Pensando a proteção da propriedade intelectual em equilíbrio com o acesso ao conhecimento.
By Monika Ermert for Intellectual Property Watch
Ensuring public access to knowledge while supporting intellectual property rights cuts across broad areas such as internet availability, public health, education and culture, climate change, and basic technical standards.
by ICTSD
On 11 February Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
approved legislation that allows the suspension and limitation of the
IP rights of citizens or companies domiciled in countries that violate
WTO rules. The legislation, which effectively enables cross-
retaliation, comprised the following measures: (a) suspension and
limitation of IP rights; (b) alteration of the rules and procedures
that secure IP protection, mainly provided by the Brazilian Patent
Office and the Ministry of Agricultural for plant variety; (c)
alteration of the measures to apply IP rights; (d) temporary
prohibition of royalty remittances from licensing and technology
transfer and (e) additional tax application to remuneration of IP
owners.
However, additional administrative action is still needed before
Brazil can be in a position to effectively implement the cross-
retaliation.
If Brazil follows through with the duties on IP rights and services,
many believe that the measures would target the economically and
politically strong US pharmaceutical industry.
According to the Science and Development Network, the Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced the release 13.500 malaria drug candidates into the public domain as part of its ‘open innovation’ agenda.
Communia Network, a thematic group established by the European Union focused on public policies for copyright and public domain, has just launched the Manifesto of the Public Domain. The document outlines the general principles and recommendations on how to promote a balance between copyright protection and free access to works that shall be considered as public domain.
Willing to support to this innitiative and spread the idea of the Manifesto thoughout Brazil and Portuguese speaking community, the Centre for Technology and Society-CTS, together with a representative from the Ministry of Culture, José Murilo Junior, have prepared the Portuguese version of the document.
As discussed at the Seventh Workshop of the Communia, held between Jan, 31 and Feb, 02 at Luxembourg, the Manifesto is a document that seeks to stimulate the recovery in the public domain and serves as a real calling for society to be proactive on the matter.
