fyi
Rina Elster Pantalony
Legal Counsel, Canadian Heritage
Department of Justice, Canada
New York, NY
tel: 212-596-1772
tel: 718-369-3266
----- Forwarded by Rina Pantalony/HullOttawa/PCH/CA on 09/30/2004 04:24 PM
-----
Dan Kniesner
<[email protected]
U> To
Sent by: Digital [email protected]
Rights Management cc
<RIGHTS-L@LISTSER
V.UTK.EDU> Subject
New agenda for WIPO
09/30/2004 02:56
PM
Please respond to
Digital Rights
Management
<RIGHTS-L@LISTSER
V.UTK.EDU>
This announcement was recently sent out on various Association of
Research Libraries lists. I thought the Rights-L list would be
interested.
Dan Kniesner
Oregon Health & Science University Library
Portland Oregon
[email protected]
503-494-3216
fax 503-494-3227
> Subject: [ARL-ANNOUNCE] Library Associations Endorse New Agenda for
> WIPO
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> September 27, 2004
>
> For further information, contact:
> Prue Adler, ARL Associate Executive Director, Federal Relations &
> Information Policy
> 202-296-2296
> [email protected]
>
> Washington, DC -- Four major U.S. library associations today endorsed
> the Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual
> Property Organization. Together, the American Association of Law
> Libraries, the American Library Association, the Association of
> Research Libraries and the Special Libraries Association represent
the
> views of over 90,000 librarians and millions of library users
> throughout the United States and abroad.
>
> The Geneva Declaration calls for the development of a new agenda for
> the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that recognizes
> the importance of intellectual property for the future of humanity
> while stressing the importance of balance in the laws and policies
> governing such intellectual property. WIPO must move beyond its
> original agenda of simply protecting intellectual property to develop
> a new agenda that promotes both international development and
> establishes new approaches to supporting innovation and creativity.
>
> In recent years, our library organizations have been concerned about
a
> number of trends that have combined to limit access to knowledge.
> These include, among others:
>
> * the lengthening of the copyright term which substantially delays
> works from entering the public domain;
> * the development of legal protections for technological protection
> devices without consideration of whether the circumvention of such a
> measure would be done for a lawful purpose; and,
> * the efforts to develop new protections for databases containing
> facts and other public domain material.
>
> Our organizations believe that these recent efforts to expand
> intellectual property rights have gone too far and must be brought
> back into balance. The development of a new agenda will give WIPO
the
> opportunity to take a leadership role in re-crafting the necessary
> balance. In doing so, we urge WIPO to affirmatively seek to balance
> the rights of creators with the rights of users. This may call for
> the rollback of recent expanded protections or the development of new
> user rights to counterbalance them. We also urge WIPO to deal
> creatively with the issues raised by digital technology to provide
> appropriate levels of protection while also supporting the rights of
> users to effectively use the new technologies.
>
> We believe that as WIPO seeks to develop its new agenda, it should:
>
> * promote the development of a robust and expanding public domain,
> allowing new works to enter the public domain following a fair and
> reasonable period of exploitation by the original creator; and,
> * establish accepted limits on the rights of copyright owners that
> permit reasonable uses for legitimate purposes.
>
> The development of digital technology has created a fundamental
> challenge to the copyright system. The creation of a new agenda is
an
> opportunity for WIPO to move beyond a protectionist approach to craft
> balanced solutions to today's issues. Our organizations look forward
> to working with WIPO and the international library community to
> develop an agenda that will both promote the protection of
> intellectual property and, at the same time, encourage access to
> knowledge and international growth and development.
>
> The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is a nonprofit
> educational organization with over 5000 members nationwide who
respond
> to the legal information needs of legislators, judges and other
public
> officials, corporations and small businesses, law professors and
> students, attorneys, and members of the general public. AALL's
mission
> is to promote and enhance the value of law libraries, to foster law
> librarianship and to provide leadership and advocacy in the field of
> legal information and information policy.
> Contact: Robert L. Oakley (202-662-9160)
>
> The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit educational
> organization of over 64,000 librarians, library trustees, and other
> friends of libraries dedicated to improving library services and
> promoting the public interest in a free and open information
society.
> Contact: Lynne Bradley (202-628-8410)
>
> The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit
> organization of 123 research libraries in North America. ARL programs
> and services promote equitable access to and effective use of
recorded
> knowledge in support of teaching, research, scholarship, and
community
service.
> Contact: Prue Adler (202-296-2296)
>
> The Special Libraries Association (SLA) The Special Libraries
> Association (SLA) is a nonprofit global organization for innovative
> information professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves
> more than 12,000 members in 83 countries in the information
> profession, including corporate, academic and government information
specialists.
> SLA promotes and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy,
> and networking initiatives.
> Contact: Doug Newcomb (703-647-4923)
>
> ########################################
>
> ********************************
> Judith Matz
> Communications Officer
> Association of Research Libraries
> 21 Dupont Circle, NW #800
> Washington, DC 20036-1118
> Phone 202-296-2296
> Fax 202-872-0884
>
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