Knowledge Ecology International

Today, on the eve of discussions on the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) at the WIPO General Assembly, Senators Harkin (D-IA) and Sanders (I-VT) submitted a letter to Director David Kappos of the US Patent and Trademark Office. This letter recommended USPTO’s support for the timely consideration of a treaty for the benefit of persons who are visually impaired or have other disabilities. Continue Reading →

Brazil’s general statement to the WIPO General Assembly in 2011 was delivered on Monday, 26 September 2011 by HE Roberto Azevedo, Permanent Representative of Brazil to the WTO and other Economic Organizations in Geneva. With respect to a disabilities treaty, Brazil stated,

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KEI general statement to 49th WIPO General Assemblies
Statement of Knowledge Ecology International
49th Session of the WIPO Assemblies
Tuesday, 27 September 2011

Mr. Chairman,

As Knowledge Ecology International is taking the floor for the first time, I would like to congratulate you upon your election as Chair of the General Assembly.

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The following intervention was delivered on 26 September 2011 by H.E. Abdul Minty, Ambassador and Permanent of the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations and other International Organizations, on behalf of the African Group. This is what the African Group said about limitations and exceptions:

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The following intervention was delivered today by H.E. Alfredo Suescum, Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Panama to the WTO on behalf of of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC). With respect to a disabilities treaty, GRULAC noted:

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The 49th WIPO General Assembly began today, in a packed hall of the CICG convention center. The agenda and other documents for the meeting is available here. The Director General, Francis Gurry, began his talk focusing on financial challenges, and, among other things, several references to the work of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). Gurry talked about progress on the AV treaty, and progress on an “instrument” for persons with disabilities. He talked about the new SCCR work program on the broadcast treaty. He did not mention the WIPO work on libraries, education or other copyright limitations and exceptions issues.

The meeting is webcast. Countries have been given 5 minutes for opening statements.
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In 2000, President Clinton asked Donna Shalala, then the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), to write to Representative Jan Schakowsky. Schakowky had asked President Clinton to provide the World Health Organization with royalty free rights to health care products, for which the United States holds rights.

Schakowsky was pressing President Clinton to share its rights, under 35 USC 202(c)(4) — a federal statute that reserves certain rights in patents where the federal government provided funding for the invention.

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The NCD Alliance is a formal alliance of the International Diabetes Federation, The International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Union for International Cancer Control and the World Heart Federation established on 19 May 2009 “representing the four main NCDs outlined in the World Health Organization’s 2008-2013 Action Plan for NCDs – cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease”. Continue Reading →

Krista Cox wrote these notes on September 13, 2011, reporting on the eighth round of negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). Continue Reading →

On July 19, I read a press release that annouced that:

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