ONCE, the National Organization of the Spanish Blind, has written to the Spanish government requesting the support for the WBU WIPO treaty proposal.
ONCE argues that although Spain has a good exception for the blind, the WBU proposal will allow other governments to amend their copyright laws in a similar manner and that this proposal will also have benefits for the trans-border distribution of works. The letter highlights that the WBU treaty proposal will allow the creation of a global platform for the distribution of accessible documents.
At least sixteen non-governmental organizations from India representing the blind, the visual impaired, the disabled and the public interest sent a petition to India’s Registrar of Copyrights on November 3, 2008 expressing their support for the World Blind Union proposal for a WIPO Treaty for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons. Here is the letter below in full.
I have been asked to elaborate on the relationship between the Medical Innovation Prize Fund (S.2210, 110th Congress) and the WTO TRIPS Agreement.
For centuries, innovation inducement prizes have been suggested as a mechanism to stimulate investments in a wide range of topics. (See, for example, Selected Innovation Prizes and Reward Programs, KEI Research Note 2008:1). During most of this period, the patent system has also existed.
According to a note sent to KEI, CNIB in Canada considers the WBU proposal for a WIPO Treaty for the reading disabled to be “the most critical component of achieving true equality through the development of a ‘Global Library’!. This is a letter that Jim Sanders, the President and Chief Executive Officer of CNIB, sent to the Canada delegation to WIPO.
Larry Lessig has writen a blog post on the Google Books settlement. Lessig starts by saying “this is a good deal that could be the basis for something really fantastic,” and then elaborates, noting how important will be the governance of the new non-profit registry. At the end, Larry trashes the legislative proposal for an orphan works act:
Larry Lessig has writen a blog post on the Google Books settlement. Lessig starts by saying “this is a good deal that could be the basis for something really fantastic,” and then elaborates, noting how important will be the governance of the new non-profit registry. At the end, Larry trashes the legislative proposal for an orphan works act:
The penultimate day of the WIPO development committee held in-depth discussions on recommendation 20 of the Development Agenda which states:
To promote norm-setting activities related to IP that support a robust public domain in WIPO’s Member States, including the possibility of preparing guidelines which could assist interested Member States in identifying subject matters that have fallen into the public domain within their respective jurisdictions.
During the IGWG, BIO, the trade association, a group not yet in official relations with the WHO, was given the right to place four persons inside the closed drafting sessions. One of them was Jon Santamauro, who until recently was a US trade official on intellectual property issues.
“Mr. Santamauro has more than 15 years of experience handling intellectual property issues for the U.S. Government.”