WIPO Worried About Why Countries Feel They Needed ACTA Process Outside Of WIPO
from the routing-around dept
Earlier this year, in discussing ACTA, some observers noted that it was quite telling that those involved in the ACTA negotiations were clearly routing around WIPO, the organization that was already in place to deal with those kinds of discussions. The explanation was that the negotiators were upset that the copyright holders no longer had full control over the WIPO agenda, and WIPO had dared to let consumer rights groups into the discussion. So the purpose of ACTA was to get around having to include such groups. It appears that WIPO, itself, is quite concerned about what's going on with ACTA, suggesting that he's worried that these countries no longer believe the WIPO process works."A number of countries feel [there is] an important area of public policy they are not able to address in a multilateral forum, and so have gone outside the multilateral framework to satisfy their desire for creating some form of 'international' cooperation," Gurry told Intellectual Property Watch in an interview last week. "That's the challenge, for us. And whether it concerns enforcement, ACTA, or any other area, that, on the whole, is a bad development for a multilateral agency, that member states start to do things outside."I'd argue that he's being a bit too hard on himself. It's not that the WIPO process doesn't work (though, I do have some problems with the WIPO process as well), but that the copyright holders were upset that they no longer had near unilateral control over the process. It wasn't that they felt WIPO couldn't address the issues, but that it would be much harder to get them addressed in the way industry folks wanted.
As part of the discussion, he also pointed to the recent fight over helping the blind access more content through exceptions in copyright law -- an WIPO process that has been stymied by industry interests who don't like to see any new exceptions applied to copyright. To WIPO, that gridlock on such an obviously reasonable solution is worrying:
The frustration it has caused is a consequence of practical issues not being addressed, he said, citing recent difficult discussions in the Standing Committee on Copyrights and Related Rights on increased access for visually impaired persons. "Can anyone not subscribe to that principle, as a general rule?" he asked, with visually impaired readers only obtaining access to about five percent of all published work in reasonable time.If anything, what this demonstrates is not any problems with the WIPO process, but a group of organizations so used to getting their way on copyright issues so totally and completely, that they're not used to facing people questioning the actual impact of the regulations and international agreements they push. When that happened, they decided to take their ball and go home to play with only their friends. That's what ACTA is really about.
"Can anyone stand up and say that they should not have more [access], that we should not do something about it?" It is such an obvious question, he said "but we are not getting an agreement" although the last meeting showed genuine involvement of member countries.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: acta, negotiations, treaties, wipo
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Actually you are agreeing with Mike's article here - the only difference between you and him is the definition of the word progress - which to you seems to mean ever greater scope of IP protections, ever longer copyright terms and ever more draconian enforcement (paid for by the public of course not by the industry).
What has happened is that WIPO has to a small extent seen the error of this way of thinking which is why your cronies are trying to bypass it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
"ever more draconian enforcement (paid for by the public of course not by the industry)." - just want to point out that if there is no infringement, there is no need for enforcement. are you suggesting that victims of theft or perhaps identity fraud should be forced to pay police before they act? are you suggesting that law enforcement should be selective in who they help, and perhaps set up a list of prices of what it will cost before they will answer your call to report your car stolen?
enforcement isnt draconian, it is only applying the law. if you dont like the law, change the law. dont blame the people who enforce it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
You obviously want to see draconian IP enforcement following in the same foot steps as the drug war. With no knock warrants, peoples houses being seized for a iPod full of mp3's, jail time for downloading a movie.
ACTA will be implemented in some form. When it is ... Why try to change the law? Just by pass it. Its easy enough, its just a matter of getting all the players outside of ACTA, the content industries, and IP maximalists on the same page. Getting CC, EFF, PKI, Geist, etc together and hammering out what copyright should look like. Presenting the same unified plan across the board and setting rules, standards, and agreements that anyone can understand. Rules that dont contradict each other. Standards that are simple to implement. Agreements that are completely explained with full educational material on their use.
You wouldn't need to change the law, just set up an alternate system and wait for the content and IP industries and maximalists to keep pushing. The inevitable public backlash would cause one hell of a large catastrophic failure in the media distribution and IP industries.
This is the main reason for the attacks on EFF, PKI, CC over the past couple weeks. They dont want any alternatives to the system they have in place.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
That is part but not all, after ACTA is put in practice what those countries will try to do is force others to be part of it, they will try economic sanction, public smearing campaigns and all the other tools available to them to bring ACTA to the rest of the world and to gullible developing countries, unfortunately for them the G50 was formed and they are no longer the only market people have, this could be a boom for the BRIC if they play their cards right.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
That is part but not all, after ACTA is put in practice what those countries will try to do is force others to be part of it, they will try economic sanction, public smearing campaigns and all the other tools available to them to bring ACTA to the rest of the world and to gullible developing countries, unfortunately for them the G50 was formed and they are no longer the only market people have, this could be a boom for the BRIC if they play their cards right.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Because 95 year copyright length just isn't long enough.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not to be 'that guy' Nit-picky guy.
Not to be picky but "he" in the article don't have an antecedent. Who is he?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]