From pranesh at cis-india.org Tue Sep 1 13:18:49 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:18:49 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Fwd: [Ip-health] Brazil to break US patents Message-ID: <4A9CD1E1.6030506@cis-india.org> The Brazilian government is planning a tit-for-tat against the U.S. by openly allowing for the infringement of American company-held pharma patents. Interestingly, this report notes that the WTO is "expected to rule on Monday that Brazil can contravene the drug patents". -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Ip-health] Brazil to break US patents Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:48:17 -0400 From: Sean Flynn To: From: WTO-INTL [mailto:WTO-INTL at LISTSERVER.CITIZEN.ORG] On Behalf Of Victor Menotti Financial Times FT.com Brazil ready to infringe US drug patents By Jonathan Wheatley in São Paulo Published: August 30 2009 17:41 | Last updated: August 30 2009 17:41 Brazil is preparing to infringe patents on US pharmaceutical products, in retaliation against subsidies for US cotton farmers, according to the Brazilian press. The World Trade Organisation is expected to rule on Monday that Brazil can contravene the drug patents, say the reports. Brazil led a challenge against US cotton subsidies in 2002 and, two years later, the WTO ruled that about $3bn paid to US cotton farmers each year distorted global prices and violated trade rules. The US has continued the subsidies, arguing that the measures were consistent with its WTO obligations. But the WTO has supported Brazil¹s case. It allowed Brazil to retaliate in 2005 but Brasília has instead sought a negotiated settlement to avoid damaging relations with the US, until recently its biggest trading partner. However, Brazil has become increasingly frustrated by the US refusal to remove its subsidies and, under pressure from its own cotton growers, is reported to be preparing to retaliate. One option would be to raise import tariffs against US goods. But Brazil is a relatively small US market, taking $32bn out of $1,287bn of US exports last year. Instead it is preparing to take action over intellectual property, an area of much greater significance to the US. The WTO is expected to include this possibility in its ruling on Monday. According to a report in a Brazilian newspaper the government has prepared a "provisional measure"­ a presidential decree that takes immediate effect, although it must later be ratified by Congress­ to allow Brazilian pharmaceuticals companies to copy medicines protected by US patents. In 2007 Brazil followed Thailand in overriding a patent on a pivotal HIV medicine, allowing it to buy equivalents of Efavirenz, patented by Merck, from rival generic suppliers under provisions permitted by WTO rules. The move followed years of brinkmanship during which Brazil achieved steep discounts on HIV drugs by threatening to break patents. Its expected move on Monday comes in the context of growing frustration in Brasília at the Obama administration¹s reluctance to act on farm subsidies affecting cotton and other sectors of Brazilian agribusiness, especially sugar and ethanol. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009. Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy policy | Terms © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2009. Victor Menotti Executive Director International Forum on Globalization 1009 General Kennedy Avenue #2 San Francisco, CA 94129 Cel: +1-415-351-8065 Tel: +1-415-561-3491 Fax:+1-415-561-7651 Email: vmenotti at ifg.org Skype: victormenotti www.ifg.org ============================================================== WTO-Intl - the listserv the Our World Is Not For Sale network (OWINFS) If you have any questions/concerns, contact the list owner at: WTO-INTL-request at LISTSERVER.CITIZEN.ORG _______________________________________________ Ip-health mailing list Ip-health at lists.essential.org http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/ip-health -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 197 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20090901/d13e8157/attachment.bin From pranesh at cis-india.org Tue Sep 1 14:11:01 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:11:01 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Film and Piracy #1: Bollywood embracing technology Message-ID: <4A9CDE1D.8030307@cis-india.org> Dear all, This is the first in a series of posts on the film industry and piracy. I read this AFP report in yesterday's newspaper. Interesting quote: > The idea is to make clients out of youngsters like Abhishek, rather than criminalise them, said T-Series’ managing director Bhushan Kumar. > > ‘The trend in music is strongly favouring digital platforms,’ he told reporters recently. > > ‘We will be aggressively looking at mobile memory chips through which people can carry music on their phones and will be looking at pen drives which people can carry with them and use in laptop as well as car audio systems.’ Cheers, Pranesh http://tr.im/xCly MUMBAI: Abhishek Choudhary is a typical college student. Like millions of other teenagers, whenever he wants to listen to the latest Bollywood tune, he logs on to his computer and downloads it for free. The illegally-obtained tracks are then transferred onto his mobile phone and shared with friends using Bluetooth technology, providing a beat to their daily lives. one ‘It’s easy and freely available. That’s the best part of the Internet. I can get any kind of Bollywood music through different websites at any time,’ said 19-year-old Abhishek, who asked for his real name not to be used. But his days of downloading and easy exchanging could be numbered, as the Indian government looks to get tough on the intellectual property pirates. A new law is winding its way through parliament, recommending up to two years in jail for anyone caught bootlegging music CDs. And earlier this year, four major Bollywood studios teamed up with a private security firm in Mumbai to take on the DVD counterfeiters who cost the film industry an estimated 15 billion rupees (300 million dollars) every year. Like elsewhere in the world, the arrival of the MP3 format, increasing take-up of the Internet and portable music devices like iPods have changed the way people buy and enjoy music in India. In 2008, the Indian music industry was worth some 7.3 billion rupees, down from 8.3 billion rupees three years earlier, according to a KPMG report for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Revenues could fall up to nine per cent by 2013 as consumers switch from buying music CDs and audio cassettes to digital formats, prices drop to stay competitive, and unauthorised copying of tunes continues, it added. Bollywood, India’s popular Hindi-language film industry, drives the country’s music scene, with the most popular songs mainly coming from the hundreds of movies that come out each year. Now, as corporate investment from home and abroad transforms film-making, production and marketing from an informal family affair into a multi-national business, the industry is looking to modernise every revenue stream. The first step has been taken by India’s largest music company, T-Series, which is to offer music from the upcoming film ‘Blue’ on portable USB memory sticks and mobile phone cards. Music for the film, starring a host of big name Bollywood stars and a cameo role from Australian singer Kylie Minogue, has been composed by A.R. Rahman, who won two Oscars for his work on ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ earlier this year. The idea is to make clients out of youngsters like Abhishek, rather than criminalise them, said T-Series’ managing director Bhushan Kumar. ‘The trend in music is strongly favouring digital platforms,’ he told reporters recently. ‘We will be aggressively looking at mobile memory chips through which people can carry music on their phones and will be looking at pen drives which people can carry with them and use in laptop as well as car audio systems.’ Another music company, Saregama, aims to follow suit. India is one of the fastest-growing telecoms markets in the world. The number of mobile phone subscribers crossed the 400 million mark in April, with the country on track to have half a billion customers by next year, according to official data released in June. Kumar said the formal sale of Bollywood tunes for mobile phones was a ‘revolutionary step which may change music consumption in India to a great degree’. Abhishek said he would use the technology ‘as long as it’s cheap and affordable’ — a key test as to whether it takes off among India’s tech-savvy, urban youth. T-Series and Saregama have yet to divulge how much their devices will cost. — AFP -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 197 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20090901/a5ddda1d/attachment-0001.bin From pranesh at cis-india.org Tue Sep 1 14:18:30 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:18:30 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Film and Piracy #2: Bollywood tech offerings not cheap Message-ID: <4A9CDFDE.3010404@cis-india.org> Apart from T-Series, Big Music is also going after those listening to music on their phones and computers. But while they price a CD at Rs.160, they are pricing the SD cards at Rs.699. http://tr.im/xCn8 > BIG Music loads Do Knot Disturb songs on SD cards > MANISHA PRADHAN SINGH > Aug 26, 2009 > > > MUMBAI: BIG Music launched the music of David Dhawan's Do Knot Disturb in Mumbai recently. > > This is the first time that a music company in India has launched the music of a Bollywood film on an SD (Secure Digital) card, that enables listeners to load and store this in their mobile phones and MP3 players. > > Speaking to Businessofcinema.com on the same, BIG Music AVP digital and new media Sunil Meghrajani said, "The SD card is a memory card that is often used by handset users, they use it for various reasons like storing data, music files, images and today there is a large market of 420 million people who are mobile phone subscribers and the handset has become a player of choice for a lot of users who use it not only to make voice calls but also as an entertainment device, that is the main reason we decided to package content on an SD card make it available to them. The pricing strategy, on keeping it at par with the blank card is an anti-piracy strategy we have adopted." > > The SD card is priced at Rs 699, while the music CDs are priced at Rs 160. > > Besides Dhawan, those present at the launch were actor Govinda, producer Vashu Bhagnani, music director Shravan, lyricist Sameer and singers Neeraj Shridhar and Anushka Manchanda. > > While actors Ritesh Deshmukh and Lara Dutta joined via video conference from London, where they are currently shooting for Sajid Khan's film Housefull, the two other stars of the film Sushmita Sen, who is out of Mumbai and Sohail Khan, who is busy with his forthcoming film Kissan, were not able to attend the event. > > BIG Pictures COO Sunir Kheterpal said, "Films directed by David Dhawan have always had a vastly popular music and Do Knot Disturb highlights it yet again. The music will grow on the audience and listeners as we move towards the film's release." -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 197 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20090901/c21f5705/attachment.bin From pranesh at cis-india.org Tue Sep 1 14:26:43 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:26:43 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Film and PIracy #3: Piracy hurting the 2nd largest film producer? Message-ID: <4A9CE1CB.7010406@cis-india.org> Dear all, A bit more about the Nigerian film industry and the "piracy problem" it faces, from the Reuters blog: http://tr.im/xCoY This piece assumes that piracy is a black-and-white issue, and that it is harmful. Regards, Pranesh http://tr.im/xCoY The first “[Nollywood][1]” film, “Living in Bondage”, was a tale of witchcraft, money and betrayal produced by Okechukwu Ogunjiofor. [1]: http://www.nollywood.com/ That was back in 1992. Today, [Nigeria’s $450 million home video industry ][2]is the third biggest in the world, after Hollywood and Bollywood. [2]: http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSTRE52525Y20090306 “I actually set out to be a film maker, so I got my training, came to Lagos. But since I could not do a thing on celluloid … I said to myself that there must be a way around it, there must be a new way to do the old things and that new way was trying to invent, you know, to experiment with VHS cameras. That experiment was what we did with ‘Living with Bondage’ and today that experiment has culminated into what we find and people call Nollywood,” Ogunjiofor told Reuters Africa Journal. Despite the successes, money and betrayal still play their part. Film piracy means millions of dollars a year leach out of the industry. An average Nollywood film sells about 50,000 copies, yet in Lagos alone millions of bootleg copies go for just $1, undercutting Nollywood’s price of $2. Fed up with the pirates, Ogunjiofor, who has pioneered an [award scheme ][3]to reward production excellence in the film industry, has now turned to TV drama and soap operas and wants to see more government support, and legal backing, to help film-makers build a reputable industry. [3]: http://www.tava-awards.com/ “As long as you are doing a good movie, you are a candidate of piracy. From the moment you go on location, they start buying materials to wait for your job,” Ogunjiofor said. “Piracy is so bad, so bad that almost every Friday here trailer loads of CDs made in Nigeria are crossing borders.” -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 197 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20090901/f619e1fe/attachment.bin From pranesh at cis-india.org Tue Sep 1 14:35:00 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:35:00 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Film and Piracy #4: West African Creativity Message-ID: <4A9CE3BC.701@cis-india.org> Dear all, More on the Nigerian film industry: > "Nollywood broke the myth that only big budgets can guarantee market success," says Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima, filmmaker and founding CEO of the African Movie Academy Awards, the continent's answer to the Oscars. "And that success can be replicated elsewhere if there is a similar vacuum for local content that needs filling." Sure enough, copycat industries have erupted in Soweto, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya ("Riverwood") and Ghana (yes, "Gollywood"), where government patrons and films that talk above audience heads have been ditched in favour of Nollywood's populist approach. > > All told, Nollywood's annual revenues are estimated at $590.2m (€420m) by the NFVCB, although Mba freely admits such figures are at best extrapolations. There is no hard data either for the number of Nigerians who earn a full-time living from the film industry although the consensus suggests a young workforce of some 200,000 professionals and economic benefits to a further one million people in related services – certainly enough to make cinema the country's second largest employer after farming. and > Such pent-up indigent demand creates its own problems. A lack of institutional finance for these largely self-funded films has led to insufficient numbers of discs being duplicated. Only too happy to fill the supply gap are local pirates, with access to high-tech Chinese video compression facilities. http://tr.im/xCqz August 2009 A Lesson in Voodoo Economics It has overtaken Hollywood to become the second largest producer of films on the planet, so what is the secret behind Nigeria's movie success? Colin Brown reports Around 1990, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola delivered what became a global rallying cry for the digital video revolution. Put cheap camcorders in the hands of the masses and his great hope was that "suddenly, one day, some little fat girl in Ohio is going to be the new Mozart and make a beautiful film with her little father's camera — and for once the so-called professionalism about movies will be destroyed. Forever." Two decades later and the godfather of personalised cinema would see little evidence of that creative democracy being unleashed in Ohio, or anywhere else in the developed world outside the odd Blair Witch anomaly. For all their means of production, even well-heeled film students struggle to pay for their graduation movies and launch expensive careers. And while some may point to YouTube as an anarchic breeding ground for amateur videographers, the nearest any of them get to Mozart is a hamster on a piano. But venture 12,500km from his Napa Valley vineyards to Surulere, a suburb of Lagos, Nigeria, and there amid the belch and sprawl of Africa's largest megapolis is vibrant proof of Coppola's prophecy. From this chaotic corner of Nigeria's impoverished economy has sprung one of the business world's most unlikely success stories, one that is rewriting the script for commercial cinema elsewhere. Welcome, as they say, to Nollywood. In the span of just 16 years, this irrepressible industry has leapfrogged Hollywood to become the second most prolific on the planet, according to figures in May from UNESCO's Institute of Statistics. Churning out a combined 872 features, Nigeria's filmmaking community trailed only Mumbai's Bollywood in terms of output in 2006 – although some estimates put West Africa's yearly volume ahead even of India, at a staggering 2,500 films. Just as incredibly, certainly to a European film industry that has grown dependent on public support as their only economic bulwark against Hollywood, this Nollywood explosion has come without any government aid. And all this in a country where 54% of the 140 million population lives on less than a dollar a day. The reason the First World has been slow to wake up to this phenomenon is that so few of these video quickies ever see the inside of a movie theatre. Shot on budgets initially of no more than $20,000 (€14,000) apiece, they are rushed out as DVD and VCD titles within weeks of their conception. Among the country's 300 fast-and-furious filmmakers, Nigeria's answer to those B-movie pioneers Roger Corman and Ed Wood – Chico Ejiro – is so famously prolific he supposedly shot two films simultaneously, with cameras pointing in opposite directions. Not long after wrapping their rapid-fire shooting schedules, the resulting works surface on the street-market stalls of Nigeria's boisterous electronics merchants, where they are hawked for around $2.30 (€1.60) a pop. Either that or shown as rentals in the 200,000 "video parlours", essentially private rooms where Nigerians can pay to watch a televised film for 30c (€0.20). This guerilla approach to cinema was born of necessity in a nation whose relative oil wealth belies its poverty: GDP per capita is no more than $1,418 (€1,000), says the World Bank. "While other nations have struggled coming to terms with digital video as a means for storytelling, Nigerians had no choice really due to the high cost of celluloid, and the failed distribution and exhibition infrastructure associated with celluloid films," says Emeka Mba, chief of Nigeria's National Film & Video Censors Board (NFVCB). "Such digital democracy also meant that people outside the definition of filmmakers now had access and opportunity to join this new creative economy. This created the problem of increasing waves of poor-quality movies." Schlocky, perhaps, but these cautionary melodramas of witchcraft, voodoo and comeuppance for the rich, with their dodgy sound quality and poor lighting, are also undeniably popular. Nollywood films typically sell 25,000–50,000 copies, with some blockbusters clearing sales of half a million. Nollywood's paying audience extends well beyond West Africa and even the continent of Africa. Nollywood's largely English-language titles are snapped up across the globe, not just among Nigerian immigrant clusters such as London's Dalston and Hackney boroughs, but across other ethnic groups too including Florida's Haitian community, and in Belize, Barbados and Brazil. "Nollywood broke the myth that only big budgets can guarantee market success," says Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima, filmmaker and founding CEO of the African Movie Academy Awards, the continent's answer to the Oscars. "And that success can be replicated elsewhere if there is a similar vacuum for local content that needs filling." Sure enough, copycat industries have erupted in Soweto, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya ("Riverwood") and Ghana (yes, "Gollywood"), where government patrons and films that talk above audience heads have been ditched in favour of Nollywood's populist approach. All told, Nollywood's annual revenues are estimated at $590.2m (€420m) by the NFVCB, although Mba freely admits such figures are at best extrapolations. There is no hard data either for the number of Nigerians who earn a full-time living from the film industry although the consensus suggests a young workforce of some 200,000 professionals and economic benefits to a further one million people in related services – certainly enough to make cinema the country's second largest employer after farming. Impressive as those numbers might be, Nigerian film experts all agree that the industry still has enormous growth potential. "The distribution structure that we have now is basically informal and has not yet even scratched the surface," insists Femi Odugbemi, a US-trained filmmaker who was president of Nigeria's Independent Television Producers Association. "We know there is a huge market in Africa and in the diaspora for creative works that tell stories. We know that if we can overcome issues of piracy, these works will outsell anything else. Even though the quality can't stand beside Hollywood, the content is enthralling. And there's the feeling of connectedness we have with these films. Regardless of where you put an African, you can't take Africa out of the man." Such pent-up indigent demand creates its own problems. A lack of institutional finance for these largely self-funded films has led to insufficient numbers of discs being duplicated. Only too happy to fill the supply gap are local pirates, with access to high-tech Chinese video compression facilities. But, as with so much of Nollywood, an ingenious solution to piracy is now being cooked up. While European distributors are rushing to close the window between the theatrical and DVD release in an effort to thwart illegal copying, Nigeria is thinking of going the other way and building a network of digital cinemas, powered by cheap LED projectors, across sub-Saharan Africa that would expand Nollywood's addressable audience to some 800 million people. "Intellectual copyright enforcement is never going to be a huge priority in a region with so many other issues," says Dayo Ogunyemi, a lawyer and business consultant who has been advising the Nigerian film industry on matters of economic development. "But an exhibition window of three weeks might help since it would make offending discs very easy to spot and prosecute. Having box office figures will also make it easier for filmmakers to raise finance since you can demonstrate track records; it helps minimise risks if we can release a movie simultaneously across 3,000 screens." With one eye on India, a similarly sized market with comparable income characteristics to Nigeria, Ogunyemi is targeting some 12,000 screens across the continent, knowing that India itself can accommodate another 20,000 screens before reaching saturation. Such simple theatre halls, charging no more than $1.50 (€1.05) a ticket and boasting their own generators, provides a solution to another of Nollywood's challenges: in a country where 80% of the people don't have reliable electricity, let alone TVs, even watching DVDs is futile during the frequent blackouts. Sometimes, the revolution just cannot be televised. -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 197 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20090901/d3e7480c/attachment.bin From prashantiyengar at gmail.com Wed Sep 2 08:54:18 2009 From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar) Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 23:24:18 -0400 Subject: [Commons-Law] India refuses patent protection for AIDS drug of US company Message-ID: <908adbd0909012024k1e0b0433o5725dcf7c3aab83d@mail.gmail.com> India refuses patent protection for AIDS drug of US company Joe C Mathew / New Delhi September 2, 2009, 0:49 IST More appeals pending, domestic manufacturing some way off. In a victory for Indian drug companies, patent protection has been refused to Tenofovir, an anti-AIDS medicine of the US-based Gilead Sciences. The decision was taken by the patent office here. Domestic drug companies are now a step closer to manufacture the medicine for sale in India, as well as to export it to least developed countries. Since Gilead had made several patent applications on the same medicine (for different claims), the companies will have to wait for the patent office’s decisions on other pleas before they can launch the product. Currently, the medicine is marketed by most Indian companies through a voluntary licence scheme negotiated with Gilead Sciences some years earlier. Cipla, which had challenged Gilead’s patent claim, is the only firm that has launched the product at ‘risk’. The patent office decision will see the medicine being freed of negotiated terms and conditions. Tenofovir is an important anti-AIDS drug and has been recommended by World Health Organisation as the primary medicine for AIDS treatment. The patent office decision was based on the pre-grant opposition filed against Gilead’s application by civil society groups within the country and outside. The groups argued that the patent application lacked inventive steps and failed to satisfy the patentability criteria under Indian rules. According to industry sources, Gilead is likely to appeal against the patent office decision. “Our stand has been vindicated, though the battle is far from over”, domestic industry representatives said. This is the first instance where a foreign advocacy group was seen joining hands with Indian NGOs to oppose a medicine patent application in the country. Brazilian AIDS advocacy group Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA) and a local NGO, Centre for Residential Care and Rehabilitation (SAHARA), while filing pre-grant oppositions, had said that a patent in India would have a direct impact on the ability of Brazil to produce and access affordable generic versions of the drug. Last year, the Brazilian government had declared Tenofovir to be of ‘public interest’ in treating people living with HIV. Brazil will not be able to procure generic versions from India if Tenofovir gets a patent in India. On the other hand, if the patent is rejected, Indian generic companies would be able to supply Tenofovir to Brazil and other middle-income countries. This would also mean Brazil could purchase affordable generic versions of Tenofovir from multiple producers competing against each other. http://www.business-standard.com/india/printpage.php?autono=368821&tp= From pranesh at cis-india.org Thu Sep 3 13:09:27 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 13:09:27 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Prayag wins the "disclaimer of the day" award Message-ID: <4785f1e20909030039x1359592dt8891c887292e50d0@mail.gmail.com> Someone seems to have things straight! Are there any other examples of Indian bands (apart from TAAQ) doing this? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Udhay Shankar N Date: Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 09:02 from http://indianrockmp3.com/2009/08/19/download-chapter-1-prayag/ Unauthorized Copying, Distribution, Public Performance, Broadcasting Is Highly Recommended. As Long as You Give Prayag Due Credit. Anyone Found Involved In The Above Acts Will Be Considered A Volunteer In Spreading The Fire Of Free Music And Team Prayag Will Be Highly Grateful For Your Efforts. -- ((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com)) -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 From b_a_r_u_k at yahoo.com Thu Sep 3 14:42:25 2009 From: b_a_r_u_k at yahoo.com (Baruk S. Jacob) Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 02:12:25 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Commons-Law] Prayag wins the "disclaimer of the > day" award In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <625211.64957.qm@web54208.mail.re2.yahoo.com> > Someone seems to have things straight!  Are there any > other examples > of Indian bands (apart from TAAQ) doing this? ~don't know if everyone has disclaimers, pranesh, but many of the bands on the same site are quite free with their music. good stuff, eh? cheers! ~baruk http://bottlebroke.blogspot.com From pranesh at cis-india.org Thu Sep 3 17:00:31 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:00:31 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] OKTaTaByeBye.com Message-ID: <4A9FA8D7.2050900@cis-india.org> Dear all, In one of the worst decisions ever to come out of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, the domain name of a travel community site (OKTaTaByeBye.com) has been found to be violative of the domain name rights of the Indian conglomerate Tata Sons Ltd. by a single panellist (Mr. Pavan Duggal). The entire judgment is available here: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2009/d2009-0646.html As per ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), three elements have to be proved: (i) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and (ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and (iii) your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. On (i), the panellist found that OK and ByeBye are generic terms (but that "TaTa", which is an informal English term for "goodbye" is a "strong trademark", and is confusingly similar to "TATA" even when it is sandwiched between OK and ByeBye). On (ii), the panellists holds that the *travel site* has registered the domain name to capitalise on the brand value of the TATA trademark, and that it has no legitimate interest in the domain name . On (iii), and of particular importance is the part in the judgment where he establishes bad faith on the part of OKTaTaByeBye.com (and it's parent website, MakeMyTrip.com). According to the panellist, the fact that OKTaTaByeBye.com makes money is sufficient to establish _male fide_ intent, and make its registration and usage both "bad faith". How one could establish bad faith (i.e., intending to disrupt the business of another, domain squatting, attempting to get TATA's traffic, etc.) solely on the basis of the fact that OKTaTaByeBye.com makes money is incomprehensible. This has to be one of the worst judgments ever on domain names. It easily beats the Narnia case I had written about earlier ('The narnia.mobi dispute, or "English 101 for WIPO's arbitration panel"': http://tr.im/xMFa). It doesn't just stretch the legal imagination in one or two counts, but all three of the UDRP criteria. MakeMyTrip.com has also registered Cleartrip.net.in, when Cleartrip.com is a competitor. But instead of *that* getting flak, OKTaTaByeBye.com gets handed over to Tata Sons Ltd. a good three years after the site was created. It's a crazy world we're living in. -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: signature.asc Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 197 bytes Desc: OpenPGP digital signature Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20090903/308df6d1/attachment.bin From sanjaybhatia at justice.com Fri Sep 4 12:02:05 2009 From: sanjaybhatia at justice.com (Sanjay Bhatia) Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2009 23:32:05 -0700 Subject: [Commons-Law] OKTaTaByeBye.com Message-ID: <20090903233205.823D9603@resin11.mta.everyone.net> The panelist needs a refresher course in basics of trademarks law. What next? Will TATAs now sue every lorry owner in the country? Sanjay --- pranesh at cis-india.org wrote: From: Pranesh Prakash To: Commons Law , NLS IP Subject: [Commons-Law] OKTaTaByeBye.com Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:00:31 +0530 Dear all, In one of the worst decisions ever to come out of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, the domain name of a travel community site (OKTaTaByeBye.com) has been found to be violative of the domain name rights of the Indian conglomerate Tata Sons Ltd. by a single panellist (Mr. Pavan Duggal). The entire judgment is available here: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2009/d2009-0646.html As per ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), three elements have to be proved: (i) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and (ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and (iii) your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. On (i), the panellist found that OK and ByeBye are generic terms (but that "TaTa", which is an informal English term for "goodbye" is a "strong trademark", and is confusingly similar to "TATA" even when it is sandwiched between OK and ByeBye). On (ii), the panellists holds that the *travel site* has registered the domain name to capitalise on the brand value of the TATA trademark, and that it has no legitimate interest in the domain name . On (iii), and of particular importance is the part in the judgment where he establishes bad faith on the part of OKTaTaByeBye.com (and it's parent website, MakeMyTrip.com). According to the panellist, the fact that OKTaTaByeBye.com makes money is sufficient to establish _male fide_ intent, and make its registration and usage both "bad faith". How one could establish bad faith (i.e., intending to disrupt the business of another, domain squatting, attempting to get TATA's traffic, etc.) solely on the basis of the fact that OKTaTaByeBye.com makes money is incomprehensible. This has to be one of the worst judgments ever on domain names. It easily beats the Narnia case I had written about earlier ('The narnia.mobi dispute, or "English 101 for WIPO's arbitration panel"': http://tr.im/xMFa). It doesn't just stretch the legal imagination in one or two counts, but all three of the UDRP criteria. MakeMyTrip.com has also registered Cleartrip.net.in, when Cleartrip.com is a competitor. But instead of *that* getting flak, OKTaTaByeBye.com gets handed over to Tata Sons Ltd. a good three years after the site was created. It's a crazy world we're living in. -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 _______________________________________________ commons-law mailing list commons-law at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law _____________________________________________________________ Find a local lawyer and free legal information at FindLaw.com. From megeorgekurian at yahoo.com Fri Sep 4 13:36:06 2009 From: megeorgekurian at yahoo.com (george kurian) Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 01:06:06 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Commons-Law] OKTaTaByeBye.com In-Reply-To: <20090903233205.823D9603@resin11.mta.everyone.net> References: <20090903233205.823D9603@resin11.mta.everyone.net> Message-ID: <100617.64449.qm@web50012.mail.re2.yahoo.com> only the ones driving Leylands, which are now giving TATA a real run for their money. ________________________________ From: Sanjay Bhatia To: Pranesh Prakash Cc: commons-law at sarai.net; nls-ip at googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, 4 September, 2009 12:02:05 Subject: Re: [Commons-Law] OKTaTaByeBye.com The panelist needs a refresher course in basics of trademarks law. What next? Will TATAs now sue every lorry owner in the country? Sanjay --- pranesh at cis-india.org wrote: From: Pranesh Prakash To: Commons Law , NLS IP Subject: [Commons-Law] OKTaTaByeBye.com Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:00:31 +0530 Dear all, In one of the worst decisions ever to come out of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, the domain name of a travel community site (OKTaTaByeBye.com) has been found to be violative of the domain name rights of the Indian conglomerate Tata Sons Ltd. by a single panellist (Mr. Pavan Duggal). The entire judgment is available here: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2009/d2009-0646.html As per ICANN's Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), three elements have to be proved: (i) your domain name is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and (ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and (iii) your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. On (i), the panellist found that OK and ByeBye are generic terms (but that "TaTa", which is an informal English term for "goodbye" is a "strong trademark", and is confusingly similar to "TATA" even when it is sandwiched between OK and ByeBye). On (ii), the panellists holds that the *travel site* has registered the domain name to capitalise on the brand value of the TATA trademark, and that it has no legitimate interest in the domain name . On (iii), and of particular importance is the part in the judgment where he establishes bad faith on the part of OKTaTaByeBye.com (and it's parent website, MakeMyTrip.com). According to the panellist, the fact that OKTaTaByeBye.com makes money is sufficient to establish _male fide_ intent, and make its registration and usage both "bad faith". How one could establish bad faith (i.e., intending to disrupt the business of another, domain squatting, attempting to get TATA's traffic, etc.) solely on the basis of the fact that OKTaTaByeBye.com makes money is incomprehensible. This has to be one of the worst judgments ever on domain names. It easily beats the Narnia case I had written about earlier ('The narnia.mobi dispute, or "English 101 for WIPO's arbitration panel"': http://tr.im/xMFa). It doesn't just stretch the legal imagination in one or two counts, but all three of the UDRP criteria. MakeMyTrip.com has also registered Cleartrip.net.in, when Cleartrip.com is a competitor. But instead of *that* getting flak, OKTaTaByeBye.com gets handed over to Tata Sons Ltd. a good three years after the site was created. It's a crazy world we're living in. -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 _______________________________________________ commons-law mailing list commons-law at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law _____________________________________________________________ Find a local lawyer and free legal information at FindLaw.com. _______________________________________________ commons-law mailing list commons-law at sarai.net https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20090904/25101485/attachment.html From prashantiyengar at gmail.com Mon Sep 7 06:59:50 2009 From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar) Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2009 21:29:50 -0400 Subject: [Commons-Law] Soon, royalty rights for singers, lyricists Message-ID: <908adbd0909061829g65c6fc88t78f36ed46881e3c5@mail.gmail.com> http://www.indianexpress.com/story-print/513802/ Soon, royalty rights for singers, lyricists Anubhuti Vishnoi Posted online: Monday , Sep 07, 2009 at 0313 hrs New Delhi : After decades of movie making, the Centre is set to frame laws to restore the dignity of creative artistes working behind the screen and give them their due. In a slew of amendments proposed in the Copyright Act, 1958, the Human Resource Development Ministry has proposed that creative artists like lyricists, playback singers, music directors, film directors, dialogue writers among others should be paid royalty every time the film they have worked for is aired on any TV channel. The new laws will also accord certain “unassignable rights” to creative artists whenever their work is used for another purpose. The Information & Broadcasting Ministry is also in agreement with the proposed amendments that are in keeping with the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s (WIPO) delineated rights of an artist. The amended law will soon be sent to the Cabinet for approval. The move has come after intervention by the likes of lyricist Javed Akhtar, singer Shubha Mudgal, ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh among others, who made a representation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh complaining that though creative work was used in films and by channels over and over again, the monetary benefits were never passed on to them after they had completed their assignment with a filmmaker. So, while the producer earns royalty every time his movie is aired on a channel, the creative artistes do not get a share. Often, such artistes face economic setbacks on retirement. “The idea is that you cannot buy creativity. The amended law will accord ‘unassignable rights’ to creative artistes. One will be the ‘moral right’ in keeping with the WIPO rules, so that every time such an artiste’s work is used, his name will have to be mentioned. So if a song is used on any channel, in any other film, or in whatever format, the singer, lyricist and music director will have to be given credit for the same. That apart, creative artists will be accorded the ‘right of integrity’ — without the permission of the concerned artists, the material he created cannot be changed. If the product is sold to a third party, creative artistes will get royalty at rates fixed by the Copyright Board,” said a highly-placed official. That apart, the copyright period of a film is also set to be extended from the current 60 years to 70 years, provided the film producer enters into a royalty sharing agreement with the director as well. The proposed amendments further protect the interest of singers and musicians by suggesting that a remix or “cover” version of any song would require a prior licence from the original owner of the song. Also, all copyright fee will be waived off for all categories of disabled people in usage of special content designed for them like e-books. In keeping with the HRD Ministry’s 100-day agenda, online registration of copyright will be initiated next week on. From =?UTF-8?B?RnJlZGVyaWNrIE5vcm9uaGEgW+ClnuCksOClh+CkpuCksOCkv+CklSDgpKjgpYvgpLDgpYs=?= Wed Sep 9 05:14:06 2009 From: =?UTF-8?B?RnJlZGVyaWNrIE5vcm9uaGEgW+ClnuCksOClh+CkpuCksOCkv+CklSDgpKjgpYvgpLDgpYs=?= (=?UTF-8?B?RnJlZGVyaWNrIE5vcm9uaGEgW+ClnuCksOClh+CkpuCksOCkv+CklSDgpKjgpYvgpLDgpYs=?=) Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 05:14:06 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] WSJ reports McDonald's loses to McCurry In-Reply-To: <8ea78e010909081643i5a658ef0jaa76434a34520edb@mail.gmail.com> References: <8ea78e010909081643i5a658ef0jaa76434a34520edb@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <8ea78e010909081644h55bd9339v4e69216cd36d88fd@mail.gmail.com> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125240245264591953.html ASIA NEWS SEPTEMBER 8, 2009, 9:21 A.M. ET McDonald's Loses Legal Battle With Malaysia's McCurry By JAMES HOOKWAY American fast food giant McDonald's Corp. on Tuesday lost an eight-year battle to prevent a family-run Kuala Lumpur restaurant from calling itself "McCurry" after Malaysia's top court said the Indian-food joint could use the prefix "Mc" in its name. A McCurry lawyer, Sri Dev Nair, said the ruling means McDonald's doesn't have a monopoly on the prefix "Mc" and that other restaurants could also use it as long as they distinguish their food from McDonald's. McDonald's officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment, but the Associated Press reported the company's counsel as saying it will abide by the judgment. View Full Image Associated Press McCurry restaurant owner P. Suppiah and his wife Kanageswary celebrate a court victory over McDonald's. Meanwhile, the owner of McCurry says he is looking for partners to expand now that the legal campaign is over, with plans to launch a chain of restaurants across Malaysia and possibly overseas. "We definitely want to bring our vision to a broader clientele," P. Suppiah, 45 years old, said in a telephone interview, noting that the legal controversy could provide his fledgling empire a timely boost and draw in potential partners and franchisees. "We're even looking at opening international franchises," he said. McCurry's struggle to be known as McCurry has become a cause celebre in Malaysia in recent years. Established in 1999, the restaurant adopted a Western-style fast-food ambience to serve traditional Indian and Malaysian dishes, such as fish-head curry. "We chose an international-sounding name to attract as many customers as possible," said Mr. Suppiah, who trained as an accountant in New Zealand before entering the restaurant business. McCurry, he said, is shorthand for "Malaysian chicken curry," and the restaurant's logo displays a bright-yellow chicken giving a thumbs-up sign. Mr. Suppiah's 24-hour restaurant quickly become a local icon in the Jalan Ipoh district of Kuala Lumpur, with red-and-white signage and a popular menu with Malaysian-style tea, coconut rice with spicy shrimp and chicken, and chicken tandoori. McDonald's, however, saw McCurry as a legal threat. Lawyers for the U.S. company, which has 185 outlets in Malaysia, saw the "Mc" prefix in the McCurry name as a breach of trademark. They first sued McCurry for trademark infringement in 2001 and a high court ruled in favor of the international chain in 2006. McCurry appealed, and the Court of Appeal ruled in the Malaysian restaurant's favor in April this year, pointing out that McCurry serves curry, not burgers. McDonald's then took the matter to Malaysia's Federal Court, which on Tuesday ruled that McDonald's can't appeal against the lower court verdict. It ordered McDonald's to pay 10,000 Malaysian ringgit, or $2,900, in costs. Write to James Hookway at james.hookway at wsj.com Via SAJA -- FN +91-9822122436 P +91-832-2409490 Konkani adages  http://konkani-adages.notlong.com/ Medieval Goa     http://medieval-goa.notlong.com/ From kalakamra at gmail.com Wed Sep 9 16:12:05 2009 From: kalakamra at gmail.com (shaina a) Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 11:42:05 +0100 Subject: [Commons-Law] Alert: USPTO-Pfizer pushing for TRIPS Plus measures in India In-Reply-To: <326503.45117.qm@web32006.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <326503.45117.qm@web32006.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <33eee40c0909090342l2d379ab8s7f3878f68a70a13c@mail.gmail.com> ----------------------------------- *Alert: USPTO-Pfizer pushing for TRIPS Plus measures in India * The United States Patent and Trademark Office, in collaboration with the Pfizer Limited, is organizing a meeting in India for NGO's and the media titled “Intellectual Property and Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry” from *2:30-5:30 p.m. at the Taj President Hotel in Mumbai on September 9, 2009*. The meeting is being organized with the assistance of the US Embassy in India. On the agenda are *controversial TRIPS Plus measures such as Data Exclusivity and Patent Linkage *which are designed to delay the registration of generic medicines by several years, besides seriously interfering with the implementation of public health safeguards such as compulsory licensing. Even if a company is given authority to produce a generic drug under a compulsory license, it still needs to register the drug with India’s drug regulator - the Drug Controller General of India or DCGI. The DCGI will be reduced to enforcing private commercial rights and will become in effect the “patent police”.* * In addition, Data Exclusivity will undermine one of India’s most important legal safeguards – section 3(d) that seeks to prevent the patenting of new forms, combination, uses of known medicines. Even when a patent is rejected on a known medicine, “data exclusivity” will create a new patent-like monopoly by blocking the registration of generic medicines. *A study conducted by Oxfam *of the impact of TRIPS-plus provisions in Jordan (which was forced to implement these provisions under a free trade agreement with the US) compared drug prices in Jordan as a result of data exclusivity with those in neighbouring Egypt that does not enforce these provisions. The study found new medicines for diabetes and heart diseasebetween 2 and 6 times more expensive in Jordan. See http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/health/bp102_trips.html This meeting highlights several issues of concerns – among them is the fact that a US agency such as USPTO’s link with the US pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer has actively lobbied for patent linkage and Data Exclusivity in the past; going the extent of suing the Philippines FDA officials for starting the process of registration of a generic version of the medicine ‘amlodipine besylate’ just before the patent expired. *Pfizer incidently has just been fined a record 2.3 billion dollars in the US for unethical drug promotion*. See http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre5813xb-us-pfizer-settlement/ In addition, Pfizer CEO is the Chairman elect of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). PhRMA is the business lobby comprised of US drug manufacturers who have actively pushed for both - Data Exclusivity and Patent linkage in developing countries including India. They were extremely successful in the past. On behalf of PhRMA, the US Government and United States Trade Representative (USTR) negotiated a number of free trade agreements under which developing countries (Chile, Jordon) were forced to adopt such TRIPS Plus measures. It is important to note that the most recent report of the *UN Special Rapportuer on the RIght to Health *has highlighted concerns with the adverse impact of such TRIPS-plus measures on access to treatment and has recommended that developing countries not adopt these. See http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G09/127/11/PDF/G0912711.pdf?OpenElement. The *WHO *has also cautioned developing and least developed countriesagainst such provisions. See http://www.searo.who.int/LinkFiles/Global_Trade_and_Health_GTH_No3.pdf Not surprising is the continued attack against India’s position against evergreening of patents. Therefore on the agenda is a discussion on incremental innovation and ever greening being led by Mr. Dominic Keating from the U.S. Embassy. However India and the US have very different patentability standards. While US is faced with a proliferation of patents on new uses, combinations and new forms of known medicines which is instrumental in keeping generics out of the market and lowering of patentability standards of novelty, non-obviousness and industrial application; India on the other hand strictly limits the patenting of known medicines and has rejected a number of such applications related to several antiretrovirals, cancer medications. The fact is that for incremental innovation by Indian companies the market and not patents is the driving force. This is borne out by the development of the three –in- one AIDS pill – one of the most revolutionary innovations in AIDS treatment for the developing world. That the individual compounds were not patented in India made combining them possible. -- camputer.org pad.ma chitrakarkhana.net -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20090909/0f544f68/attachment.html From pranesh at cis-india.org Mon Sep 14 14:46:06 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:46:06 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] WIPO seeks to reopen talks on audio-visual performances treaty Message-ID: <4785f1e20909140216t7b9a19afp6941dcd6fe768e21@mail.gmail.com> >From IP Watch (William New): http://tr.im/yDFl The World Intellectual Property Organization this week may have witnessed the beginnings of a resumption of high-level negotiations on an international treaty on the protection of audiovisual performances. [Informal open-ended consultations][1] on protection of audiovisual performances were held in the context of a [7-9 September WIPO meeting][2] on the half-century-old International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations, known as the Rome Convention of 1961. [1]: http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=19243 [2]: http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=17584 A high-level negotiation – known as a diplomatic conference – held in the year 2000 collapsed in disagreement and has not been able to be restarted by proponents. Until now. “Everyone seems to be keen to start discussing negotiations,” a European private-sector participant said after the consultation. Another participant said, “There was a general attitude of encouraging [talks], positive noises.” A third was more cautious, saying only that some participants “saw a glimmer and are trying to make fire.” And a WIPO official concluded, “There’s a scale of enthusiasm. [But] nobody spoke against agreement.” Several sources said producers who in the past had been opposed to talks on the transfer of rights section of the draft treaty signalled some flexibility this time. It appears according to sources that there was a suggestion that where in the past US producers have insisted the treaty follow the US approach on transfer of rights, they might now consider a treaty that preserves national approaches like that of the US but does not limit it to that. The next step for audiovisual is unclear but the subject falls under the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) and it is expected the subject will be addressed by the WIPO General Assemblies, to be held from 22 September to 1 October. The next SCCR meeting is scheduled for 14-18 December, and the audiovisual treaty is on the agenda. According to the European source, a new diplomatic conference, should one be held, could pick up with the same text from 2000 and focus only on the sticky issue of transfer of rights. In the 2000 text, four alternatives were offered on this, as described in the background document for this week’s informal, open-ended consultations. These four were based on: a rebuttable presumption of transfer of rights of audiovisual performers; the model of the [Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works][3], Article 14bis (2), which established in favour of the producer an entitlement to exercise the rights of performers; principles of private international law, which apply the law of the country most closely connected to the subject matter; and finally, an option of no provision at all relating to transfer. [3]: http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/trtdocs_wo001.html According to another participant, one suggestion was to create a stakeholder platform like has been done in the context of discussions on a WIPO treaty for the visually impaired. A representative for the producers could not be reached by presstime. Rome Convention The draft report for the Rome Convention meeting on Monday and Wednesday (with the audiovisual consultation between) will be available here shortly. The draft report was adopted with only minor technical changes, an official said. Since the Rome Convention took effect in 1961, WIPO, along with the International Labour Organization and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have held regular meetings on it. The last meeting was at UNESCO in Paris in 2005. In recent years it has become apparent that there may not be significant changes to the convention (as separate, new treaties have been negotiated at WIPO and elsewhere to address new needs), making it less necessary to hold the meeting, sources said. It was agreed this week again to suspend the mandated biennial meeting of the Rome Convention parties, and that the next meeting would be within a year of any “decisive new development.” On the WIPO treaty on broadcasters rights, which saw a failed diplomatic conference in 2007, the secretariat is commissioning a study on the socioeconomic dimension of the unauthorised use of signals, expected to be available for discussion in the following SCCR meeting in 2010, according to the draft Rome Convention report. On the future of the Rome Convention, a document was drafted for the meeting by the three secretariats that described work done in recent years, mainly in WIPO, but offered little in the way of substantive proposals for changes to the convention. -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 From pranesh at cis-india.org Mon Sep 14 19:04:33 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:04:33 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] WIPO seeks to reopen talks on audio-visual performances treaty Message-ID: <4785f1e20909140634g749b6abib63fce24984f7387@mail.gmail.com> >From IP Watch (William New): http://tr.im/yDFl The World Intellectual Property Organization this week may have witnessed the beginnings of a resumption of high-level negotiations on an international treaty on the protection of audiovisual performances. [Informal open-ended consultations][1] on protection of audiovisual performances were held in the context of a [7-9 September WIPO meeting][2] on the half-century-old International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations, known as the Rome Convention of 1961. [1]: http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=19243 [2]: http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=17584 A high-level negotiation – known as a diplomatic conference – held in the year 2000 collapsed in disagreement and has not been able to be restarted by proponents. Until now. “Everyone seems to be keen to start discussing negotiations,” a European private-sector participant said after the consultation. Another participant said, “There was a general attitude of encouraging [talks], positive noises.” A third was more cautious, saying only that some participants “saw a glimmer and are trying to make fire.” And a WIPO official concluded, “There’s a scale of enthusiasm. [But] nobody spoke against agreement.” Several sources said producers who in the past had been opposed to talks on the transfer of rights section of the draft treaty signalled some flexibility this time. It appears according to sources that there was a suggestion that where in the past US producers have insisted the treaty follow the US approach on transfer of rights, they might now consider a treaty that preserves national approaches like that of the US but does not limit it to that. The next step for audiovisual is unclear but the subject falls under the WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) and it is expected the subject will be addressed by the WIPO General Assemblies, to be held from 22 September to 1 October. The next SCCR meeting is scheduled for 14-18 December, and the audiovisual treaty is on the agenda. According to the European source, a new diplomatic conference, should one be held, could pick up with the same text from 2000 and focus only on the sticky issue of transfer of rights. In the 2000 text, four alternatives were offered on this, as described in the background document for this week’s informal, open-ended consultations. These four were based on: a rebuttable presumption of transfer of rights of audiovisual performers; the model of the [Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works][3], Article 14bis (2), which established in favour of the producer an entitlement to exercise the rights of performers; principles of private international law, which apply the law of the country most closely connected to the subject matter; and finally, an option of no provision at all relating to transfer. [3]: http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne/trtdocs_wo001.html According to another participant, one suggestion was to create a stakeholder platform like has been done in the context of discussions on a WIPO treaty for the visually impaired. A representative for the producers could not be reached by presstime. Rome Convention The draft report for the Rome Convention meeting on Monday and Wednesday (with the audiovisual consultation between) will be available here shortly. The draft report was adopted with only minor technical changes, an official said. Since the Rome Convention took effect in 1961, WIPO, along with the International Labour Organization and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have held regular meetings on it. The last meeting was at UNESCO in Paris in 2005. In recent years it has become apparent that there may not be significant changes to the convention (as separate, new treaties have been negotiated at WIPO and elsewhere to address new needs), making it less necessary to hold the meeting, sources said. It was agreed this week again to suspend the mandated biennial meeting of the Rome Convention parties, and that the next meeting would be within a year of any “decisive new development.” On the WIPO treaty on broadcasters rights, which saw a failed diplomatic conference in 2007, the secretariat is commissioning a study on the socioeconomic dimension of the unauthorised use of signals, expected to be available for discussion in the following SCCR meeting in 2010, according to the draft Rome Convention report. On the future of the Rome Convention, a document was drafted for the meeting by the three secretariats that described work done in recent years, mainly in WIPO, but offered little in the way of substantive proposals for changes to the convention. -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 From prashantiyengar at gmail.com Mon Sep 14 22:11:48 2009 From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar) Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:41:48 -0400 Subject: [Commons-Law] Fwd: SA pigeon 'faster than broadband' In-Reply-To: <48B0AA6C12E66F43B04A17BE22CCA8F54F788903F0@NOK-EUMSG-04.mgdnok.nokia.com> References: <48B0AA6C12E66F43B04A17BE22CCA8F54F788903F0@NOK-EUMSG-04.mgdnok.nokia.com> Message-ID: <908adbd0909140941p2611f221mf1ccda845dff3de9@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Date: 2009/9/14 Subject: SA pigeon 'faster than broadband' To: Broadband promised to unite the world with super-fast data delivery - but in South Africa it seems the web is still no faster than a humble pigeon. A Durban IT company pitted an 11-month-old bird armed with a 4GB memory stick against the ADSL service from the country's biggest web firm, Telkom. Winston the pigeon took two hours to carry the data 60 miles - in the same time the ADSL had sent 4% of the data. Full Story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8248056.stm ____________________________ Warm regards, Srikanth M:        +91 99539 68 789 VOIP:  8749468 From dwijr at rediffmail.com Tue Sep 15 11:31:06 2009 From: dwijr at rediffmail.com (dwijr) Date: 15 Sep 2009 06:01:06 -0000 Subject: [Commons-Law] Geographical Indications & Localisation - Meetings in India Message-ID: <20090915060106.28056.qmail@f5mail-237-213.rediffmail.com> Dear Colleagues I write about a series of meetings that will see the launch of a Report on Geographical Indications and Localisation. This is part of a research project that I have been leading over the last two years - and takes Feni as a case study to explore issues of localisation, consensus-making and the tensions of translating cultural objects through property rights. The Report is initially launched in Goa at a Meeting on 24th Sept in Panaji. The Meeting commences from 2:00pm and begins with a presentation of the Report’s main findings and its recommendations. Comments and reactions will follow from representatives of the Goa Government, the Feni Association and the GI Registry. Other speakers who have been invited include experts on Scotch whisky, the Mezcal liquor and GI law. The meeting ends with a dinner reception. For further information and registering attendance, kindly contact Naina D’Souza on +91 +9922950027; email: reservations at blueoceanholidays.com The second meeting is in New Delhi on 30th September 2009 from 5:00pm onwards and is at the India International Centre. The meeting begins with a presentation of the Report and will be followed by comments and responses from academic scholars and GI-experts. The meeting ends with a dinner reception. For further information and to register your attendance, kindly contact Rebecca John via email at johnrebecca at gmail.com or on +91 +9899402654. Further details at www.warwick.ac.uk/go/feni - or by contacting me on d.rangnekar at warwick.ac.uk / 9970 939193. Hope to see some of you'll at the meeting. Dwijen -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/commons-law/attachments/20090915/5b8cfbf1/attachment.html From patrice at xs4all.nl Tue Sep 15 19:40:05 2009 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:10:05 +0200 Subject: [Commons-Law] Defining 'non -commercial use' Message-ID: <399c8040380748c3e449c1ef21e8f38d.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> Donestech (A Catalan women technologists organisation) did a study about how people understand the concept of 'non-commercial' in licenses, esp CC. >From the intro: Defining “Noncommercial”: A Study of How the Online Population Understands “Noncommercial Use” Almost one year ago we launched a study of how people understand “noncommercial use.” The study, generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, included in-depth interviews and two waves of in-person and online focus groups and online questionnaires. The last included a random sample of U.S. (geographic restriction mandated by resource constraints) internet users and in an extended form, open questionnaires promoted via this blog (called “CC Friends & Family” in the report). full at: http://tinyurl.com/ojaufd From pk at kl.nl Tue Sep 15 19:47:43 2009 From: pk at kl.nl (Paul Keller) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:17:43 +0200 Subject: [Commons-Law] Defining 'non -commercial use' In-Reply-To: <399c8040380748c3e449c1ef21e8f38d.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> References: <399c8040380748c3e449c1ef21e8f38d.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> Message-ID: <27294EF5-5846-4302-AEEE-4AEA833E38C5@kl.nl> actually it was not Donestech who did this study, but Creative Commons (see: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/17127). it seems that Donestech has re-published this blog post without attributing it to cc... /paul On 15 Sep 2009, at 16:10, Patrice Riemens wrote: > Donestech (A Catalan women technologists organisation) did a study > about > how people understand the concept of 'non-commercial' in licenses, > esp CC. > > From the intro: > Defining “Noncommercial”: A Study of How the Online Population > Understands > “Noncommercial Use” > > Almost one year ago we launched a study of how people understand > “noncommercial use.” The study, generously supported by The Andrew W. > Mellon Foundation, included in-depth interviews and two waves of in- > person > and online focus groups and online questionnaires. The last included a > random sample of U.S. (geographic restriction mandated by resource > constraints) internet users and in an extended form, open > questionnaires > promoted via this blog (called “CC Friends & Family” in the report). > > full at: http://tinyurl.com/ojaufd > > _______________________________________________ > commons-law mailing list > commons-law at sarai.net > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/commons-law > > -- Kennisland | Knowledgeland t: +31 20 5756720 | m: +31 6 41374687 www.kennisland.nl | www.knowledgeland.org From prashantiyengar at gmail.com Wed Sep 16 06:24:45 2009 From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar) Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:54:45 -0400 Subject: [Commons-Law] =?utf-8?q?Intelligence_Bureau_seeks_=E2=80=98unlimi?= =?utf-8?q?ted=E2=80=99_mobile_snooping?= Message-ID: <908adbd0909151754s6ba96f03jfba196cda113043b@mail.gmail.com> Intelligence Bureau seeks ‘unlimited’ mobile snooping Call for concern IB also wants operators to provide location-based services. Asks DoT to decide quickly on Chinese vendors. Plea for VoIP-based callers to be tracked. Thomas K Thomas New Delhi, Sept. 15 The Intelligence Bureau has told the Department of Telecom that it wants telecom rules amended to enable it to monitor all mobile calls without any restrictions. Under the existing universal access licence norms, operators are required to randomly pick only about 210 simultaneous calls at any given time for monitoring by the security agencies. However, given the security concerns in the country, the IB wants operators to make provisions to allow the security agencies to snoop into as many calls as they want to. The IB has told DoT that there are seven authorised agencies for monitoring cellular traffic and with only 210 calls being made available, each agency is able to track only 30 calls at any time. “The requirement of security agencies such as the IB has gone up manifold, requiring simultaneous interception of minimum 100 calls or more. Therefore, amendments to the licence agreement may be made to remove this clause and stipulate for providing the capability to monitor any number of simultaneous calls as made at any time without any limitation,” a senior DoT official said. Other points of concern The IB has also told the DoT to mandate operators to implement location-based services, which will enable the security agencies pinpoint the exact location of any specific user. It has raised concerns about Chinese vendors, especially BSNL buying equipment from Huawei despite objections by security agencies. “There is little or no capability to test and certify the telecom elements such as routers and switches, from a security point of view before deployment. Despite objections by the IB, Huawei is supplying mobile equipment to BSNL. This poses a serious threat to telecom security in terms of denial of service and eavesdropping,” said an internal note. Security agencies have asked the DoT to stop Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)-based calls as there is no capability to trace the actual callers. Most VoIP calls do not transmit caller line identification and this makes it impossible to track the caller. “As the DoT had conveyed that it is not possible to mandate transmission of CLI from abroad, we had approached the DoT to block such calls till a technical solution is found,” said the note. The IB has asked the DoT to review its views on asking BSNL to share call data records (CDR). Both BSNL and the DoT had earlier told the IB that sharing CDR was not provided for under the Indian Telegraph Act. Related Stories: Security concerns over BSNL’s 3G network IMEI number: DoT insists on compliance © Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu Business Line From patrice at xs4all.nl Wed Sep 16 12:39:56 2009 From: patrice at xs4all.nl (Patrice Riemens) Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:09:56 +0200 Subject: [Commons-Law] Defining 'non -commercial use' : Sorry for false attribution! In-Reply-To: <27294EF5-5846-4302-AEEE-4AEA833E38C5@kl.nl> References: <399c8040380748c3e449c1ef21e8f38d.squirrel@webmail.xs4all.nl> <27294EF5-5846-4302-AEEE-4AEA833E38C5@kl.nl> Message-ID: Sorry, I stand corrected. As does Donestech bwo of Alex H.: "uy uy non ce n'est pas donestech sinon CC qui a commandité l'étude à un labo dans donestech on publie tout les trucs interessant, merde nous avons du prêter à confusion" Aie Aie, no, it's not donestech but CC who asked a lab to do this study. On donestech we publish all kind of interesting things, now sh%^$#&!, we have probably caused confusion". On my side I should have read the report before fwding it to Commons-law. Sorry! cheers, patrizo and Diiiinooos! > actually it was not Donestech who did this study, but Creative Commons > (see: http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/17127). it seems that > Donestech has re-published this blog post without attributing it to > cc... /paul > > > On 15 Sep 2009, at 16:10, Patrice Riemens wrote: > >> Donestech (A Catalan women technologists organisation) did a study >> about >> how people understand the concept of 'non-commercial' in licenses, >> esp CC. >> From prashantiyengar at gmail.com Sat Sep 19 06:09:23 2009 From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar) Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:39:23 -0400 Subject: [Commons-Law] Google sued for Shaadi on BharatMatrimony Message-ID: <908adbd0909181739m14457f38w1c919352c90d2951@mail.gmail.com> http://www.business-standard.com/india/printpage.php?autono=370591&tp= Google sued for Shaadi on BharatMatrimony T E Narasimhan / Chennai September 19, 2009, 1:37 IST Indian matrimonial website says its competitors’ ads cannot be shown. Chennai-based Consim India Pvt Ltd, which owns bharatmatrimony.com and indiaproperties.com, has petitioned the Madras High Court against Google.com for “infringing” on its trademark. In its petition, the company has said Google ads are used in BharatMatrimony’s platform to sell space to its (BharatMatrimony’s) competitors. In the petition, a copy of which is available with Business Standard, Consim said that it had “trademarked www.tamilmatrimony.com, www.telegumatrimony, www.bharatrimony.com, www.bengalimatrimony.com, www.muslimmatrimony.com. Hence, Google should not allow ads on those trademarks”. If a user types ‘Tamil matrimony’, for instance, in the Google search field on the site, the resultant advertisements or websites shown include shaadi.com and simplymarry.com. Consim says this shows Google is allowing its competition to bid on the trademarks of BharatMatrimony. “We are not aware of it. We are yet to receive the court order,” said Google, when asked to comment. “In any case, the matter will be sub judice, and hence we cannot comment on it.” Consim has asked the court to “give a permanent injunction restraining Google from infringing and/or enabling others to infringe plaintiff’s registered trademarks. Google should not allow competition to bid on trademarks of BharatMatrimony and should not allow company’s competition to use trademark as their heading”. The company also asked Google and other respondents, including People Interactive Pvt Ltd, Jeevansathi Internet Services Pvt Ltd and Times Business Solutions Ltd, to surrender all compact discs, master copies, advertising materials, pamphlets, brochures, etc, which bear Consim’s trademarks and/or any other variants to the company. Consim has also asked for Rs 10.05 lakh of damages for infringing and/or passing off and/or for enabling others to infringe its trademarks and domain names. How does it work? If a user types ‘Tamil matrimony’ in the Google search field on BharatMatrimony, it throws up links to websites like shaadi.com and simplymarry.com. The company has approached the court saying Google should not allow its competition to be linked to the trademarks of BharatMatrimony or use the trademark as their heading From =?UTF-8?B?RnJlZGVyaWNrIE5vcm9uaGEgW+ClnuCksOClh+CkpuCksOCkv+CklSDgpKjgpYvgpLDgpYs=?= Wed Sep 23 04:23:20 2009 From: =?UTF-8?B?RnJlZGVyaWNrIE5vcm9uaGEgW+ClnuCksOClh+CkpuCksOCkv+CklSDgpKjgpYvgpLDgpYs=?= (=?UTF-8?B?RnJlZGVyaWNrIE5vcm9uaGEgW+ClnuCksOClh+CkpuCksOCkv+CklSDgpKjgpYvgpLDgpYs=?=) Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:23:20 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Fwd: Release from CopySouth In-Reply-To: <2EA6D63AE264BA4EA1CA3E63B8850AC225A2D2E1C3@MAPI.ad.kent.ac.uk> References: <2EA6D63AE264BA4EA1CA3E63B8850AC225A2D2E1C3@MAPI.ad.kent.ac.uk> Message-ID: <8ea78e010909221553v4cc342dfh42611a5b356df360@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: A.C.Story Date: 2009/9/23 Subject: Release from CopySouth To: "A.C.Story" , "fredericknoronha at gmail.com" Release from the CopySouth Research Group,      23 September 2009. The CopySouth Research Group (CSRG), which was established in 2005 and has published its well-known Dossier in English and Spanish, is making two changes to its activities. First, CopySouth is creating a new e-mail list for the discussion and debate of copyright and related issues in the global South. It intends to connect scholars, activists, artists, and government officials who take a critical view of copyright for the global South and want to discuss these issues with others. The listserv will function in both Spanish and English with the hope of additional languages in the future. More information about the goals of the listserv and CopySouth are available once you have subscribed. To find out more and how you can join, go to: http://copysouth.org/mailman/listinfo/copysouth_copysouth.org Or to: http://copysouth.org/portal/list Second, the CSRG has recently made major changes to its website and added a great deal of new material. So pay a visit to www.copysouth.org, take a look at the new documents, and leave a comment … or offer its editors a new document to post on the website. Best wishes The CopySouth Research Group contact at copysouth.org -- FN +91-9822122436 P +91-832-2409490 Updated: http://goabooks.wordpress.com From pranesh at cis-india.org Thu Sep 24 14:40:43 2009 From: pranesh at cis-india.org (Pranesh Prakash) Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:40:43 +0530 Subject: [Commons-Law] Fwd: [A2k] WIPO chief's agenda raises development concerns Message-ID: <4ABB3793.6020702@cis-india.org> FYI. -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [A2k] WIPO chief's agenda raises development concerns Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:54:12 +0800 From: Sangeeta To: a2k discuss list , "Ip-health at lists.essential.org" WIPO chief's agenda raises development concerns SUNS #6778 Thursday 24 September 2009 Geneva, 23 Sep (Sangeeta Shashikant) -- The Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Francis Gurry, on Tuesday presented his vision for the organization, which includes further norm-setting in the area of copyright to accommodate the concerns of right-holders in the digital age and the adoption of his controversial proposed Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) road map which would move in the direction of removing many of the checks and balances needed for development. The WIPO chief laid out his vision in his opening statement at the forty-seventh session of the WIPO Assemblies, which is meeting from 22 September to 1 October to review the organization's status of activities and discuss future work. On both the issues of norm-setting in the area of copyright and the proposed road map for the PCT, the vision is underlined by the view that otherwise WIPO may become irrelevant as a result of on-going bilateral and plurilateral initiatives. The vision also includes renewing the mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), and on terms that will provide grounds for the developing countries to believe that tangible solutions at the international level to deal with misappropriation of genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore are close. Gurry also stressed, albeit without much elaboration, on the need for "ambitious" projects pertaining to the Development Agenda and on the need "to agree upon a coordination mechanism that establishes a seamless relationship between approval of projects, budgeting and monitoring". National innovation and intellectual property (IP) strategies were also highlighted by Gurry as the main basis for WIPO to deliver technical assistance to countries. In a context where developed countries are the main holders of intellectual property rights (e.g. patents), and thus exporters of IP, and developing countries are mainly importers of IP and the main victims of "access", several of Gurry's priorities raise concerns from a development perspective and may result in controversy. On norm-setting, Gurry noted that the "normative agenda...is not progressing". He said that "the rate of progress in norm-making is in inverse proportion to the rate of technological change". This, in his view, "poses several major risks" for WIPO. He added that WIPO will "lose its role in economic rule-making", and "multilateralism will suffer and recourse to bilateral and plurilateral solutions may become more frequent." Gurry said that "Global use of technologies calls for global normative architecture". The Director-General then linked making rules for the latest advances in technology with rules on traditional knowledge (TK), adding that WIPO "must be able to deal with all". On the issue of TK, Gurry appealed for a show of "flexibility and understanding that is necessary to renew the mandate of this Committee on terms that will provide grounds for the developing countries, in particular, to believe that tangible solutions at the international level to the unfair misappropriation of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions are close". The issue of TK is expected to be one of the most controversial issues to be discussed at the Assemblies, as Members have to take a decision on renewing the mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore that was established by the WIPO General Assembly in October 2000. The Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) presently has the mandate to focus on the "international dimension" and "no outcome of its work is excluded including the possible development of an international instrument or instruments". However, in the last nine years, nothing substantive has emerged from the IGC as a result of resistance from the developed countries, in particular, the US, Japan, the EU and Australia. At the last session of the IGC in July 2009, the African Group submitted a proposal (supported by most other developing countries) for the renewal of the IGC's mandate, with calls for text-based negotiations, the establishment of a defined work programme, time-frames including for inter-sessional work sessions, and a diplomatic conference to expedite work on the development and adoption of an international legally-binding instrument for genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore. However, no agreement was reached on the IGC's mandate since developed countries were opposed to any text-based negotiations or an international legally-binding instrument on the matter. According to some African delegates, these differences persist and will emerge as the agenda item is discussed during the Assemblies. The second normative area that Gurry focussed on was copyright in the digital environment. He said: "We are witnessing the migration of most, if not all, forms of cultural expression to digital technology and the Internet - music, film, news content, literature and broadcasts of cultural and sporting events". He added that "they do signal a challenge for the institution of copyright". Gurry further said that "The evidence suggests that the current means are suffering severe stress", and that "according to industry estimations, 40 billion files of music were illegally file-shared on the Internet in 2008, a piracy rate of 95%". "I am not too sure that the impact of these tumultuous developments in digital technology can be dealt with by way of negotiation of individual issues in one of our Standing Committees. These developments are too fundamental. They concern a question of major importance to the whole world, which it is not an exaggeration to characterize as the financing of culture in the 21st century," he added, suggesting "the possibility of some form of global consultation and reflection on this question". Gurry's intervention on norm-setting in the copyright area appears to want to import contentious ongoing discussion, in and among developed countries, pertaining to copyright protection in the digital age that favours specific copyright holders in developed countries. The intervention also reveals a bias towards norm-setting in the interest of right-holders based on data produced by the right-holders. No mention is made of possible norm-setting in the area of exceptions and limitations to copyright that would benefit users/consumers and the general public, although the issue of norm-setting in the area of exceptions and limitations has dominated the agenda of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights in its past two meetings. There is also a treaty proposal on access to published works on the part of the visually impaired supported by a group of developing countries. Gurry also stressed the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Road Map as a project of "great significance". He emphasized that it was not a "norm-making exercise" since the PCT and the Road Map is about "improving the functioning of a procedural treaty that links together the patent offices of the world", adding that "it is about finding ways to increase work-sharing, to decrease unnecessary inefficiencies, to improve the quality of output of the international patent system and thereby contribute to the management of the unsustainable backlog of 4.2 million unprocessed patent applications in the world." The PCT Road Map was presented by the Secretariat at the May session of the PCT Working Group and contained actions to be taken to reform the PCT system. The PCT system allows an applicant to seek patent protection for an invention simultaneously in many countries by filing an "international" patent application. However, at the May session, several developing countries raised concerns that the Secretariat's Road Map moved in the direction of removing many of the checks and balances needed for development. The Road Map proposed inter alia the removal of reservations to PCT Articles and Rules made by members in exercise of their rights under the PCT; and promotes greater coordination in such a manner that the work of a few patent offices designated as International Searching Authorities (ISA) determines the outcomes of the national examination substantially by raising a presumption of validity of patent applications examined by the ISAs. As a result of these concerns, the May session did not approve the Road Map and sought more time to study the need for, and content of, such reform. It also highlighted the need for the 45 Development Agenda (DA) Recommendations to be considered in any move towards PCT reform. The PCT Road Map is seen by many as Gurry's "pet project", thus the strong push by the Secretariat for the adoption of the road map. In his report to the Assemblies, Gurry also mentioned "counterfeit" and explained that it meant "fake and deceptive". This is in total disregard of the fact that counterfeit is defined in the TRIPS Agreement and in the national laws of many countries as pertaining to trademark infringement. He added that he saw WIPO moving "gradually" to a dialogue on "ways and means of dealing in a practical way with the misuse of intellectual property to sell fake products". In relation to climate change, the Director-General said that "There is a perception that intellectual property may be a negative influence in the range of policy initiatives that are needed to deal with climate change", but that he "did not believe that this perception corresponds to reality". He further added that "it is difficult to imagine how a property right on an individual piece of technology could constitute an obstacle". He however acknowledged that "Transfer of technology is thus fundamental to effective action. The policy challenge of shepherding, through a public process, the transfer of such an extensive range of technology held in private hands, is daunting and frankly has never been achieved before". There is clear evidence of an upward trend in the patenting of climate-related technologies since the mid-1990s and entities of industrialized countries hold most of the technology. This raises fundamental questions as to whether developing countries will be hampered in their ability to gain, on reasonable terms, timely access to latest mitigation and adaptation technologies as well as the associated know-how. IP has been identified as being one of the barriers to accessing climate-friendly technologies by developing countries (the Group of 77 and China), who have submitted proposals within the context of the climate negotiations to overcome the IP barrier. With regard to the Development Agenda, Gurry said, without much elaboration, that it was time to "transform that idea into an operational reality", stressing the need to be more "ambitious" and "to identify and execute projects that make a difference and that are not just a continuation of standard technical assistance under another guise". He further stressed on the "need to agree upon a coordination mechanism that establishes a seamless relationship between approval of projects, budgeting and monitoring". The issue of a coordination mechanism was particularly contentious at the last meeting of the Committee on Development and IP held from 27 April to 1 May 2009, as Group B (composed of developed countries) was not agreeable to consider any such mechanism. However, it is anticipated that several developing-country delegations will stress the importance of deciding on coordination mechanisms as well as modalities for monitoring, assessing and reporting on the implementation of recommendations at this Assemblies during the agenda item on the Development Agenda. + _______________________________________________ A2k mailing list A2k at lists.essential.org http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k -- Pranesh Prakash Programme Manager Centre for Internet and Society W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283 -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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