Sisule F. Musungu – There was anticipation, hope and a sense that multilateralism was experiencing one of those good moments. That was last week at the 20th Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The anticipation and hope, by many, was that the Committee meeting would end with a definite work programme towards a legal instrument to improve access to copyright material for those who are blind or with visual impairment or with print disability. Finally, the world of intellectual property (IP) was going to act decisively to end “the Book Famine”.
Archive for the ‘Copyright’ Category
Why WIPO Must Rethink its Committee Procedures and the Meaning of its Programme & Budget
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010Creative Commons in the Arab World, Views From the Global South
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010Hala Essalmawi[1] – Creative Commons initiative, born in the “North”, does it have a chance in the Arab world? Does the Arabs are interested and aware of Copyright laws? Are they concerned about Access to Knowledge issues? Can Creative Commons introduce a new tool to access and disseminate knowledge in the Arab countries?
Three books on IP launched in Brazil
Wednesday, February 24th, 2010Pedro Paranagua – Brazil’s Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), a higher education institution comprised of four Schools (Economic, Business, Law, and Social Science), placed amongst the world’s top-5 “policy-maker think-tank” according to the US magazine Foreign Policy has launched three new books (in Brazilian Portuguese) on intellectual property -related fields.
The Public Domain Manifesto
Monday, February 8th, 2010Pedro Paranagua – The Public Domain Manifesto, which was produced within the context of COMMUNIA, the European Thematic Network on the digital public domain, has recently been launched. The Manifesto is a timely reminder that the public domain “is the wealth of information that is free from the barriers to access or reuse usually associated with copyright protection, either because it is free from any copyright protection or because the right holders have decided to remove these barriers.”
Commentary on the WIPO-SCCR Information Meeting on Limitations and Exceptions for Educational Activities
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009Susan Isiko Štrba – The Nineteenth Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) opened with an information meeting on limitations and exceptions (L&Es) to copyright and related rights for educational activities. Four experts presented their studies on: a) L&Es for education in Latin America and the Caribbean (Juan Carlos Monroy), b) L&Es for teaching in Africa (Joseph Fometeu), c) L&Es for educational purposes in the Arab countries (Victor Nabhan), and d) L&Es for educational activities in North America, Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia and Israel (Raquel Xalabarder). The study on L&Es for educational activities for Asia and Australia was not presented.
