Remember the July 7 public letter to WIPO asking it to organize a meeting in 2004 on open source, open access, and other "open and collaborative projects to create public goods"? (Disclosure: I was one of the letter's signatories.) The purpose of the meeting would be to find ways in which IP rules can assist, rather than retard, these beneficial projects. On July 10, WIPO Assistant Director General and Legal Counsel Francis Gurry published a gracious statement in Nature accepting the suggestion: "The use of open and collaborative development models for research and innovation is a very important and interesting development, especially in areas where technology approaches the domain of basic science and scientific discovery. The Director General of WIPO looks forward with enthusiam to taking up the invitation to organise a conference to explore the scope and application of these models as vehicles for encouraging innovation." But that was before Microsoft and the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) made their wishes known. Jamie Love of the CPT, who organized the initial public letter, now reports that Microsoft and the USPTO have asked WIPO to reverse its July 10 decision and call off the meeting. According to Love, Gurry has said that WIPO is now "unlikely" to hold the meeting and that "The last thing WIPO wants to do is buy into a trade dispute." I'll keep you posted on further developments.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 8/14/2003 09:05:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
