Access to Knowledge

It took place in Brasília the 1st Seminar on Juridical Information Management for Digital Environments, organized by the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court and headquartered at the Brazilian Labor Court from the 12nd to the 14th of February.

Professor Pedro Paranaguá, A2K Brasil Project leader, joined the programme of the first day of the event, speaking about Creative Commons and alternative licensing models for cultural works.

After four days of negotiations amongst players from the phonographic sector, and intense cultural activities, on the 11th of February it has ended in the northeastern Brazilian city Recife the 1st Brazilian Music Fair 2007, event promoted by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture (MinC) and the Brazilian National Bank for Development (BNDES).

The Center for Technology and Society (CTS) was invited for minister the course Copyright on Music.

Fifteen months since the adoption of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, it was reached the initial number of 30 ratification instruments of UNESCO’s Member-States, necessary for the implementation of the instrument that finally entered into force in the 18th of March.

In Brazil, the Convention text was approved at Brazilian Federal Senate about two monst ago, after following the proper procedures and being approved at the Federal House.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) approved, in the end of January, the unappeable enforcement of the investigation of the national patent number 6.988.138, which protects “Internet-based Education Support System and Methods”.

In the joint statement handed on the First Special Session of the WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), that took plane in Geneva last January, industry representatives like AT&T, Dell, HP, Intel, Panasonic and Verizon joined NGOs like Creative Commons, CPTech, EFF and IPJustice on the defense of a new approach to the Broadcasting Treaty.

Organisations like Consumer Federation of America (CFA), Broadband Service Providers Association (BSPA) and International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), among others, also signed the statement, reproduced below (highlights of the original).

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Joint Statement of Certain Civil Society, Private Sector and Rightsholders Representatives for the First Special Session of the SCCR

The undersigned organisations represent a broad set of constituencies with a direct interest in the discussions underway regarding an international instrument relating to broadcasting.

Whilst we remain unconvinced that a treaty is necessary at all – and note that no convincing evidence has been presented that new international norms are required in this area – we do believe
that a focussed, signal-protection-based Instrument to prevent piracy could be valuable. In the spirit of constructive engagement, we therefore submit the following for consideration of delegations:

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If the treaty moves forward in any form, we believe that the current rights-based approach of the treaty must be abandoned entirely. We understand that some parties to these negotiations have equated ‘signal protection’ with granting ‘rights to prohibit’ certain uses of broadcasts.

Paper developed by the South Centre’s Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme as part of the institutional partnership between Centre for Technology and Society (CTS) of Fundação Getúlio Vargas School of Law and South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation of developing countries with its headquarters in Geneva.

Post by Viviana Munoz, Ermias T.