Dear GKD members, We are launching an initiative to examine the important issues relating to intellectual property rights (in particular copyright), the Internet and software, with particular attention to concerns that relate to developing countries. We would welcome input and participation from GKD members. I have provided a description of the initiative, below. Best regards, Charles Clift Secretary Commission on Intellectual Property Rights ***** The Commission on Intellectual Property Rights Announces Online Debate on Copyright, Software and the Internet The Commission on Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR) is an initiative of the UK Government, financed by the Department for International Development (DFID). It is looking at how national and international intellectual property rules and practices might be improved to take greater account of the needs and interests of poor people and developing countries. The aim is for the Commission to report by March 2002. We want our website to be a means of communication with the far-flung and diverse constituency interested in this subject, and a way for the Commission and this community to exchange views. In particular we are running a series of moderated on-line debates, the first of which starts this week (details below). If you want to submit views we ask you to register (only very basic information is required). On registering you will also be asked if you want to join any of the e-mail lists so that we can keep you informed at irregular intervals about Commission activities in your area of interest. You can register at: http://www.iprcommission.org/register.asp The Commission would like to announce the start of our first on-line debate on the topic of: Copyright, Software and the Internet: Impacts & Issues for Poor Countries The debate is scheduled to run for 3 weeks from Monday 17 September to Friday 5 October. The Chairman of the Commission, Professor John Barton of Stanford University, has formulated some initial questions that the Commission would like to hear your views on. We have placed these on our website as a "Welcome Post" to start the debate off. We have also commissioned a study by Dr Alan Story of the University of Kent at Canterbury into a broader range of issues concerning copyright and developing countries. We hope that Alan will be able to join this on-line debate to share his perspective and pose some wider questions. To read the "Welcome Post" and other contributions go to: http://www.iprcommission.org/filter6.asp To submit your views or comments relevant to this topic, please go to the Submissions page on our website: www.iprcommission.org/submit.asp You will then need to log in, if you are already registered, or register if you have not already done so. After logging in, click on topic No 5, which opens the relevant submit page. For those with poor Internet access, we will be e-mailing a compilation of contributions to all members on the list at daily intervals. Similarly, submissions may also be sent by e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or by pressing the reply button to our e-mails. These will then be submitted to the website here. This is the first of our planned series of on-line discussions and is a pilot run to determine if our website has the capacity to cater adequately. We very much hope that this will be an interesting, instructive and lively debate and look forward to hearing from you. Charles Clift Secretary Commission on Intellectual Property Rights ------------ ***GKD is an initiative of the Global Knowledge Partnership*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.globalknowledge.org>
