IFLA and eIFL welcome the broad agreement on the need for a 'Development Agenda' for WIPO following the third session of the specially convened Inter-Sessional Intergovernmental Meeting (IIM) in Geneva, July 20-22, 2005. IFLA and eIFL welcome the broad agreement on the need for a 'Development Agenda' for WIPO following the third session of the specially convened Inter-Sessional Intergovernmental Meeting (IIM) in Geneva, July 20-22, 2005...."We are deeply disappointed, however, that after nine days of discussion not only did the delegates fail to agree on any of the substantive issues, but due to resistance from the US and Japan a consensus on how to handle the discussions in the future was rendered impossible," says Mr. Winston Tabb, Chair of IFLA CLM....A key component of the Development Agenda proposals is a call for a Treaty on Access to Knowledge. An 'A2K' treaty is important for libraries since our business is to enable people to find and use knowledge and information. This ability is essential to development and relies on exceptions and limitations to copyright. In the last decade international treaties, supranational directives from the European Union, national legislation and the terms of some Free Trade Agreements have created a trend towards the monopolisation and privatisation of information by eroding the exceptions and limitations to copyright, especially in the digital environment. Fair access to information for all is essential to nurture education and stimulate innovation. A treaty is necessary to redress the balance and establish an international framework setting out the norms by which copyright protects user rights while maintaining adequate protection for rightsholders. "This is not an issue just for developing countries, but one also for developed countries since knowledge is a universal right, and equal access is an indispensable underpinning for an inclusive, democratic society," said Winston Tabb and [eIFL.net Director] Rima Kupryte today in a joint statement.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 8/16/2005 08:32:00 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.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
