Union for the Public Domain -Union for the Public Domain (UPD) is a non-profit citizens group. Our mission is to protect and enhance the public domain in matters concerning intellectual property. UPD is a membership organization, acting as an independent voice on intellectual property issues.U.S. circulating paper to narrow the Development Agenda- March 27, 2005 Copyright reports that the U.S. is now circulating a paper that suggests narrowing the goals of the WIPO development agenda to an Internet-based database to bring together "donors and recipients of IP development assistance." The report is based on an article by Sangeeta Shashikant published 24 March 2004 in the South-North Developmenht Monitor that is unfortunately behind password protection. Shashikant reports: Stating that WIPO already has a "robust development agenda" in all its work,...http://www.public-domain.org/?q=node/78 DRM's effect on access to knowledge in the developing world- March 23, 2005 EFF's Cory Doctorow has written a groundbreaking paper on how DRM will undermine access to knowledge in the developing world: The "DRM hypothesis" is that the public is dishonest, and will do dishonest things with cultural material if given the chance. DRM is deployed in order to force dishonest customers to behave honestly and buy media and to limit their activities to those that are authorized by rightsholders. For this to work, it must be impossible for a potential customer for media to...http://www.public-domain.org/?q=node/77 Democracy Struggles at WIPO- March 8, 2005 This is your WIPO Democracy Update: The group of fourteen developing nations that introduced the Development Agenda issued a statement yesterday rejecting the outcome of a recent regional meeting in Casablanca. They argue that the WIPO Director General overstepped his authority in organizing a regional consultation that led to substantive recommendations. Regional consultations are less democratic because they happen in far-flung places of the world that civil society NGOs generally don't...http://www.public-domain.org/?q=node/76 |