WIPO Didn't Want The Pirate Party To Observe Its Efforts, But Happy To Include A Group Whose Mission Is To Battle Space Lizards
from the say-what? dept
You may recall five years ago how WIPO -- the World Intellectual Property Organization, a UN body that is famous for its maximalist and expansionary approach to intellectual property -- delayed and then rejected the Pirate Parties International request to become an "observer." As we noted, the "observer" process is more or less a formality, and it's pretty common to see everyone who applies get approved. So it was a bit odd that WIPO rejected the Pirates.
And it's even odder when you consider just who WIPO allowed in this year. As noted by Intellectual Property Watch, one of the organizations whose application was rubber-stamped this year to become a WIPO observer is that of the generically named "IP Centre." However, that group's website at the time that it was granted observer status claimed the following as its mission:
Our mission
As a global conspiracy investigation institution with a pioneering awareness raising model, our mission is to create an environment that brings together open-minded people, cultures and ideas from around the world, in order to free individuals and organizations from space lizards’ control.
Let me just repeat that again. WIPO -- which rejected the application of a political party for whom intellectual property is a central plank in its platform -- instead approved a group whose stated mission on its website was to free us from "space lizards' control.".
Space. Lizards.
The webpage has since been changed to some boring boilerplate, but here's what it looked like before:
It's entirely unclear what happened here, though a charitable explanation is someone posted some jokey text when the website was first being designed, and no one ever checked out the website to see what was there (or no one read enough to care) until this whole situation happened, at which time the organization got a bit more serious about its mission. However, it still does raise some questions about the due diligence of WIPO folks.
Though, conceivably, perhaps WIPO is just too busy fighting space lizards to read that carefully.
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: copyright, space lizards, wipo
Reader Comments
The First Word
“If you believe one is real, it isn't that much further of a leap to then accept the other.
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
YES, "someone posted some jokey text"; YOUR only purpose is to
discredit WIPO / copyright in any way possible.
Next STORY, please. Try for NON-"jokey".
[ link to this | view in thread ]
If you believe one is real, it isn't that much further of a leap to then accept the other.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: YES, "someone posted some jokey text"; YOUR only purpose is to
Seriously, please fuck off. Nobody wants to read your drivel.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: YES, "someone posted some jokey text"; YOUR only purpose is to
[ link to this | view in thread ]
On the flip side, maybe an expansive and maximalist approach to intellectual property is WIPO's way of ensuring that some knowledge can survive the space lizards' influence.
Fight the lizards in space so we don't have to fight them down here!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
So what?
Maybe those pretty pink rainbow ponies will come down and save you from all this burdensome regulatory agencies you all keep clamoring for as though only the purest of driven snow would be poured out by the highest choir of angel(s) or the creator(s) him/her/themselves?
You can't be saved from this in this way... at best you get a little lube before you are bent over... word is many of you like it that way anyways!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: So what?
Wow, haven’t seen blatant homophobia around here in a long damn while.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: So what?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: YES, "someone posted some jokey text"; YOUR only purpose is to
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: So what?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
David Icke & reptilian wingnuttery
Though some people have speculated that 'lizard' was really a code word for 'jew' -- something no modern day [Western] publisher would have ever accepted, despite being much more plausible (or at least less ridiculous).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: David Icke & reptilian wingnuttery
So you're saying it's a plausible theory that the world is secretly run by Space Jews?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: So what?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Double checked
It was likely a very short-lived hack or joke that was fixed as soon as discovered.
Also, IP Watch uses Godzilla as an example of Space Lizard. I don't remember anything about Godzilla coming from space.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Nice try non-space lizards, you can't overthrow your space lizard overloads so easily.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: YES, "someone posted some jokey text"; YOUR only purpose is to
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: YES, "someone posted some jokey text"; YOUR only purpose is to
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Double checked
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceGodzilla
Oh no!
There goes Tokyo
Godzilla!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
All in tbe name
Maybe "IP Advancement League" would have done it? (Doesn't say how they're advancing it. But they can explain that on their website, no one will read it.)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: David Icke & reptilian wingnuttery
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: YES, "someone posted some jokey text"; YOUR only purpose is to
Or am I confusing space lizards with something else?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Certainly helps explain the IP connection.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The IP Centre is crazy!
The Reptilians are from the Earth's outer core, not from space!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
HOW TO:
https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/01/28/10-strange-lobbying-groups-th at-we-swear-are-real
The U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers
Cigar Rights Of America
California Cling Peach Growers
Catfish Farmers of America
https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/20-weird-associations-you-didnt-know-existed?utm_ter m=.ucW9wdxKD#.pdGa6q942
Association for Astrological Networking
The Association for Professional Basketball Research
Association for Christian Retail
Association for the Preservation of the Coelacanth
Lobby groups spend considerable amounts of money on election advertising as well. For example, the 2011 documentary film Hot Coffee contains interviews of former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver E. Diaz, Jr. and evidence the US Chamber of Commerce paid for advertising to unseat him.
Drug Policy Alliance, whose principal goal is to end the American "War on Drugs".
Energy Lobby, an umbrella term for the representatives of large oil, gas, coal, and electric utilities corporations that attempt to influence governmental policy in the United States.
US Chamber of Commerce, by far the biggest lobby group in the US by expenditures.
The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is a business-oriented American lobbying group. It is not an agency of the United States government.
The Chamber is the largest lobbying group in the U.S., spending more money than any other lobbying organization on a yearly basis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Chamber_of_Commerce
GO READ THIS, its fun..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: So what?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: So what?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Space Lizards
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: YES, "someone posted some jokey text"; YOUR only purpose is to
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: David Icke & reptilian wingnuttery
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re:
WIPO: "Oh wait, you were one of us all along? Welcome in, then! Apologies for the delay, comrades. All hail Smelborp!"
[ link to this | view in thread ]
To be fair...
Oh, and they also 'fired' their entire court of arbitration, when the validity of the German leadership was questioned.
When I founded PPI 10 years ago (next month), it was to provide support for parties, and be a central resources clearinghouse to aid state and regional parties in their national and regional objectives. Now it's become an NGO lobbying group, so that its German 'core' can get cushy lobbying and pundit jobs.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Smelborp
All hail Gortrog the drazil!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Look out for Eddie Izzard and the Wizards,
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pirate Party Astroturfing
Take measures to conceal the fact it is tied to the Pirate Party. Then get that shell organization approved.
BINGO! Now we have some eyes and ears in the WIPO.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Pirate lobbiests
I think full transparency including announcing cross-institutional affiliation is one of the platform policies of the Pirate Party.
It's much like how the Green Party's anti-corruption policies keep it from getting many financial supporters.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]