2004 From: skbalganesh at rediffmail.com (Shyamkrishna Balganesh) Date: 19 Nov 2004 15:07:28 -0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] High Drama at the WIPO Message-ID: <20041119150728.20255.qmail@webmail7.rediffmail.com>   This is an update on developments at the WIPO negotiations before the SCCR on the new Broadcast Treaty at Geneva. I'm here representing the Union for the Public Domain (UPD), an international organization which is taking a hard line, opposing the creation of new layers of property rights by the treaty. A large number of NGOs are here at the negotiations; but almost no other civil society representatives from the developing world. The broadcasters are of course very well represented, as is to be expected. During Day 2 of the negotiations yesterday, a rather bizarre incident occurred, which forced the SCCR Assembly to spend some time dicussing the role of NGOs and civil society in IP negotiations. Three NGOs - the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), IP Justice and the Union for the Public Domain (UPD) had handouts which they wanted placed at a desk near the entrance to the assembly room traditionally reserved for documents, and on which other organizations (primarily broadcasters) had placed documents. Half-way through the morning session, some members of the NGO group found that all of their handouts had disappeared altogether. It was later found that large stacks of the documents (in 50s and 100s) had been thrown into the trash can in the men's room and in a couple of other trash cans. This was brought to the attention of the WIPO secretariat and the Chairman of the Assembly, who had coincidentally just made an announcement that NGOs were unlikely to get a chance to speak until much later in the session. When the afternoon session commenced, the delegation of Brazil, which had just heard about the incident, raised its flag asking for the floor. On taking the floor, Brazil said that it had heard of this incident, was alarmed by these developments and when coupled with the fact that NGOs were unlikely to get a chance to take the floor and make their interventions, was unfair and deprived national delegates of the chance to hear from different parts of civil society. Almost immediately, the Indian delegation too raised its flag and echoed Brazil's sentiments on the need for NGO intervention in order to hear from experts and different interest groups and that the trashing of public interest NGO delegations was an attempt to thwart the democratic process. The secretariat then apologised for the incident and the floor then opened on the issue of NGO intervention. Surprisingly several developing countries from Africa seemed openly annoyed by the suggestion that NGOs had anything to offer the assembly. Eventually the chair proposed a compromise - asking member nations to accelerate their interventions so as to allow NGOs to take the floor after member nations. The NGOs eventually were given an opportunity to take the floor late last evening and the whole of today morning, as a consequence. Different interest groups voiced their concerns and objections and their support/opposition for the treaty itself. A full text of the proceedings is available at the website of the Union for the Public Domain (UPD) at , as also my intervention on behalf of the UPD. The Indian delegation this time was represented by members from their Permanent Mission - Mr. Debabrata Saha and Ms. Preeti Saran, the Director and Registrar of Copyrights - Mr. Madhukar Sinha and the Undersecretary to the Ministry of HRD - Mr. L.R. Aggarwal. It must be said that India was one among the few strong voices arguing for greater caution in pushing for further intellectual property protection. Together with Brazil, they formed an alliance that kept intervening with strong statements on different parts of the treaty - most notably on anti-circumvention, web-casting and the need for a signal-based treaty, rather than a property-rights based approach. The SCCR session ends later today and I will post the final decision arrived at by the assembly, later. Please get in touch with me if you require any further information on the treaty itself or the SCCR process at the WIPO. - Shyam. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041119/dae0eb2b/attachment.html From patrice at xs4all.nl Fri Nov 19 21:46:44 2004 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 17:16:44 +0100 Subject: [Commons-Law] Re: Use Linux and you will be sued, Ballmer tells governments ... yeah, in Singapore! In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20041119161644.GB12196@xs4all.nl> As usual, things must be seen in context, and this one is _very_ interesting. Ballmer apparently made his daring statements in Singapore (aka "Disneyland with the dead penalty" in Bruce Sterling's parlance). Singapore has recently profiled itself as 100% IP & Copyright abiding and enforcing country, which, if you have witnessed the riotous scenes of dealing and wheeling played out 24/7/365 on the pavements of neighbouring Johore Bahru (in Malaysia, within easy reach by city bus # 99 from Singapore Center) is quite a tough proposition. The Singapore government is also one among the few that has cut a deal with the Evil Corporation to be privy to the M$ source code of the programmes they are purchasing ("xs4some" as we used to joke in the good old days). Apparently there was some told or untold quidproquo here, or at least ideological convergence. But like all ideologies, its a bet on the future, and Singapore's one is _extremely_ uncertain. The miniature country, despite all its glitz and glamour and 500$ fines for masticating gum, is not really sure about what the globalized corporate capitalist virtual future it has so ruefuelly and ruslessy embarked in and banked upon, has in store. It is just trying to stay ahead of the waves. Since 'robust defense of intellectual property' quite well squares with the 'Confucian values' of its ruling gerontocracy, it has embraced that. It's a bad bet as we all know. I wonder how they're coming out of that cleft shtick. Meanwhile, in Malaysia, they keep pestering them with the 5 POAs ("Points of Agreement", a decades long ongoing saga of bad, bad temper - for those upbreeds across the causeway...) From sudhir at circuit.sarai.net Fri Nov 19 23:29:20 2004 From: sudhir at circuit.sarai.net (sudhir at circuit.sarai.net) Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 18:59:20 +0100 (CET) Subject: [Commons-Law] High Drama at the WIPO In-Reply-To: <20041119150728.20255.qmail@webmail7.rediffmail.com> References: <20041119150728.20255.qmail@webmail7.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: <4194.163.1.43.132.1100887160.squirrel@mail.sarai.net> Thanks Shyam for that useful update - keep us posted on how the WIPO session ends. Hopefully they'd lose all drafts of the treaty this time and have to convene another session! Sudhir > > This is an update on developments at the WIPO negotiations before the SCCR > on the new Broadcast Treaty at Geneva. I'm here representing the Union for > the Public Domain (UPD), an international organization which is taking a > hard line, opposing the creation of new layers of property rights by the > treaty. A large number of NGOs are here at the negotiations; but almost no > other civil society representatives from the developing world. The > broadcasters are of course very well represented, as is to be expected. > During Day 2 of the negotiations yesterday, a rather bizarre incident > occurred, which forced the SCCR Assembly to spend some time dicussing the > role of NGOs and civil society in IP negotiations. > > Three NGOs - the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), IP Justice and the > Union for the Public Domain (UPD) had handouts which they wanted placed at > a desk near the entrance to the assembly room traditionally reserved for > documents, and on which other organizations (primarily broadcasters) had > placed documents. Half-way through the morning session, some members of > the NGO group found that all of their handouts had disappeared altogether. > It was later found that large stacks of the documents (in 50s and 100s) > had been thrown into the trash can in the men's room and in a couple of > other trash cans. This was brought to the attention of the WIPO > secretariat and the Chairman of the Assembly, who had coincidentally just > made an announcement that NGOs were unlikely to get a chance to speak > until much later in the session. > > When the afternoon session commenced, the delegation of Brazil, which had > just heard about the incident, raised its flag asking for the floor. On > taking the floor, Brazil said that it had heard of this incident, was > alarmed by these developments and when coupled with the fact that NGOs > were unlikely to get a chance to take the floor and make their > interventions, was unfair and deprived national delegates of the chance to > hear from different parts of civil society. Almost immediately, the Indian > delegation too raised its flag and echoed Brazil's sentiments on the need > for NGO intervention in order to hear from experts and different interest > groups and that the trashing of public interest NGO delegations was an > attempt to thwart the democratic process. > > The secretariat then apologised for the incident and the floor then opened > on the issue of NGO intervention. Surprisingly several developing > countries from Africa seemed openly annoyed by the suggestion that NGOs > had anything to offer the assembly. Eventually the chair proposed a > compromise - asking member nations to accelerate their interventions so as > to allow NGOs to take the floor after member nations. > > The NGOs eventually were given an opportunity to take the floor late last > evening and the whole of today morning, as a consequence. Different > interest groups voiced their concerns and objections and their > support/opposition for the treaty itself. > > A full text of the proceedings is available at the website of the Union > for the Public Domain (UPD) at , as also my > intervention on behalf of the UPD. The Indian delegation this time was > represented by members from their Permanent Mission - Mr. Debabrata Saha > and Ms. Preeti Saran, the Director and Registrar of Copyrights - Mr. > Madhukar Sinha and the Undersecretary to the Ministry of HRD - Mr. L.R. > Aggarwal. It must be said that India was one among the few strong voices > arguing for greater caution in pushing for further intellectual property > protection. Together with Brazil, they formed an alliance that kept > intervening with strong statements on different parts of the treaty - most > notably on anti-circumvention, web-casting and the need for a signal-based > treaty, rather than a property-rights based approach. > > The SCCR session ends later today and I will post the final decision > arrived at by the assembly, later. Please get in touch with me if you > require any further information on the treaty itself or the SCCR process > at the WIPO. > > - Shyam._______________________________________________ > commons-law mailing list > commons-law at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > From skbalganesh at rediffmail.com Sat Nov 20 16:17:12 2004 From: skbalganesh at rediffmail.com (Shyamkrishna Balganesh) Date: 20 Nov 2004 10:47:12 -0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Dramatic End to WIPO SCCR Session Message-ID: <20041120104712.12557.qmail@webmail30.rediffmail.com>   A futher update from Geneva... On the last day of the SCCR-12 session here, during final discussions on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty, something absolutely unheard of during WIPO Standing Committee negotiations happened. Towards the middle of the third day (around noon), it soon became clear that consensus would not be reached on several issues. For instance, the US insisted on the inclusion of webcasting, Brazil on the deletion of technological protection measures altogether and so on. The normal procedure at an SCCR session is that at the close of discussions, the chair drafts a tentative conclusion which is then discussed and modified by member nations, and then finally accepted as the conclusion of the whole standing committee. Prior to the end of discussions, the Brazilian delegation had made it clear that it was not in favour of regional consultations, but would prefer an inter-sessional consultation meeting. This proposal was supported by the delegations of India and Egypt. (Note: The rationale here appears to be that the WIPO Secretariat is pushing for a 'divide and rule' approach to getting consensus on the treaty. Since the major dissenting voices on the treaty are each from different parts of the world - India, Brazil, etc - a regional consultation process would isolate these countries within their local regions and prevent them from coordinating their oppositional efforts. Consequently, these countries viewed the regional consultation process as totally uncalled for.) When the chairman returned after lunch with his draft conclusions, it was clear that there was no consensus on the substantive parts of the treaty. In addition, the chairman did not include Brazil's proposal for an inter-sessional conference even as an option. Brazil immediatelz objected to this conscious omission and was joined by India - which even suggested alternative language to leave both options open. The chairman then suggested deferring the decision to the WIPO Secretariat. Brazil immediately raised an urgent point of order (which gets priority over all other interventions and entitles a member to a right to intervene) and pointed out that leaving this decision to the Secretariat was improper since the WIPO was a member-driven organization and not a secretariat-driven one. Now began the entire drama... The representative of Serbia immediately took the floor as another point of order and pointed out that under the WIPO Rules of Procedure, Rule 14 mandates that when making a point of order, a member nation was not to advance argument on a substantive issue at all and that Brazil had violated this by clubbing his argument on the member-driven nature of the organization with his plea for an inter-sessional consultation. The chair thanked the Serbian delegate for the intervention. Almost instantaneously, Indian flag went up - on another point of order! The Indian delegate agreed with the Serbian delegate's point, but noted that India had always believed that in a forum such as the present one, the substance of an argument was more important than its form, as far as rules went. Nevertheless, he pointed out that if the SCCR wanted to get procedural, he was ready to play along and then out of the blue (quite literally) pointed to a provision in the WIPO Rules of Procedure which indicated that a single person could not be elected as chair of the SCCR for more than a single meeting and since the present chair (Mr. Jukka Leides, from Finland) had been chair for the last several meetings, his very appointment was procedurallz invalid. The chair was shocked; he didnt know what to say. For the first time, a country was questioning his very election as chair. The WIPO legal counsel then intervened to point out that at the 3rd SCCR Meeting, the committee had decided to deviate from the Rules of Procedure in this respect. This wasnt going to be enough for India. In a series of exchanges, reminiscent of a courtroom, the Indian delegate drove home the point that each SCCR was an independent committee, and consequently, what the 3rd SCCR adopted (ie., the deviation) was binding only on it, and not on subsequent sessions unless they too made a decision to adopt the rule, prior to the chair's election. Consequently, he pointed out that the procedural illegality persisted; the WIPO legal counsel didnt have an answer to this. It appeared that things were heading to a stalemate - all because of the Brazil-India alliance! The chair suggested that since there was a deadlock and no consensus on most issues, the conclusions he had drafted could (under WIPU Rules of Procedure again) be categorised as the 'chair's conclusion' rather than the 'committee's conclusions'. India once again raised its flag on a point of order and objected that this would be right either - since the very validity of the chair was being called into question, it wouldnt be the chair's conclusions but the conclusions of the Finnish delegate occupying the chair at the moment (!!). The chair didnt have an answer to this either. Nothing seemed to be working and it appeared that the entire SCCR proceedings were going to be abruptly terminated. Normally, at SCCR meetings all decisions are made by a consensus - an issue is nver put to vote. The SCCR is considered the expert body of the WIPO and the actual diplomatic process (i.e., voting) is left to the next stage, the diplomatic conference convened by the General Assembly. When all of this was happening, the chair soon realised that if he didnt do something drastic, the stalemate would continue. In an absolutely unprecedented move, he asked countries to make a show of support for his proposal by raising their flags. This is most unusual - since a vote is never taken at an SCCR (sînce there are dissents on all provisions) and even at other proceedings, it is always for the proposal of a member nation, not of the chair. In the end five countries including India and Brazil placed on record their disagreement by raising their flags and large number of other countries voted to have the chair's proposal accepted. Notably, the US and EC abstained from the entire vote - probably indicative of their disagreement with the procedural validity of it all. All of this means that the SCCR is unlikely to be able to push the treaty through in the immediate future. Having set a dangerous precedent of having a vote taken in Standing Committees, countries are now likely to call for a vote on most controversial issues. When the issue is one on which the division is along North-South lines (which wasnt the case here, since many small developing countries were seeking to keep their large trading partners happy), the developing countries are certain to have the upper hand. It also means that in the future, the smooth functioning of the WIPO is likely to be repeatedly disrupted. For the SCCR, this of course means that the chairmanship of the current incumbent is likely to be a hotly contested issue during the next session - both politically and legally, given the Indian delegations comments. It also remains absolutely unclear on what the countries were voting - whether the conclusion is going to be the chairman's draft after all and the legal validity of such a draft. In a sense, the entire last couple of hours effectively threw the process into a sort of anarchy with no one being clear on what finally transpired, legally. An answer to the Indian delegation's challenge to the validity of the chair's election was not provided and the chair left the room immediately after close of the proceedings. The acrimony generated by these events is likelz to spill over into all of the WIPO's future activities and hopefully, it will begin to realise that its mandate isnt necessarily stronger intellectual property rights, as much as it is one of ensuring greater balance within the existent rights frameworks. Again, transcripts of the day's proceedings are available at the website of the Union for the Public Domain (UPD) at . I was extremely impressed with the Indian delegation, which did a spectacular job, exhibited a critical awareness of the problems developing countries face with IP expansion and accepted the responsibility of challenging WIPO's apparent one-sidedness in the face of stiff international and political opposition. I personally spoke to the Indian delegation and commended them for what they were doing....I think they made us all very proud and gave us hope for the future. - Shyam. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041120/233834c8/attachment.html From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Sat Nov 20 17:17:07 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 11:47:07 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Dramatic End to WIPO SCCR Session In-Reply-To: <20041120104712.12557.qmail@webmail30.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: <20041120114707.7675.qmail@web8409.mail.in.yahoo.com> Fantastic stuff Shyam: Thanks for those fascinating insights...it gives us hope that the WIPO development agenda isnt something that's going to remain on paper..Though if things go by a majority vote and a large portion of the South still wants to keep their trading partners happy (as you put it), I am a bit apprehensive of the outcome, even after the taking on board of a supposed 'development agenda' by WIPO. As I mentioned in a previous post, now that WIPO has in a way been legitimised to look at development issues, we need to be doubly cautious....... Shamnad Shyamkrishna Balganesh wrote: A futher update from Geneva... On the last day of the SCCR-12 session here, during final discussions on the WIPO Broadcast Treaty, something absolutely unheard of during WIPO Standing Committee negotiations happened. Towards the middle of the third day (around noon), it soon became clear that consensus would not be reached on several issues. For instance, the US insisted on the inclusion of webcasting, Brazil on the deletion of technological protection measures altogether and so on. The normal procedure at an SCCR session is that at the close of discussions, the chair drafts a tentative conclusion which is then discussed and modified by member nations, and then finally accepted as the conclusion of the whole standing committee. Prior to the end of discussions, the Brazilian delegation had made it clear that it was not in favour of regional consultations, but would prefer an inter-sessional consultation meeting. This proposal was supported by the delegations of India and Egypt. (Note: The rationale here appears to be that the WIPO Secretariat is pushing for a 'divide and rule' approach to getting consensus on the treaty. Since the major dissenting voices on the treaty are each from different parts of the world - India, Brazil, etc - a regional consultation process would isolate these countries within their local regions and prevent them from coordinating their oppositional efforts. Consequently, these countries viewed the regional consultation process as totally uncalled for.) When the chairman returned after lunch with his draft conclusions, it was clear that there was no consensus on the substantive parts of the treaty. In addition, the chairman did not include Brazil's proposal for an inter-sessional conference even as an option. Brazil immediatelz objected to this conscious omission and was joined by India - which even suggested alternative language to leave both options open. The chairman then suggested deferring the decision to the WIPO Secretariat. Brazil immediately raised an urgent point of order (which gets priority over all other interventions and entitles a member to a right to intervene) and pointed out that leaving this decision to the Secretariat was improper since the WIPO was a member-driven organization and not a secretariat-driven one. Now began the entire drama... The representative of Serbia immediately took the floor as another point of order and pointed out that under the WIPO Rules of Procedure, Rule 14 mandates that when making a point of order, a member nation was not to advance argument on a substantive issue at all and that Brazil had violated this by clubbing his argument on the member-driven nature of the organization with his plea for an inter-sessional consultation. The chair thanked the Serbian delegate for the intervention. Almost instantaneously, Indian flag went up - on another point of order! The Indian delegate agreed with the Serbian delegate's point, but noted that India had always believed that in a forum such as the present one, the substance of an argument was more important than its form, as far as rules went. Nevertheless, he pointed out that if the SCCR wanted to get procedural, he was ready to play along and then out of the blue (quite literally) pointed to a provision in the WIPO Rules of Procedure which indicated that a single person could not be elected as chair of the SCCR for more than a single meeting and since the present chair (Mr. Jukka Leides, from Finland) had been chair for the last several meetings, his very appointment was procedurallz invalid. The chair was shocked; he didnt know what to say. For the first time, a country was questioning his very election as chair. The WIPO legal counsel then intervened to point out that at the 3rd SCCR Meeting, the committee had decided to deviate from the Rules of Procedure in this respect. This wasnt going to be enough for India. In a series of exchanges, reminiscent of a courtroom, the Indian delegate drove home the point that each SCCR was an independent committee, and consequently, what the 3rd SCCR adopted (ie., the deviation) was binding only on it, and not on subsequent sessions unless they too made a decision to adopt the rule, prior to the chair's election. Consequently, he pointed out that the procedural illegality persisted; the WIPO legal counsel didnt have an answer to this. It appeared that things were heading to a stalemate - all because of the Brazil-India alliance! The chair suggested that since there was a deadlock and no consensus on most issues, the conclusions he had drafted could (under WIPU Rules of Procedure again) be categorised as the 'chair's conclusion' rather than the 'committee's conclusions'. India once again raised its flag on a point of order and objected that this would be right either - since the very validity of the chair was being called into question, it wouldnt be the chair's conclusions but the conclusions of the Finnish delegate occupying the chair at the moment (!!). The chair didnt have an answer to this either. Nothing seemed to be working and it appeared that the entire SCCR proceedings were going to be abruptly terminated. Normally, at SCCR meetings all decisions are made by a consensus - an issue is nver put to vote. The SCCR is considered the expert body of the WIPO and the actual diplomatic process (i.e., voting) is left to the next stage, the diplomatic conference convened by the General Assembly. When all of this was happening, the chair soon realised that if he didnt do something drastic, the stalemate would continue. In an absolutely unprecedented move, he asked countries to make a show of support for his proposal by raising their flags. This is most unusual - since a vote is never taken at an SCCR (sînce there are dissents on all provisions) and even at other proceedings, it is always for the proposal of a member nation, not of the chair. In the end five countries including India and Brazil placed on record their disagreement by raising their flags and large number of other countries voted to have the chair's proposal accepted. Notably, the US and EC abstained from the entire vote - probably indicative of their disagreement with the procedural validity of it all. All of this means that the SCCR is unlikely to be able to push the treaty through in the immediate future. Having set a dangerous precedent of having a vote taken in Standing Committees, countries are now likely to call for a vote on most controversial issues. When the issue is one on which the division is along North-South lines (which wasnt the case here, since many small developing countries were seeking to keep their large trading partners happy), the developing countries are certain to have the upper hand. It also means that in the future, the smooth functioning of the WIPO is likely to be repeatedly disrupted. For the SCCR, this of course means that the chairmanship of the current incumbent is likely to be a hotly contested issue during the next session - both politically and legally, given the Indian delegations comments. It also remains absolutely unclear on what the countries were voting - whether the conclusion is going to be the chairman's draft after all and the legal validity of such a draft. In a sense, the entire last couple of hours effectively threw the process into a sort of anarchy with no one being clear on what finally transpired, legally. An answer to the Indian delegation's challenge to the validity of the chair's election was not provided and the chair left the room immediately after close of the proceedings. The acrimony generated by these events is likelz to spill over into all of the WIPO's future activities and hopefully, it will begin to realise that its mandate isnt necessarily stronger intellectual property rights, as much as it is one of ensuring greater balance within the existent rights frameworks. Again, transcripts of the day's proceedings are available at the website of the Union for the Public Domain (UPD) at . I was extremely impressed with the Indian delegation, which did a spectacular job, exhibited a critical awareness of the problems developing countries face with IP expansion and accepted the responsibility of challenging WIPO's apparent one-sidedness in the face of stiff international and political opposition. I personally spoke to the Indian delegation and commended them for what they were doing....I think they made us all very proud and gave us hope for the future. - Shyam. _______________________________________________ commons-law mailing list commons-law at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partneronline. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041120/deedf79d/attachment.html From prashant at nalsartech.org Sun Nov 21 12:31:05 2004 From: prashant at nalsartech.org (Prashant) Date: 21 Nov 2004 12:31:05 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] A free legal news - newsletter Message-ID: <1101020465.2586.1.camel@hogwarts> Hi, As a part of a wiki-site that some of us from NALSAR are hosting, I'm starting a Daily Legal News newsletter on an experimental basis. The Newsletter is a categorised collation of abstracts from news items touching upon legal issues. Currently items falling in the following categories are on offer - Top News (Legal "Headline" News) - CourtSpeak (Decisions/Orders/Directions/Awards) - Legislation/Regulations/Rules - Policy/Proposals and Bodies(Legislative/Regulatory Proposals and committees/bodies established) - Editorials/Columns - Legal Miscellany (Things which don't fit in any other category) Most of the news items are taken from 4 newspapers - The Hindu, The Hindu Business Line, The Indian Express and the New Indian Express. Abstracts from papers such as the Hindustan Times and the Financial Express will also be included occasionally. It's experimental because I don't know what the demand for such a thing would be and more importantly, it could be put to an abrupt end by any of the newspapers sending me a legal notice! I'm including the text of today's newsletter immediately below this message. Subscribers of Findlaw's Newsletters will immediately notice the similarity of formatting. I'm a subscriber to a few of their newsletters and I've been benefitted greatly by them. If what I've said so far interests you sufficiently, you're invited to subscribe to the newsletter at: http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-newsletters.php?nlId=4&info=1 On a personal note, it's an earnest attempt to provide a service of some value to the legal fraternity and I urge you all to support it by subscribing. Needless to say, it's free and non-commercial. I'm also planning to run a weekly edition of the newsletter depending on the response the daily edition receives. Since this is in its initial stages, it may take time to iron out the errors (mostly in the formatting). I hope to keep building on it as its subscription grows. With regards, Prashant ======================================================================= WIKI at NALSAR : Legal News Wire Daily http://wiki.nalsartech.org ======================================================================= Sunday 21st of November 2004 08:59:32 AM Total articles in this Issue: 13 TOP NEWS * Acharya's bail plea rejected: Brother of seer summoned before police COURTSPEAK * SC: Court notice to Centre, six States on emission norms EDITORIALS/COLUMNS/FEATURES * PRASANNAKUMAR KESKAR: Remember this? the jalgaon sex scandal case * SOLI J SORABJEE: Mindless censorship * Sucheta Dalal: Business: Give-away names * Aditi Kapoor: Violence Against Women: Break the silence * Rajeev Pi: Commotion in Kanchi * Gujarat riots, getting away with murder - Part one LEGISLATION/POLICY POLICY/PROPOSALS * Company secy's posting, removal should have board's nod: ICSI LEGAL MISCELLANY * Orissa activists flay UPA population control programme * Victimology: `Strike balance between rights of victims and accused' * UP Govt to file affidavit in SC for night viewing of Taj * 300 posts of judges to be filled soon FEEDBACK SPREAD THE WORD SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP NEWS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ACHARYA'S BAIL PLEA REJECTED: BROTHER OF SEER SUMMONED BEFORE POLICE Source: The Hindu The Madras High Court today dismissed the bail application of the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, in the case relating to the murder of Sankararaman, Manager of the Varadarajaperumal Temple, Kancheepuram, on September 3. In his 16-page order, Justice R. Balasubramanian said that the investigation was at a threshold. The offence the Acharya was charged with was serious and the prosecution case was that more investigation was needed. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=186 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COURTSPEAK ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SC: COURT NOTICE TO CENTRE, SIX STATES ON EMISSION NORMS Source: The Hindu The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for enforcement of emission norms for vehicles. A Bench, comprising Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S.H. Kapadia, issued the notice in the light of the report of the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) suggesting measures to improve the air quality in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kanpur and Ahmedabad. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=188 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIALS/COLUMNS/FEATURES ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PRASANNAKUMAR KESKAR: REMEMBER THIS? THE JALGAON SEX SCANDAL CASE Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS It took one police complaint in 1993 to blow the lid off the organised exploitation of over 200 girls in Jalgaon. With the High Court acquitting all accused, the victims have fled http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=198 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SOLI J SORABJEE: MINDLESS CENSORSHIP Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS SOLI J SORABJEE Freedom of expression, a vital fundamental right, is not absolute. Censorship regrettably is inevitable in certain cases e.g. where the speech has clear potential to incite religious strife or hatred between communities or the expression is patently obscene without any redeeming literary or social element. Problems arise because, as Laski has rightly observed, censorship ‘‘confers power in a realm where qualifications for the exercise of power and tests for its application, are, almost necessarily, non-existent’’. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=199 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUCHETA DALAL: BUSINESS: GIVE-AWAY NAMES Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,’’ wrote Shakespeare. But some companies ensure that their name signals intent and character. In the 1980s, government action against a large corporate group had made the names of its investment companies like ‘Crocodile Investments’ and ‘Fiasco Holdings’ famous around the country. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=196 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ADITI KAPOOR: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: BREAK THE SILENCE Source: The Hindu Violence against women is a brutal reality in many parts of India. ADITI KAPOOR writes about grassroots campaigns in Bundelkhand and stresses the need for politicians to wake up to this issue. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=195 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- RAJEEV PI: COMMOTION IN KANCHI Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS The arrest of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi has rocked the Kamakoti Peetam as nothing has. Rajeev PI takes a look at Jayendra Saraswati’s unorthodox religio-political activism. And the perils it always held for him http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=194 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- GUJARAT RIOTS, GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER - PART ONE Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS An Indian-express investigation, tracking vhp’s gen secy on day 1,2 Two CDs with more than 5 lakh entries have been lying with the Gujarat police and are now with the Nanavati-Shah riots panel. These have records of all cellphone calls made in Ahmedabad over the first five days of the riots which saw the worst massacres. Staff Reporter Stavan Desai spends several weeks unmasking the story hidden between and behind these numbers. The first of an exclusive series http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=193 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGISLATION/POLICY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- POLICY/PROPOSALS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COMPANY SECY'S POSTING, REMOVAL SHOULD HAVE BOARD'S NOD: ICSI Source: THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE THE Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has suggested to the Government that the appointment and removal of a company secretary in employment should be only through a resolution passed by the board of directors. This would ensure professional independence in their functioning, Mr Mahesh Anant Athavale, President, ICSI said. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=192 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGAL MISCELLANY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ORISSA ACTIVISTS FLAY UPA POPULATION CONTROL PROGRAMME Source: The Hindustan Times Women's rights activists from across the country came down heavily on the rural population control programme proposed by the UPA government at the Centre, saying it was 'coercive' and would adversely affect the already skewed male-female ratio in the country. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=191 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- VICTIMOLOGY: `STRIKE BALANCE BETWEEN RIGHTS OF VICTIMS AND ACCUSED' Source: The Hindu There is an urgent need to evolve a coherent judicial philosophy that balances the rights of victims with the right of the accused to a fair trial, the Editor of The Hindu , N. Ravi, said today. Expressing concern that main issues of the victims were not even framed in terms of victims' rights, he said much of the debate was on the traditional rights of the victims, namely, protecting their privacy and the award of compensation. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=190 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- UP GOVT TO FILE AFFIDAVIT IN SC FOR NIGHT VIEWING OF TAJ Source: The Hindustan Times Uttar Pradesh government is likely to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking permission for moonlit night viewing of the Taj Mahal as the administration has implemented the plan on security and environmental aspects, official sources said. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=189 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 300 POSTS OF JUDGES TO BE FILLED SOON Source: The Hindu The Union Law Minister, H. R. Bhardwaj, today said the Centre had taken steps to fill the vacancies of 300 posts of judges in various High Courts across the country. He said already 75-80 per cent of these vacancies had been filled and the remaining would be taken care of soon. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=187 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEEDBACK ----------------------------------------------------------------------- We'd love to hear from you! Please take a moment to give us your feedback at wiki at nalsartech.org Please include the newsletter title in the text of your message. You can access our website at http://wiki.nalsartech.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SPREAD THE WORD! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Please forward Wiki at NALSAR's Daily newsletter to your friends and colleagues. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to this Newsletter, visit the Wiki at NALSAR Newsletter Subscription Center at http://wiki.nalsartech.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WIKI at NALSAR : Daily Legal News Roundup ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From prashant at nalsartech.org Sun Nov 21 09:32:04 2004 From: prashant at nalsartech.org (Prashant) Date: 21 Nov 2004 09:32:04 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] A free legal news - newsletter Message-ID: <1101009723.3383.32.camel@hogwarts> Hi, As a part of a wiki-site that some of us from NALSAR are hosting, I'm starting a Daily Legal News newsletter on an experimental basis. The Newsletter is a categorised collation of abstracts from news items touching upon legal issues. Currently items falling in the following categories are on offer - Top News (Legal "Headline" News) - CourtSpeak (Decisions/Orders/Directions/Awards) - Legislation/Regulations/Rules - Policy/Proposals and Bodies(Legislative/Regulatory Proposals and committees/bodies established) - Editorials/Columns - Legal Miscellany (Things which don't fit in any other category) Most of the news items are taken from 4 newspapers - The Hindu, The Hindu Business Line, The Indian Express and the New Indian Express. Abstracts from papers such as the Hindustan Times and the Financial Express will also be included occasionally. It's experimental because I don't know what the demand for such a thing would be and more importantly, it could be put to an abrupt end by any of the newspapers sending me a legal notice! I'm including the text of today's newsletter immediately below this message. Subscribers of Findlaw's Newsletters will immediately notice the similarity of formatting. I'm a subscriber to a few of their newsletters and I've been benefitted greatly by them. If what I've said so far interests you sufficiently, you're invited to subscribe to the newsletter at: http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-newsletters.php?nlId=4&info=1 On a personal note, it's an earnest attempt to provide a service of some value to the legal fraternity and I urge you all to support it by subscribing. Needless to say, it's free and non-commercial. I'm also planning to run a weekly edition of the newsletter depending on the response the daily edition receives. Since this is in its initial stages, it may take time to iron out the errors (mostly in the formatting). I hope to keep building on it as its subscription grows. With regards, Prashant ======================================================================= WIKI at NALSAR : Legal News Wire Daily http://wiki.nalsartech.org ======================================================================= Sunday 21st of November 2004 08:59:32 AM Total articles in this Issue: 13 TOP NEWS * Acharya's bail plea rejected: Brother of seer summoned before police COURTSPEAK * SC: Court notice to Centre, six States on emission norms EDITORIALS/COLUMNS/FEATURES * PRASANNAKUMAR KESKAR: Remember this? the jalgaon sex scandal case * SOLI J SORABJEE: Mindless censorship * Sucheta Dalal: Business: Give-away names * Aditi Kapoor: Violence Against Women: Break the silence * Rajeev Pi: Commotion in Kanchi * Gujarat riots, getting away with murder - Part one LEGISLATION/POLICY POLICY/PROPOSALS * Company secy's posting, removal should have board's nod: ICSI LEGAL MISCELLANY * Orissa activists flay UPA population control programme * Victimology: `Strike balance between rights of victims and accused' * UP Govt to file affidavit in SC for night viewing of Taj * 300 posts of judges to be filled soon FEEDBACK SPREAD THE WORD SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TOP NEWS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ACHARYA'S BAIL PLEA REJECTED: BROTHER OF SEER SUMMONED BEFORE POLICE Source: The Hindu The Madras High Court today dismissed the bail application of the Kanchi Sankaracharya, Sri Jayendra Saraswathi, in the case relating to the murder of Sankararaman, Manager of the Varadarajaperumal Temple, Kancheepuram, on September 3. In his 16-page order, Justice R. Balasubramanian said that the investigation was at a threshold. The offence the Acharya was charged with was serious and the prosecution case was that more investigation was needed. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=186 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COURTSPEAK ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SC: COURT NOTICE TO CENTRE, SIX STATES ON EMISSION NORMS Source: The Hindu The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh for enforcement of emission norms for vehicles. A Bench, comprising Justice Y.K. Sabharwal, Justice Arijit Pasayat and Justice S.H. Kapadia, issued the notice in the light of the report of the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) suggesting measures to improve the air quality in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kanpur and Ahmedabad. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=188 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIALS/COLUMNS/FEATURES ----------------------------------------------------------------------- PRASANNAKUMAR KESKAR: REMEMBER THIS? THE JALGAON SEX SCANDAL CASE Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS It took one police complaint in 1993 to blow the lid off the organised exploitation of over 200 girls in Jalgaon. With the High Court acquitting all accused, the victims have fled http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=198 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SOLI J SORABJEE: MINDLESS CENSORSHIP Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS SOLI J SORABJEE Freedom of expression, a vital fundamental right, is not absolute. Censorship regrettably is inevitable in certain cases e.g. where the speech has clear potential to incite religious strife or hatred between communities or the expression is patently obscene without any redeeming literary or social element. Problems arise because, as Laski has rightly observed, censorship ‘‘confers power in a realm where qualifications for the exercise of power and tests for its application, are, almost necessarily, non-existent’’. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=199 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUCHETA DALAL: BUSINESS: GIVE-AWAY NAMES Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,’’ wrote Shakespeare. But some companies ensure that their name signals intent and character. In the 1980s, government action against a large corporate group had made the names of its investment companies like ‘Crocodile Investments’ and ‘Fiasco Holdings’ famous around the country. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=196 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ADITI KAPOOR: VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: BREAK THE SILENCE Source: The Hindu Violence against women is a brutal reality in many parts of India. ADITI KAPOOR writes about grassroots campaigns in Bundelkhand and stresses the need for politicians to wake up to this issue. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=195 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- RAJEEV PI: COMMOTION IN KANCHI Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS The arrest of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi has rocked the Kamakoti Peetam as nothing has. Rajeev PI takes a look at Jayendra Saraswati’s unorthodox religio-political activism. And the perils it always held for him http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=194 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- GUJARAT RIOTS, GETTING AWAY WITH MURDER - PART ONE Source: THE INDIAN EXPRESS An Indian-express investigation, tracking vhp’s gen secy on day 1,2 Two CDs with more than 5 lakh entries have been lying with the Gujarat police and are now with the Nanavati-Shah riots panel. These have records of all cellphone calls made in Ahmedabad over the first five days of the riots which saw the worst massacres. Staff Reporter Stavan Desai spends several weeks unmasking the story hidden between and behind these numbers. The first of an exclusive series http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=193 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGISLATION/POLICY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- POLICY/PROPOSALS ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COMPANY SECY'S POSTING, REMOVAL SHOULD HAVE BOARD'S NOD: ICSI Source: THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE THE Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has suggested to the Government that the appointment and removal of a company secretary in employment should be only through a resolution passed by the board of directors. This would ensure professional independence in their functioning, Mr Mahesh Anant Athavale, President, ICSI said. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=192 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LEGAL MISCELLANY ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ORISSA ACTIVISTS FLAY UPA POPULATION CONTROL PROGRAMME Source: The Hindustan Times Women's rights activists from across the country came down heavily on the rural population control programme proposed by the UPA government at the Centre, saying it was 'coercive' and would adversely affect the already skewed male-female ratio in the country. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=191 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- VICTIMOLOGY: `STRIKE BALANCE BETWEEN RIGHTS OF VICTIMS AND ACCUSED' Source: The Hindu There is an urgent need to evolve a coherent judicial philosophy that balances the rights of victims with the right of the accused to a fair trial, the Editor of The Hindu , N. Ravi, said today. Expressing concern that main issues of the victims were not even framed in terms of victims' rights, he said much of the debate was on the traditional rights of the victims, namely, protecting their privacy and the award of compensation. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=190 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- UP GOVT TO FILE AFFIDAVIT IN SC FOR NIGHT VIEWING OF TAJ Source: The Hindustan Times Uttar Pradesh government is likely to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday seeking permission for moonlit night viewing of the Taj Mahal as the administration has implemented the plan on security and environmental aspects, official sources said. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=189 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 300 POSTS OF JUDGES TO BE FILLED SOON Source: The Hindu The Union Law Minister, H. R. Bhardwaj, today said the Centre had taken steps to fill the vacancies of 300 posts of judges in various High Courts across the country. He said already 75-80 per cent of these vacancies had been filled and the remaining would be taken care of soon. http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=187 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEEDBACK ----------------------------------------------------------------------- We'd love to hear from you! Please take a moment to give us your feedback at wiki at nalsartech.org Please include the newsletter title in the text of your message. You can access our website at http://wiki.nalsartech.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SPREAD THE WORD! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Please forward Wiki at NALSAR's Daily newsletter to your friends and colleagues. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to this Newsletter, visit the Wiki at NALSAR Newsletter Subscription Center at http://wiki.nalsartech.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- WIKI at NALSAR : Daily Legal News Roundup ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From lawrenceliang at vsnl.net Sun Nov 21 15:47:35 2004 From: lawrenceliang at vsnl.net (Lawrence) Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2004 15:47:35 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Identification in cyber cafes Message-ID: Hi all This is the notification for identification in cyber cafes that I had posted about a week ago ( Thanks to the Nalsar wiki for this- Good job guys) Lawrence ======== GOVERNMENT OF KARNATAKA No: ITD 07 PRM 2004 Karnataka Government Secretariat, Department of Information Technology & Biotechnology UNI Building, Thimmaiah Road, Bangalore, dated: 05.08.2004. NOTIFICATION In exercise of the powers conferred by section 90 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (Central Act 21 of 2000), the Government of Karnataka hereby makes the following rules, namely: 1.Title and Commencement: (1). These rules may be called the Information Technology (Karnataka) Rules 2004. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. 2.Definitions: In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) ³Act² means the Information Technology Act, 2000 (Central Act 21 of 2000); (b) ³Log Register² means the Register in Form-1 maintained by the Cyber Café owner/Network Service Provider for using the Cyber Café. (c) ³User² means a person who uses the Computer in a Cyber Café (d) ³Cyber Café² means a premises where the Cyber Café Owner/Network Service Provider provides the computer services including Internet access to the public. (e) Cyber Police Authority² means the officers of the Cyber Crime Police Station. 3. Cyber Café: 1. The owner of the Cyber Café shall take sufficient precautions so that computers and computer systems in the Cyber Café are not used for any illegal or criminal activity. 2. Cyber Café Owner/Network Service Provider shall not allow any User to use his Computer, Computer System and/or Computer Network without the identity of the User being established before him before use. The intending User may establish his Identity by producing any Photo Identity Card issued by any School or College or a Photo Credit Card of any Bank or Passport or Voters Identity Card or PAN Number Card issued by Income-Tax? authorities or Photo Identity Card issued by the Employer or Driving License to the satisfaction of Cyber Café Owner. 4. Entries in the Log Register: (1) After the Identity of the User is established, the owner of the Cyber Café or the manager or the attendant or on his behalf any authorised person managing the Cyber Café shall obtain and maintain the following information in the Log Register for each user: 3.Name of the User 4.Age and Sex of the User 5.Present residential address of the User 6.Log in time 7.Log out time (2) When a User cannot produce any Photo Identity Card to establish his identity to the satisfaction of the Cyber Café Owner/Network Service Provider, he may be photographed by the Cyber Café Owner/Network Service Provider after obtaining his consent using a ŒWeb Camera¹ hooked onto one of the computers or computer systems in the Cyber Café and the User shall be explained that his photograph will be taken and stored in the hard disk of the computer, for verification by Law enforcement authorities, whenever required. This is in addition to the entries made in the log register. In case the User does not agree for storing his photograph he shall not be allowed to use any computer, computer system and /or computer network or access to the Internet in the Cyber Café. (3) All time clocks in Cyber Cafes must be regularly checked and synchronized with Indian Standard Time (IST). (4) Maintaining proper account of the User as explained shall be the responsibility of the Cyber Café Owner/Network Service provider. 8.Log Register and the Photograph of the User shall be maintained by the Cyber Café Owner/Network Service Provider for a minimum period of ONE YEAR and which shall be provided to Law enforcement agencies as and when required. (6) Cyber Police authorities may on complaint inspect Cyber Cafes at all reasonable time to ensure compliance of these rules. If any Cyber Café Owner/Network Service Provider fails to maintain Log Register and records he shall be liable for penalties as provided in the Act or any other Law, for the time being in force. By Order and in the Name of the Governor of Karnataka, (K M Ananda) Under Secretary to Government Dept. of IT, BT and Science & Technology To: The Compiler, Karnataka Gazette, Bangalore for Publication in the next issue of the Gazette and to supply 200 copies. Copy to: Chief secretary to Government, Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore. Additional chief Secretary to Government, Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore. ACS & Pr.Secy , ID / ACS & Pr.Secy, DDPER / ACS & Pr.Secy, FD/ ACS & Dev., Commissioner, Bangalore. The Director General and Inspector General of Police, Bangalore. All Secretaries to Government. Commissioner of Police, Bangalore. Deputy Commissioners of Districts. SPs of Districts. Director, Department of Information Technology & Biotechnology, Bangalore. Managing Director, KEONICS, Bangalore. Managing Director, KBITS, Bangalore. Director, KSRSAC,Bangalore Weekly Gazette / Guard file/Spare Copies From prashant at nalsartech.org Sun Nov 21 15:49:18 2004 From: prashant at nalsartech.org (Prashant Iyengar) Date: 21 Nov 2004 15:49:18 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] legal newsletter Message-ID: <1101032358.2912.7.camel@hogwarts> Hi, A technical glitch I just fixed is forcing me to send this email. If any of you has subscribed to the newsletter hasn't yet received a confirmation email, I request you to kindly redo the subscription process. You can do so at: http://www.nalsartech.org/tiki/tiki-newsletters.php?nlId=4&info=1 I regret the inconvenience caused. Regards, Prashant From sunil at mahiti.org Tue Nov 16 22:32:08 2004 From: sunil at mahiti.org (Sunil Abraham) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 17:02:08 +0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Call for contributing theme editors for portal on Internet Governance in the Asia-Pacific Message-ID: <1100624528.638.68.camel@box> Help build a portal on Internet Governance in the Asia-Pacific Call for contributing theme editors UNDP's Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) in co-operation with the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) is launching a portal on ICT policy issues in the Asia-Pacific region to stimulate dialogue on ICT policy priorities and build a resource collection with country-specific news and key background readings in major issue areas. The portal will be a collaborative online effort, with all resources added and managed through an easy-to-use web interface. APDIP is seeking to appoint a number of topics editors that assume responsibility for maintaining information resources on a pro-bono basis in one of the following issue clusters, all with specific focus on the concerns of the Asia-Pacific region. - Editor 1: physical infrastructure policies: e.g. interconnection and backbone access policies, competition regulation, universal service rules and Internet, wireless and Internet telephony regulations, collective access schemes - Editor 2: logical infrastructure: e.g. IP address management, domain name rules, public policy dimension of Internet standards and standards development - Editor 3: data and network security, online fraud, spam and cyber-crime regulation - Editor 4: e-commerce related policy issues: consumer protection, taxation, customs duties, secure payments systems What are we looking for? The ideal candidates would have in-depth expertise in the selected policy area in the Asia-Pacific region and they would be committed to nurturing a public information exchange on the issues from an independent and objective perspective. Editors are expected to make time for populating the topics area with a limited number of key background references, for providing news updates twice a week, and for managing the submissions of information resources suggested by other website users. They receive credit for their efforts through high visibility and prominent recognition on the website, as well as the opportunity to interact with senior-policy makers, private sector representatives and civil society actors that will make up the main target audience of the web portal. How can you get involved? If you are interested, please send your CV and a brief cover page outlining your interests, expertise and preferred thematic area by no later than November 23 to Mr. Dieter Zinnbauer: dieter at apdip.net Background - About the Internet Policy initiative UNDP-APDIP has initiated an Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance, to establish a regional perspective on important aspects of Internet Governance as viewed by stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region. The initiative aims to facilitate consultations at the national, regional, and sub-regional levels, while surveys and research will be undertaken that will result in a consolidated input to the UN World Summit on the Information Society and the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (UN-WGIG). - About the Portal A core component of the initiative is the development of an interactive portal website that consolidates key resources on Internet Governance for Asia-Pacific stakeholders and provides a wide range of interactive and participatory features, including options for commenting on issues, adding resources, starting discussions or setting up private information sharing spaces for related communities of practice. The portal will operate on a Plone content management system, which provides all these features through a website based-online editing system that does not require any advanced website programming skills. For an example of Plone in action see www.iosn.net. - About APDIP UNDP-APDIP is an initiative developed and funded by the United Nations Development Programme and covers countries in the Asia-Pacific region through 25 UNDP country offices. APDIP aims at assisting member countries in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to foster social and economic development. For more information on ORDIG, please go to www.igov,net; for more background information on APDIP, please visit www.apdip.net. Thanks, ಸುನೀಲ್ -- Sunil Abraham, sunil at mahiti.org http://www.mahiti.org 314/1, 7th Cross, Domlur Bangalore - 560 071 Karnataka, INDIA Ph/Fax: +91 80 51150580. Mob: (60) 1-2205-3895 Currently on sabbatical with APDIP/UNDP Manager - International Open Source Network Wisma UN, Block C Komplex Pejabat Damansara. Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights. 50490 Kuala Lumpur. P. O. Box 12544, 50782, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: (60) 3-2091-5167, Fax: (60) 3-2095-2087 sunil at apdip.net http://www.iosn.net http://www.apdip.net "A world opened up by communications cannot remain closed up in a feudal vision of property" - Gilberto Gil, Minister of Culture, Brazil From etomesy at hotmail.com Tue Nov 16 22:11:35 2004 From: etomesy at hotmail.com (Elizabeth Tomes) Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 16:41:35 -0000 Subject: [Commons-law] Copywriting silence Message-ID: Hello, I caught the discussionon copyright thru a web search about the issues facing Mike Batt and the relevant "peice" of work by John Cage. Im a law student studying Media law at the moment and not doing to brilliantly. I was wondering if you knew much of the copyright issues surrounding the above or if you were a firm of lawyers or indeed if anyone would be up for discussing the array of issues concerned. Yours sincerley Liz Tomes etomesy at hotmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041116/0eb075f3/attachment.html From commons-law at sarai.net Thu Nov 18 16:55:35 2004 From: commons-law at sarai.net (commons-law at sarai.net) Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 03:25:35 -0800 Subject: [Commons-Law] Legal Commentary from http://writ.news.findlaw.com Message-ID: <200411181125.iAIBPZY04882@www-8.prod.findlaw.com> Hi, I saw this on FindLaw and thought you might be interested. Ramasastry: Privacy, Piracy and Due Process in Peer-to-Peer File Swapping Suits http://writ.news.findlaw.com/ramasastry/20041110.html ----------------------------------------------------------- Findlaw Legal Internet Guide http://www.findlaw.com/ Findlaw Newsletter Subscription Center http://newsletters.findlaw.com/ Findlaw Legal News - updated day and night http://news.findlaw.com/ FindLaw's Writ - Legal Commentary http://writ.findlaw.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------- From vivek at sarai.net Tue Nov 23 10:55:32 2004 From: vivek at sarai.net (Vivek Narayanan) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 10:55:32 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Seeds become big transnational business in Iraq Message-ID: <41A2C9CC.4000205@sarai.net> (http://jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2004-weekly/nos-21-11-2004/pol1.htm#6) The News on Sunday -- Pakistan November 21, 2004-- Shawal 07, 1425 A.H. 3. Political Economy Seeds become big transnational business in Iraq Less visible than the butchery of Fallujah are the country's subsistence farmers who are losing the rights to use saved seed and their right to produce their local food By Michel Fanton As violence rages on in Iraq under the US-led military coalition, the occupation's corporate backers are waging a less visible but as deadly economic war against the Iraqi population. In the frontline of this assault, less visible than the butchery of Fallujah, are the country's subsistence farmers who are losing the rights to use saved seed and their right to produce their local food. A recent report issued by international NGOs GRAIN and Focus on the Global South1, scrutinises the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) rules that were included in a new patent "order", one of 100 orders that were imposed on Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority of Paul Bremer, in April 2004, with the aim of opening the country to the full onslaught of globalised "free for all trade". The PVP provisions are designed to suppress traditional seed-saving and exchange practices going back to the neo-lithic ten thousand years ago, in favour of commercial rights that presage a takeover of Iraq's agriculture and food supply by transnational corporations that control the agricultural pesticide and seed business. The FAO estimated in 2002 that 97% of Iraqi farmers used their own saved seed or bought seed from local markets. Their main crops are wheat, barley, date and pulses, which is as big a part of their diet and very much at the base of their food network. But under the new regime, states the report, "farmers can neither freely legally plant nor save for re-planting seeds of any "protected plant variety" that enters the country. The rights of corporate plant breeders, (seed corporations who develop seed using genetic engineering, who own the seed, all or part of their gene sequences, lease genes and seeds as a software, and shamelessly harvest royalties worldwide), extend to harvested material, including plants product obtained from the protected variety. For instance, if the protected variety is a type of wheat, a registered cultivar, that requires less kneading as flour to make bread, then the seed company could claim rights over the final product, in this case it could be a "copyrighted" french stick, brioche, croissant, or pizza base. The unstated purpose of PVPs is to allow the interests of industrialised agriculture to appropriate plant genetic material, apply scientific breeding techniques including genetic engineering, and come up with "new" varieties that meet commercial criteria. These are laid out by the UPOV convention as "new, distinct, uniform and stable". At Seed Savers in Australia, we know from having grown thousands of farmers' varieties, that their seeds cannot meet these criteria of uniformity. Even if indigenous people without formal education or even pen and paper, wanted to--or could afford to--they don't stand a chance of registering their seeds because their varieties are cross-pollinating, loaded with genes and very diverse. The reason why farmers keep these local food varieties is because they are very resilient, adapted to local conditions, and are more likely to give a crop then the modern high-tech seeds that need pesticides, fertilisers and irrigation. These land race or farmers' varieties are the genetic base of today's food for all of us. This crop diversity is not rewarded by the formal sector only used by corporate breeders for their specialised complex genes sequences that are the base of modern patented varieties. We share the misgivings of GRAIN and other groups supporting biodiversity and food sovereignty, that other vulnerable countries such as Cambodia and Afghanistan we have recently visited, are being coerced by the US to accept PVP regimes similar to Iraq's, which go beyond the rules even of the WTO. Inevitably included in such bilateral trade "agreements" is the obligation to accept GE crops. GRAIN also warns of the potential of bio-piracy fuelled by IPR regimes that pander to corporate profiteering. The report mentions that Iraq's national seed bank, established in the 1970s, is feared lost, although samples of Iraqi varieties are held in trust at an agricultural institute in Syria. "These comprise the agricultural heritage of Iraq...and ought now to be repatriated," the report urges. Fat chance! The security of seed banks in Third World countries is of concern to Seed Savers members. We are appealing for help from specialists in Intellectual Property law to advise us and advocate for our partner seed and food networks, in the Solomons, Ecuador, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Now is the time for people of goodwill not only to oppose the war on Iraq but also to support indigenous populations everywhere to resist those who are profiteering from the war by naming them and boycotting their product. That was the drift of a speech by Arundhati Roy recently given in Sydney, Australia in acceptance of the Sydney Peace Prize. Now is the time for people of goodwill not only to oppose the war on Iraq, but to help indigenous populations everywhere resist attacks on their food sovereignty by naming the corporations who are privatising plant genes, and boycotting their products. -- Cobrapost News Features The author is a co-founder of International Seed Savers. From vinay at nls.ac.in Wed Nov 24 10:27:15 2004 From: vinay at nls.ac.in (vinay at nls.ac.in) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 10:27:15 +0530 (IST) Subject: [Commons-Law] People's Convention on the Patents Bill 2004 In-Reply-To: <20041123063007.EA45A28E1F7@mail.sarai.net> References: <20041123063007.EA45A28E1F7@mail.sarai.net> Message-ID: <18409.203.195.223.70.1101272235.squirrel@203.195.223.70> Please circulate. Dear Friends, This is an open invite to the PEOPLE'S CONVENTION ON THE PATENTS BILL 2004. Date: 30 November 2004 Venue: Dhuru Hall, Dadar Sarvajanik Vachanalaya Building, Chhabildas Road, Close to Dadar Railway Station / Vanmali Hall, Dadar (West), Mumbai – 400 028 Time: 4 pm – 6.30 pm As per obligations under the World Trade Organisations (WTO's) Agreement on TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), the Government of India has initiated steps to amend the Patents Act to introduce product patent protection to medicines, agrochemicals and food. The product patents regime prohibits other companies from manufacturing the same medicine without incurring extremely high costs. The impact of this monopoly on access to medicines is already being felt in India.The Controller of Patents has granted an Exclusive Marketing Right (EMR) to Novartis AG, for a drug called Gleevec used for the treatment of patients suffering from Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML), a life threatening form of cancer. EMR is granted as a transitional arrangement before providing product patent protection. Gleevec is sold by Novartis AG at Rs.1, 20,000 per month. The generic (non-branded) version of the drug was otherwise available to CML patients at Rs 9,000-12,000 per month. The EMR, if enforced will result in the withdrawal of generic version of Gleevec from the market. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of patients that suffer from CML every year in India will be denied access to this life saving drug. Both the industry and the civil society have approached the Supreme Court of India to challenge the decision of granting EMR on Gleevec. The product patent capture of the agrochemicals will provide companies with excessive powers to charge monopoly prices on inputs like pesticides and fertilizers- which would result in more farmer suicides. Pulses, and other basic food grains produced in a agricultural regime governed by product patents is bound to be costlier given that patented inputs to agriculture will cost more. This vicious spiral is bound to negatively hit consumers, especially those who belong to the poor segments of society. As part of the obligations under TRIPs, a Patent Amendment Bill (Bill) was introduced in the 13th Lok Sabha in December 2003. The Bill lapsed due to the dissolution of the Lok Sabha. In the last week of August 2004, the Cabinet decided to revive this process and referred the Bill to a Group of Ministers (GoM) to study the implications of contentious issues in the Bill. The GoM process has been non-transparent; there has been no opportunity to public interest groups to represent their viewpoint. This is a matter of concern because the Bill, in its present form, seriously compromises the accessibility and availability of medicines, two important components of the right to health. The Bill is expected to be tabled in the Parliament during the winter session, which begins 1st of December 2004. It is urgent that civil society groups question both the process and content of the Bill. As a first step to hold the government accountable several groups in Mumbai have got together to organize a public meeting in Mumbai to inform the public about the implications of this bill. Similar meetings will be held in Bangalore, New Delhi and Calcutta. As individuals and groups working on public interest issues we invite you to take part in this convention and contribute to the process of ensuring that the bill is defeated in the parliament. Thank you. In solidarity Affordable Medicines and Treatment Campaign (AMTC) Focus on the Global South, Mumbai JAN SWASTHIYA ABHIYAN (Peoples Health Movement) Mumbai Chapter Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit, Mumbai National Alliance of Peoples Movements (NAPM), Mumbai From rajlakshmi_nesargi at yahoo.com Wed Nov 24 11:08:26 2004 From: rajlakshmi_nesargi at yahoo.com (Rajlakshmi Nesargi) Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 21:38:26 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Commons-Law] People's convention on Patents Bill 2004 Message-ID: <20041124053826.91899.qmail@web51610.mail.yahoo.com> ABANDON/OPPOSE PATENT AMENDMENT BILL? Vinay�s posting regarding "The open invite to the PEOPLE'S CONVENTION ON THE PATENTS BILL 2004" took place in Bangalore yesterday. My posting arises after attending the meeting regarding the repercussions if India, a member of the TRIPs, refuses to comply with the necessary amendments. I do agree that we should oppose the inclusion of patent product since it will only go against the health and the economy of India. It will further the rising number of HIV/AIDS patients. The amendment will, among other people, prove disastrous for farmers who otherwise also are not enjoying a financially healthy lives, the proof being the news reports narrating stories of farmers committing death due to the inability of paying the debt. Thanks Raj "You must be the change you wish to see in the world. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"-Mahatma Gandhi --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! � Try it today! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041123/184e7659/attachment.html From lawrence at altlawforum.org Wed Nov 24 16:52:19 2004 From: lawrence at altlawforum.org (Lawrence Liang) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 16:52:19 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Update on Campaign against Patent Amendment- Bangalore Message-ID: Hi All This is a small report for a meeting that took place in Bangalore on the 23rd of November 2004 to discuss the implications of the proposed Patents Third Amendment Act, especially in terms of a threat to peoples health. Thought I would do a quick summary for those interested. The meeting was called by AMTC, Lawyers Collective and supported by a range of groups including Community Health Cell, Alternative Law Forum, Jana Swasthya Abhiyan, Samraksha, Freedom Foundation, KNP+ and Sangama. The meeting was attended by approximately sixty people ranging from different organizations and movements. It is always heartening to see patent issues move from their techno-legal terrain into the domain of public discourse and debate. The fact that patent law is neither an academic area nor a policy area alone was best evidenced by the presence of public health activists, sexuality minority groups and other human rights activists. Dr. Prakash Rao, Janaarogya Andolana, Karnataka began the session by tracing the history of patent policy in India, and clarifying for the audience certain key concepts such as the distinction between product and process patents, and the implications of a regime of product patent. He traced the history of patent policy in India from the 50¹s down to the Ayyangar Committee Report and the shaped that the Indian Patent Act took. Dr. Rao made the argument that one of the reasons that India had one of the cheapest drug industry was the decision to not allow product patents, which allowed companies in India to reverse engineer drugs and create them at much cheaper levels. He used the examples of a range of drugs where you could see this direct impact. Dr. Rao also lamented the fact that while patent law was clearly an area that had a direct impact on the lives of every person, the policy debate had unfortunately been captured only by interest groups, and there was really no manner in which public interest could be represented, and that the need was to create multiple forums through which we can mobilize and rally against the proposed amendment in its present form. Mr. Elango from KNP+ shared his experiences both as a member of KNP + as well as someone who was HIV + and what the amendment would mean for him, and for others who relied on the availability of low cost drugs in a country like India, which has very inadequate support in the form of insurance etc. He spoke also in terms of the changes that he had personally seen in the past seven years in the cost of drugs but the more critical issue according to Elango was the fact that one had to understand the nature of HIV to get an understanding of the long term implication of this amendment. He argued that most of the drugs that were being used today to fight HIV will not be effective in a few years, and the new drugs that are manufactured under a product patent will be unavailable to a vast majority of people. In that sense patent law has a direct impact in lives in a manner that forces us to deal with it as a serious human rights issue. Elango then raised questions on the strategies that had to be adopted to make this into a successful long term campaign involving various human rights groups and activists. Mr. Anand Grover, Lawyers Collective spoke about the legal implications of the proposed amendments. The chief argument that Anand raised was that even accepting the reality of the Trips agreement, the Trips provisions allowed for enough flexibility to enable countries to make amendments to their national legislations which ensured that there were enough safety valves to address issues of public health. But the danger of this amendment was clearly the fact that it exceeded the brief of Trips mandate. Anand illustrated the direct impact that product patent had on on the accessibility and availability of drugs. The most striking incident is the impact of product patent on access to HIV/AIDS drugs. Till 2000, antiretroviral (ARV) drugs were not accessible to the vast majority of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) all over the world because of the high price. Multinational drug companies priced ARV drugs between US$12-13,000 annually per person. The price started falling in 2000 when manufacturers from India introduced generic versions of ARV drugs. Now these generic drugs are given as low as US$ 140 annually per person to certain international organisations like the Clinton Foundation. This is possible because of the absence of a product patent regime in India. Further, the absence of product patent protection has also facilitated the introduction of fixed dose combination (FDC) of ARV drugs. A three-in-one cocktail pill introduced by the generic manufacturers substituted two pills for six pills per day. Thus the FDCs increased the accessibility as well as availability of ARV drugs. The introduction of FDCs became possible only because of the absence of product patent protection in India. The introduction of a product patent regime would prevent generic companies in India from repeating this miracle. The impact of monopoly on access to medicines is already felt in India. The Controller of Patents has granted an Exclusive Marketing Right (EMR) to Novartis AG, for the drug called Gleevec used for the treatment of patients suffering from Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML), a life threatening form of cancer. EMR is granted as a transitional arrangement before providing product patent protection. Gleevec is sold by Novartis AG at Rs. 1,20,000 per month.. The generic version of the drug was otherwise available to CML patients at Rs 9,000-12,000 per month. The EMR, if enforced will result in the withdrawal of generic version of Gleevec from the market. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of patients that suffer from CML every year in India will be denied access to this life saving drug. Both the industry and the civil society have approached the Supreme Court of India to challenge the decision of granting EMR on Gleevec. Ø Firstly, the Bill proposes to extend the scope of patentability beyond the TRIPS requirements by amending Section 3 (d) to allow patent protection for new use of known drugs. Patent for new use would help pharmaceutical companies to extend the monopoly over the drug even after the expiry of original patent. There is no obligation under TRIPS to provide patent protection to new use of known drugs. Earlier, the Mashelkar Committee recommended to limit the patent protection only to new chemical molecules. Ø Secondly, the Bill proposes to do away with the pre-grant opposition procedure. Currently, there are approximately 6,000 applications pending in the mailbox. In the absence of pre-grant opposition, these 6,000 applications would escape much needed public scrutiny. Public scrutiny is crucial in light of the fact that less than 500 drugs have been granted marketing approvals in India between 1995-2004. Ø Thirdly, the Bill has not properly incorporated the ³August 30th Decision², which permits the grant of compulsory licence for export purposes. The Bill proposes to permit compulsory licensing for export purpose if there is a compulsory license in the importing country having no or insufficient manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector. This ignores the fact that Least Developing Countries (LDCs) need not provide product patent till 2016. In the absence of patent protection, issuance of compulsory license is impossible. In that event, the Indian drug companies would not be able to export to LDCs. Ø Lastly, the Bill fails to revamp the compulsory licensing mechanism. Even though the Chapter on compulsory licenses in the Patents Act 1970 states the need for protecting the public interest, the same spirit is not reflected in the substantial provisions. Cumbersome procedures without any time line for the final disposal of application makes the compulsory license mechanism an impractical option to curb abuse of patent monopoly. Finally Mr. Manohar Elavarthi, Sangama spoke about the dangers that arose with the patent amendment in terms of a larger structural understanding of access to health in India. He was speaking particularly from the experience of the most vulnerable communities including sexuality minorities, sex workers etc, In the current scenario when Sec. 377 exists and when laws like the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act exist, most of these communities are already endangered in terms of accesss to health. Furthermore the law worked in a perverse manner to discriminate against minorities. ( For instance one the one hand sexuality minorities / sex workers fall under the high risk category, and on the other, when they have condoms and are arrested, their possession of condoms are used as evidence against them). He stated that communities like sexuality minorities and sex workers would have to take seriously the patent debate since it impacts their lives in a direct manner and patent law cannot be seen only as some abstract technical discussion. The meeting ended with a discussion on strategies since there is very little time between now and the winter session of parliament, and there will be further meetings to carry on the question of strategy. The next Bangalore meeting has been slated for Friday at Lawyers Collective Office. Lawrence From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Wed Nov 24 19:37:25 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:07:25 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Update on Campaign against Patent Amendment- Bangalore In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20041124140725.81648.qmail@web8401.mail.in.yahoo.com> Dear Lawrence, Thank you very much for that succinct note. Unfortunately, this debate on the bill (at least on the scale at which it is now) should have began when the first version of the bill was out. I'm only apprehensive that it may be slightly late in the day to thrash out all concerns fully-as you know, the present government is quite keen on meeting the 2005 deadline. Has anyone studied the range of flexibilities in TRIPS that we can avail of to delay our implementation? We do have a precedent (and a good one at that) for implementing TRIPS provisions at our own convenience- we introduced EMR's and the 'mailbox' provisions only through a 'retrospective' 1999 amendment (when TRIPS obligated us to do in 1995). Of course-we ended up being hauled up before a WTO dispute panel by the US-but I cant recollect any other detriment that befell us for this delay. If we can 'legally' buy ourselves a years time for this amendment-that would be ideal. Regards-Shamnad Lawrence Liang wrote: Hi All This is a small report for a meeting that took place in Bangalore on the 23rd of November 2004 to discuss the implications of the proposed Patents Third Amendment Act, especially in terms of a threat to peoples health. Thought I would do a quick summary for those interested. The meeting was called by AMTC, Lawyers Collective and supported by a range of groups including Community Health Cell, Alternative Law Forum, Jana Swasthya Abhiyan, Samraksha, Freedom Foundation, KNP+ and Sangama. The meeting was attended by approximately sixty people ranging from different organizations and movements. It is always heartening to see patent issues move from their techno-legal terrain into the domain of public discourse and debate. The fact that patent law is neither an academic area nor a policy area alone was best evidenced by the presence of public health activists, sexuality minority groups and other human rights activists. Dr. Prakash Rao, Janaarogya Andolana, Karnataka began the session by tracing the history of patent policy in India, and clarifying for the audience certain key concepts such as the distinction between product and process patents, and the implications of a regime of product patent. He traced the history of patent policy in India from the 50¹s down to the Ayyangar Committee Report and the shaped that the Indian Patent Act took. Dr. Rao made the argument that one of the reasons that India had one of the cheapest drug industry was the decision to not allow product patents, which allowed companies in India to reverse engineer drugs and create them at much cheaper levels. He used the examples of a range of drugs where you could see this direct impact. Dr. Rao also lamented the fact that while patent law was clearly an area that had a direct impact on the lives of every person, the policy debate had unfortunately been captured only by interest groups, and there was really no manner in which public interest could be represented, and that the need was to create multiple forums through which we can mobilize and rally against the proposed amendment in its present form. Mr. Elango from KNP+ shared his experiences both as a member of KNP + as well as someone who was HIV + and what the amendment would mean for him, and for others who relied on the availability of low cost drugs in a country like India, which has very inadequate support in the form of insurance etc. He spoke also in terms of the changes that he had personally seen in the past seven years in the cost of drugs but the more critical issue according to Elango was the fact that one had to understand the nature of HIV to get an understanding of the long term implication of this amendment. He argued that most of the drugs that were being used today to fight HIV will not be effective in a few years, and the new drugs that are manufactured under a product patent will be unavailable to a vast majority of people. In that sense patent law has a direct impact in lives in a manner that forces us to deal with it as a serious human rights issue. Elango then raised questions on the strategies that had to be adopted to make this into a successful long term campaign involving various human rights groups and activists. Mr. Anand Grover, Lawyers Collective spoke about the legal implications of the proposed amendments. The chief argument that Anand raised was that even accepting the reality of the Trips agreement, the Trips provisions allowed for enough flexibility to enable countries to make amendments to their national legislations which ensured that there were enough safety valves to address issues of public health. But the danger of this amendment was clearly the fact that it exceeded the brief of Trips mandate. Anand illustrated the direct impact that product patent had on on the accessibility and availability of drugs. The most striking incident is the impact of product patent on access to HIV/AIDS drugs. Till 2000, antiretroviral (ARV) drugs were not accessible to the vast majority of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) all over the world because of the high price. Multinational drug companies priced ARV drugs between US$12-13,000 annually per person. The price started falling in 2000 when manufacturers from India introduced generic versions of ARV drugs. Now these generic drugs are given as low as US$ 140 annually per person to certain international organisations like the Clinton Foundation. This is possible because of the absence of a product patent regime in India. Further, the absence of product patent protection has also facilitated the introduction of fixed dose combination (FDC) of ARV drugs. A three-in-one cocktail pill introduced by the generic manufacturers substituted two pills for six pills per day. Thus the FDCs increased the accessibility as well as availability of ARV drugs. The introduction of FDCs became possible only because of the absence of product patent protection in India. The introduction of a product patent regime would prevent generic companies in India from repeating this miracle. The impact of monopoly on access to medicines is already felt in India. The Controller of Patents has granted an Exclusive Marketing Right (EMR) to Novartis AG, for the drug called Gleevec used for the treatment of patients suffering from Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (CML), a life threatening form of cancer. EMR is granted as a transitional arrangement before providing product patent protection. Gleevec is sold by Novartis AG at Rs. 1,20,000 per month.. The generic version of the drug was otherwise available to CML patients at Rs 9,000-12,000 per month. The EMR, if enforced will result in the withdrawal of generic version of Gleevec from the market. Consequently, the overwhelming majority of patients that suffer from CML every year in India will be denied access to this life saving drug. Both the industry and the civil society have approached the Supreme Court of India to challenge the decision of granting EMR on Gleevec. Ø Firstly, the Bill proposes to extend the scope of patentability beyond the TRIPS requirements by amending Section 3 (d) to allow patent protection for new use of known drugs. Patent for new use would help pharmaceutical companies to extend the monopoly over the drug even after the expiry of original patent. There is no obligation under TRIPS to provide patent protection to new use of known drugs. Earlier, the Mashelkar Committee recommended to limit the patent protection only to new chemical molecules. Ø Secondly, the Bill proposes to do away with the pre-grant opposition procedure. Currently, there are approximately 6,000 applications pending in the mailbox. In the absence of pre-grant opposition, these 6,000 applications would escape much needed public scrutiny. Public scrutiny is crucial in light of the fact that less than 500 drugs have been granted marketing approvals in India between 1995-2004. Ø Thirdly, the Bill has not properly incorporated the ³August 30th Decision², which permits the grant of compulsory licence for export purposes. The Bill proposes to permit compulsory licensing for export purpose if there is a compulsory license in the importing country having no or insufficient manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector. This ignores the fact that Least Developing Countries (LDCs) need not provide product patent till 2016. In the absence of patent protection, issuance of compulsory license is impossible. In that event, the Indian drug companies would not be able to export to LDCs. Ø Lastly, the Bill fails to revamp the compulsory licensing mechanism. Even though the Chapter on compulsory licenses in the Patents Act 1970 states the need for protecting the public interest, the same spirit is not reflected in the substantial provisions. Cumbersome procedures without any time line for the final disposal of application makes the compulsory license mechanism an impractical option to curb abuse of patent monopoly. Finally Mr. Manohar Elavarthi, Sangama spoke about the dangers that arose with the patent amendment in terms of a larger structural understanding of access to health in India. He was speaking particularly from the experience of the most vulnerable communities including sexuality minorities, sex workers etc, In the current scenario when Sec. 377 exists and when laws like the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act exist, most of these communities are already endangered in terms of accesss to health. Furthermore the law worked in a perverse manner to discriminate against minorities. ( For instance one the one hand sexuality minorities / sex workers fall under the high risk category, and on the other, when they have condoms and are arrested, their possession of condoms are used as evidence against them). He stated that communities like sexuality minorities and sex workers would have to take seriously the patent debate since it impacts their lives in a direct manner and patent law cannot be seen only as some abstract technical discussion. The meeting ended with a discussion on strategies since there is very little time between now and the winter session of parliament, and there will be further meetings to carry on the question of strategy. The next Bangalore meeting has been slated for Friday at Lawyers Collective Office. Lawrence _______________________________________________ commons-law mailing list commons-law at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partneronline. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041124/b3f7c990/attachment.html From shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in Wed Nov 24 21:36:13 2004 From: shamnadbasheer at yahoo.co.in (Shamnad Basheer) Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 16:06:13 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Torvalds trashes EU software patent proposal In-Reply-To: <20041124140725.81648.qmail@web8401.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <20041124160613.54997.qmail@web8406.mail.in.yahoo.com> http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5464306.html?tag=zdnn.alert Shamnad Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your life partneronline. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041124/e5cfa854/attachment.html From rajlakshmi_nesargi at yahoo.com Thu Nov 25 19:53:57 2004 From: rajlakshmi_nesargi at yahoo.com (Rajlakshmi Nesargi) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 06:23:57 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Commons-Law] Students' indecent MMS shocks Delhi Message-ID: <20041125142357.51957.qmail@web51603.mail.yahoo.com> Another piece of news..... Source: NDTV. Image Source: AFP New Delhi, Nov 25: The recent incident of explicit sexual pictures of a student in a top school in the Capital, which is being forwarded on cellphones, has sent a ripple of shock throughout the city. The female student of the school can be seen indulging in a sexual act on an MMS or mobile video clip. The person who has circulated the picture also happens to be a student of the same school. The worst part is that the picture is not confined to the school anymore, but has found its way to cellphones of many children even outside. The horrifying incident has raised many issues, primarily of not allowing students to bring mobile phones to school. "Carrying cellphones or cameras to school is strictly prohibited. Students come to school to study and these gadgets distract them," said R Shekhar, Principal, Gyan Bharati School. However, whether that will solve the problem is another question altogether, as the school authorities say that the parents are equally to blame for such unhealthy trends. "Parents must not pamper their children by giving them cellphones. It's not as if they can't manage without them. Every school has several phones and in case of an emergency, they can be contacted," added Shekhar. However, the police say they have so far not received any complaints against the picture doing the rounds, but add that it is within the ambit of their enquiry. "We will hopefully receive some information about how this electronic communication is taking place. We will then initiate appropriate action," said Deependra Pathak, DCP, South-West Delhi. "We are in fact open to taking action as and when we receive a complaint," he added. This incident highlights the fact that modern technology can be as much of a bane as a blessing, and needs to be strongly guarded against misuse of all kinds. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041125/71ed6715/attachment.html From rajlakshmi_nesargi at yahoo.com Fri Nov 26 06:59:44 2004 From: rajlakshmi_nesargi at yahoo.com (Rajlakshmi Nesargi) Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2004 17:29:44 -0800 (PST) Subject: [Commons-Law] EU Embraces Open Source Framework Message-ID: <20041126012944.53906.qmail@web51605.mail.yahoo.com> http://lsolum.typepad.com/copyfutures/November 25, 2004EU Embraces Open Source Framework Karl-Friedrich Lenz posted an entry on the Lenz Blog on Nov. 20th regarding the big push by many European governments to develop an open source standard for software interoperability in Europe. The European Commission has recently completed version 1.0 the European Interoperability Framework. The Framework lays out the minimal requirements in order to be considered an open standard. Those requirements include: (1) that the standard be maintained by a non-profit organization and that further development of the standard occur through open decision making procedures; (2) the standard document must be available for free or at a nominal charge and it must be free to redistribute and to use; (3) the intellectual property of the standard is made available on an irrevocable royalty-free basis; and (4) there are no constraints in the re-use of the standard. The push for Open Source Software closely tied to the need for open standards. Many of the objectives of the Framework are shared by the OSS. The Open Source movement has a strong following in Europe. It has been instrumental in fighting the patentability of software in Europe. The European Commission is in the final stages of approving revisions to the European Patent Convention that would allow for software and business method patents. Under the current version of the European Patent Convention, software �as such� is expressly barred from being patented. Open Source developers such Linus Torvalds have repeatedly attempted to convince the European Commission that software should continue to be unpatentable in Europe. One of the major concerns that the Open Source developers have regarding software patents is these patents may be used to stifle competition by preventing interoperability of computer systems. At least in the context of the European governments, some sort of Open Source solution as a standard for developing pan-European interoperability of government systems makes sense. In order to develop a stronger and more cohesive union, it is essential that the European governments be able to interact effectively. The use of an open standard for interoperability puts each of the governments on equal footing. All of the member nations have access to the same standards and through the open decision making process, each will have a say in the standard�s evolution. The adoption of open standards encourages competition that should hopefully drive down the costs of implementation as well. No single company has control over the development of the standard, avoiding the danger of monopolistic pricing. Open Source software does work indeed work extremely well in certain contexts. Linux is a perfect example of this, but it still is not a universal replacement for the traditional model of software development where the developer retains copyright and other IP protections over their software. Software is notoriously complicated and expensive to develop. Software companies want to ensure that they can earn a return on the often sizeable investment in their products. This economic justification has long been a basis for strong IP protections for software. Traditionally software has been protected through copyright, trade secret, and patent protections (patent protection for software is not supposed to be possible in Europe, but the European Patent Organisation has approved more than 30,000 software-based patents). The traditional protections are going to continue to be important when it comes to software, but we will continue to see the prominence of open source and open standards continue to grow as well. Open Source has proven itself especially adept at promoting system interoperability and economical development of software through community efforts. These are not mutually exclusive approaches to software development. Each approach can play its own role and fill its own niche in the market and will continue to play an important role in the development of software both in Europe and throughout the world. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win"-Mahatma Gandhi --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041125/6cc8f44f/attachment.html From kalisaroj at rediffmail.com Tue Nov 30 16:09:39 2004 From: kalisaroj at rediffmail.com (avinash jha) Date: 30 Nov 2004 10:39:39 -0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Owning 'work' or owning 'information'? Message-ID: <20041130103939.22455.qmail@webmail27.rediffmail.com>   Owning 'work' or owning 'information'? While reading a book I often find some passages and parts of chapters that I think would be nice to share with other people, by posting them on a list or by some other means. Occasionally, I feel I could put together a book or a booklet by using materials from different sources and maybe including something of my own. This is a kind of reorganization of knowledge. It has both cognitive and communicative significance. There is a great deal of knowledge in the world but the principles and practices of organization of this knowledge are completely skewed. I realize that current cultures of research, economics of publishing, and regimes of intellectual property would not allow such a book to be put together and printed for distribution. In the prevailing research culture, you are supposed to find or create novelties in order to be successful. Research has increasingly become a competitive search for novelty. A rather narrow conception of inspiration and the creative act is at work here. The work of organizing knowledge in creative ways is likely to invite the charge of plagiarism. Edited books do come out but they are mostly to do with the ‘state of the art’. Publishers accept these edited books if there is a specialized market for them. And such specialized markets, to be lucrative enough, are those that have the institutional-financial backing. Only with such backing can one buy the expensive books. Such books have to be expensive in order to be viable commercial propositions in spite of the small market size. To come back to the question of my desire of producing a ‘book of plagiarisms’, it is the intellectual property regime, which is the greatest obstacle. And it is here that I seek the engagement of list members. What kind of intellectual property regime will make possible and facilitate such endeavors? And in such a way that we escape the ‘tragedy of the commons’ as enunciated by Sudhir in his recent essay posted on this list. [“ we can agree that the ideal regulatory framework for public goods is one that maximizes access and use of these goods while ensuring the sustainable preservation and regeneration of the resource.”] Path to a solution seemed to open, at least to me, if one viewed the product of intellectual endeavor, and the object of ownership, as a ‘work’ rather than text or information. If the right to intellectual property is seen in terms of the right to the product of one’s own work, it seems to open some possibilities. This also entails viewing work and property in close interrelationship. Suppose I write a 50-page essay and produce it as a booklet. It is my work, and therefore, my intellectual property. If someone else puts it together with three other essays and prints it as a book. This is not my work but someone else’s, and therefore it is not my property. My work has been used to create a new work. This happens routinely when articles by various authors are published in magazines and journals. An issue of a journal is primarily the work of the people producing that journal – editorial or otherwise. It is a collective property in this case. The only qualification is that if my work is used in toto, it should be acknowledged in the credit. I think that even the current copyright regime grants this. The current regime acknowledges that ideas, plots etc. cannot be copyrighted. Suppose we extend this to text and information also. Is this detrimental to authors/owners? Anyone will be able to reproduce an author’s work, with a new one-page preface. To prevent this, there can be a rule that unless the new work is twice the length of the original works being used therein, it won’t be considered a new work. May be only a maximum of one-third of a text should be allowed to be reproduced. In such a regime, no text that has once seen the light of day can be locked away on the basis of property rights. I am just giving a crude example. All I am saying is that there are good reasons for trying to formulate rules and norms on the basis of such a framework. In each area of copyright, patent, and intellectual property, the rules have to be attempted. It is not easy to formulate such rules and norms in any case. In the case of scientific and industrial inventions, this way of looking at patents yields the argument for a product patent rather than the process patent. Product patent allows the use of someone else’s work to create something new, while restricting simple reproduction for profit. This way of understanding intellectual creations is, I believe, also philosophically more sound, compared to viewing them as ‘information’ in the technical sense of an ordered set of marks or symbols, or as ‘text’. Prevalent view of creativity privileges inspiration over work. While inspiration and insight may be the most important for the person who has them, as a social creation it is the work, which is more important. Quite often it is so for the authors themselves. Inspiration and insight is embedded in the work and surely adds much greater value to it. This view also restores certain just amount of ‘intention’ and ‘ownership’ to the text, which has been lost in the postmodernist theory of interpretation where text is a fallow land waiting to be ploughed. Inexhaustible unintended interpretations of a text could also be understood as inexhaustible unintended consequences of action, or work. Moreover, reader does not relate to the text alone. She primarily relates to the work. Except of course those whose work it is to relate to the text, the specialists of this job. Our view works from a perspective rooted in the continuity of life, where if one umbilical cord is cut at birth many others remain. Individuation of living beings or living works is not an event but a process with its successes and dangers, with ups and downs. Ownership of work also has ethical implications. What is truly interesting is that the domain of ethics, morality or responsibility does not stop at the intended consequences of action. Though legality might stop just there. Ethics does not reside in good intentions alone. So what will be the social, cultural and economic consequences of an intellectual property regime based on ownership of work rather than ownership of information? There will certainly be a proliferation of intellectual works of different forms. Monopolies will be extremely limited. The work of reorganization of knowledge in ways that is conducive to life will be facilitated. Our notion of work while itself being informed by the notion of property and ownership, in turn, informs our notion of text or information. It can work the other way round too. What will the notion of property be, as informed by the notion of work? We can properly own that which is a product of our work. To build a house, I earn money, make plans, take loans, hire workers. In the temporal organization of work that creates the house I play a central role and to that extent I can have property rights. Workers own their work, but not the house. If there is a freedom to bargain and negotiate with respect to the house, there must be similar freedom with respect to the work that workers do. I who owns the house is a worker elsewhere. Well, I may be getting carried away by the conceptual logic and the imagery. But this is where my argument has led me to and I am willing to be instructed and informed. It is the multiple resonances of meaning that the notion of ‘work’ is able to gather around itself, that makes it work. These multiple meanings would be the legacy of many traditions spread over time and space. The notion of ‘work’ confounds the cognitive categories of mainstream western philosophy. It is both process and product, action and meaning, verb and noun. Avinash Jha -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20041130/2683ec75/attachment.html From keith at thememorybank.co.uk Tue Nov 30 19:42:39 2004 From: keith at thememorybank.co.uk (Keith Hart) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 15:12:39 +0100 Subject: [Commons-Law] Owning 'work' or owning 'information'? In-Reply-To: <20041130103939.22455.qmail@webmail27.rediffmail.com> References: <20041130103939.22455.qmail@webmail27.rediffmail.com> Message-ID: <41AC7FD7.6050005@thememorybank.co.uk> Avinash, I am very sympathetic to the views you express. Like many who wish to escape from the restrictions imposed on communication by the current 'intellectual property regime', you ask how one might design an another version of the same thing. This is in essence what the various systems of alternative property licencing attempt. But this is the problem not the solution. The world has done quite well with little or no 'intellectual property' until quite recently and it will do without it again. The issue lies with the idea of prviate property itself and with lawyers who think that by writing down rules they can protect common freedoms. In a common law tradition, the test of freedom is your own judgment about what is right and your ability to sustain this view in any legal process your actions initiate. Law is made not by pieces of paper laid down by ruling bodies, but by judges making precedents through the decisions they reach in particular cases. It follows that what you can get away with is at least as important as what you may be 'allowed' to do. Now it is manifestly clear that the human conversation is not advanced by present commercial restrictions on the production and circulation of texts.Whereas if you take my cow, only one of us can enjoy its milk, this is not so with ideas and the analogy between 'real' and intellectual' property is a false one. If it is dubious that an unauthorised copy of a CD or DVD deprives anyone of their 'property', it is even more preposterous to claim that an author would be harmed by your reproduction of their text in a compilation of your own. Most writers suffer from lack of recognition of their work and will readily acknowledge that such an action is gratuitous and welcome publicity that might even drawn more attention to their work. The real test of whether anyone will do something about your 'plagiarism; is if you make money from it. I have long recognized that there is an informal rule in copyright matters that I call 'mice in the basement'. meaning that the mice will be allowed to play as long as they stay in the cellar and don;t themselves upstairs. I have been infringing copyright for over a decade now, first through a pamphlet publishing enteprise and then through my website, on the assumption that (a) the relevant people won't notice (b) I am not making much or any money and suing is expensive (c) there is a huge backlog of copyright cases waiting to be heard in the courts and I will take my chances at the end of the queue. (d) I beleive my attitude is right within the common law tradition I grew up with and I am prepared to fight and suffer for the principle of free sharing of knowledge, if necessary But (e) I don;t often make a song and dance about what I am doing, since this would draw attention and might lead to my selection as a scapegoat. The recent actions of the recording industry in the USA, Britain and France show that they, in a proud tradition of welathy an dpowerful corporations, are prepared to use the law to cow most people into submission on threat of fines or imprisonment. I am more familiar with the subtle differences between Britian and France. In the first, the record companies claimed that they were targeting individuals who were th emost egregious offenders under their system, whereas in France they just indicted 50 individuals chosen at random, only one of whom has revealed her name and come out to ask for public support in defending the case. This example makes it clear that the law as presently constituted is only one aspect of the political conflict. There is also public opinion, resistance and the like. Historically these regimes of unequal property rights have been established by force as much as by law -- through two revolutions in 17th century England, for example). The issue is currently gloabl and it unites areas as disparate as seeds, drugs, software, music and research publications. The regimes that administer international intelelctual property law were established by and for the United States and Europe. The former is now bludgeoning individual countries into signing bilateral treaties protecting its corporations' IP (a licence for monopoly profits) and its soldiers from prosecution for war crimes (a licence to invade with legal impunity). yet the same USA is running up huge trade and budget deficits paid for in large part by the savings of Asian countries, especially Japan and China. These latter countries, as you know, are at this moment forming the largest trading bloc in the world, which India will eventually join. So, the question of who sets the eeconomic rules in our world is ready for a dramatic change. I actually think that the IP regime you refer to is so pernicious that it warrants a widepsread campaign of civli disobedience, as much as the British empire's occupation of India once did. Gandhi didn't lead th emovement for independence by asking to rewrite the rule book. I am currently writing a short book called The Hitman's Dilemma, which uses the figure of the gangster as a metaphor for capitalism's moral economy (there is one, however contradicitory). While I am writing it, I am keeping a blog displaying drafts. I haven't asked my publisher for permission to do so. www.thememorybank.co.uk/blog Keith Hart From annymcbeal at gmail.com Tue Nov 30 20:39:17 2004 From: annymcbeal at gmail.com (anu) Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:39:17 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] "optical disc law" Message-ID: <8a1161ed041130070934929f9b@mail.gmail.com> here is an important news i thought would be importnat for the people on this list. does anyone have any information about the contents of this law?? http://www.hindu.com/2004/11/30/stories/2004113006131000.htm Centre planning to enact "Optical Disc Law" By Anil Sastry PANAJI, NOV. 29. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Jaipal Reddy, has said that the Centre was contemplating the enactment of the "Optical Disc Law" with stringent penal provisions to curb piracy. "All the stakeholders in the film industry would be involved while drafting such a legislation which should act as a deterrent for piracy," Mr. Reddy told an audience comprising top film personalities at the inauguration of the 35th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) - Goa, here this evening. Provided employment The Centre's concern was natural, as the film industry has provided employment to lakhs of people, generating crores of revenue and contributed towards a silent social revolution, he said. While the industry directly employed about 10 lakh people, more than 40 lakh people were indirectly earning their livelihood from it. With an average production of 800 films a year, the industry earned a revenue of Rs. 4,500 crores,in the last year. Mr. Reddy said Indian cinema quietly changed the mindset of people and saluted the industry for its contribution. The IFFI has grown manifold over the years, he added. He thanked the Goa Government for making the IFFI a success within a short duration, by building world-class infrastructure for the festival. Hub of Asian film activities The Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, said the Government intends to convert Goa into a hub of Asian film activities. "I promise one thing, in [the] next three to five years, IFFI-Goa would be considered as the topmost film festival in the world." Criticising those who were questioning the selection of Goa as the IFFI's permanent venue, he said that 25 per cent of the musicians in the film industry were from Goa, though the State only had a population of 13 lakhs. He said, "We started from scratch to put up a world-class infrastructure for the festival, including a four-screen multiplex and the festival theatre." He was thankful to the then Union Information Ministers, Sushma Swaraj, and Ravi Shankar Prasad, who declared Goa as the permanent venue for the IFFI and to Mr. Reddy, who kept the promise even after a change in Government.