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FSFEâs opening statement at WIPO SCP/14
,----[ Quote ]
| This week, the WIPO Standing Committee on
| the Law of Patents is meeting in Geneva.
| From FSFEâs perspective, the two most
| important points on the agenda are the
| relation between standards and patents, and
| limitations to patentability.
|
| Weâll go into details in the coming days.
| On patents and standards, one obvious point
| is that Free Software runs into all sorts
| of problems when implementing standards
| that include patented technology - just
| think of MP3.
|
| The discussion about limitations to what
| can be patented is clearly very important
| for Free Software. Here, the delegates at
| WIPO will discuss, among other things,
| whether there should be international rules
| regarding patents on software.
`----
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=291
Save the Whales! Abolish Patents! The Case of Green Technology
,----[ Quote ]
| Abolishing so-called intellectual
| "property" (IP) won't solve all social ills
| -- yet perhaps it will save the whales. In
| a series of posts based on research with my
| co-author Michele Boldrin, we are tackling
| one issue at a time. Our first post looked
| at health care. Here we examine green
| technology, specifically technologies
| designed to mitigate global warming.
|
| There are many solutions to the problem of
| global warming -- ignoring it is popular
| with the extreme right, and moving back to
| the stone age is of equal interest to the
| extreme left. For the rest of us improving
| technology seems like a good place to
| start. Even if dumping carbon dioxide in
| the atmosphere turns out not to lead to
| global warming, the ill-health effects of
| pollution aren't controversial.
`----
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-k-levine/save-the-whales-abolish-p_b_434595.html
Recent:
Fresh air at WIPO, but old habits die hard
,----[ Quote ]
| The result of all this was that despite excellent high-level speakers from
| international organisations, the conference ended up mainly representing the
| positions of those who have long been in control at WIPO: Governments of the
| US, the EU and Japan, along with large industrial rightsholders. There were
| hardly any industry stakeholders from developing countries, and no public
| interest NGOs represented among the speakers.
|
| By not including the broader picture, WIPO has missed out on the best
| opportunity in years to demonstrate that it wants to play a productive role
| in helping humanity to manage its knowledge wisely. There clearly are good
| intentions in the organisation. Now WIPO only needs to act on them.
`----
http://blogs.fsfe.org/gerloff/?p=241
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