Re: [d@DCC] Resources for international copyright essay

From: Russell McOrmond <russell _-at-_ flora.ca>
To: General Discussion <discuss (at) digital-copyright.ca>
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 17:30:16 -0500 (EST)

On Mon, 16 Feb 2004, Fergal Warde wrote:

> I'm doing a paper for my politics course on the globalization of copyright 
> and "intellectual property", can anyone point me towards some useful online 
> resources or books that might help?

http://www.wipo.int/
  - Many of the treaties are there -- start with the Berne convention and 
    go onward.

http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/trips_e.htm
  - so-called "Trade aspects" of PCT -- I don't think there are trade 
    aspects, but obviously WTO disagrees ;-)

http://weblog.flora.org/article.php3?story_id=246
   Commission on Intellectual Property Rights - report

  This is a great report to see a more balanced view of the issues than 
the monopoly-industry views you will see with WIPO and WTO.


And an opinion:

  This forum has asked the question often whether the current round of
digital copyright reforms are in response to WIPO treaties that were
"negotiated in questionable faith", or whether treaties should always be
negotiated in response to well articulated and tested domestic public
policy.

  To get a sense of the problems with the globalization of PCT's you can 
concentrate on copyright, but similar problems exist with patents, 
trademarks and other sui-generis forms of protection.

  Copyright is supposed to be the legal expression of the delicate
balance between creators' rights and citizens' rights.  Neither
independent creators nor private citizens are invited to trade
negotiations which are largely controlled by big-business interests trying
to carve up the spoils of the international trading of this "property".

  That these negotiations are dangerously skewed to favor third party
intermediaries (content industries, telecommunications industries, etc) and opposed
to the rights of creators and citizens is obvious from the very form that
these negotiations take.


---
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
 Perspective of a digital copyright reformer on Sheila Copps, MP.
 http://www.flora.ca/russell/drafts/copps-ndp.html
 Discuss at: http://www.lulu.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2757

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