The day begins with delegates locked in informal negotiations, so it is likely that I will not be able to report much today because I have to fly back to Edinburgh. Word in the hallways is that there were closed negotiations well into the night yesterday on topics such as Read more…
[You know the drill, these are my own opinions] Plenary session begins with the discussion of paper CDIP/5/5 dealing with the Project on Intellectual Property and Product Branding for Business Development in Developing Countries and Least-Developed Countries (LDCs). This is mostly being presented as a project that will try to Read more…
[As stated earlier, these are my own opinions] Work resumes, dealing with recommendations on the public domain. Development Agenda Group is asking to approve the proposals, but would also like to include a positive normative element to enhance the public domain. There was a bit of a keruffle during the Read more…
The day begins with work on the point 7 of the Agenda: namely “Continuation of discussion on coordination mechanisms and monitoring, assessing and reporting modalities”. Did you have to read that twice? Yes, me too. I am worried that the Development Agenda is mired on procedural minutiae as agreeing on Read more…
[Disclaimer: What follows is the vetted CC version. There were a couple of errors in the version I read at the meeting] Statement by Creative Commons to CDIP5 (Geneva, 26 April 2010) Thank you Mr Chairman for the opportunity to make a statement; we would like to join other delegates Read more…
[Disclaimer: I am attending as representative from Creative Commons, but this blog expresses only my opinions and not CC’s] Dr Francis Gurry, Secreatary General of WIPO opens the proceedings. There are funds and staff for development. Established an office of economist and established a “Challenges” office. There is a new Read more…
Seems like the volcano gods have stayed their hand, so I’ll be away in Geneva next week attending the Fifth Session of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) at WIPO on behalf of Creative Commons. Will blog and tweet accordingly depending on internet availability.
Very interesting discussion here about the defence of Free Software using Socrates. This dialogue between Socrates and sophist Antiphon can be found in Xenophon’s Memorabilia (Book I, Part VI): Antiphon. Socrates, for my part, I believe you to be a good and upright man; but for your wisdom I cannot Read more…
So, the text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has been released. Much of what I’ve read so far brings me back to an earlier comment I made regarding one of the early drafts. If you don’t feel like reading the link, the gist of what I said is that Read more…
I’ve finally watched the excellent video “Patent Absurdity: how software patents broke the system”, and I highly recommend it. It contains several interviews surrounding the Bilski case in the U.S. Supreme Court, with commentary from some of the biggest names in the software patent debate. I will let the video Read more…