US Ambassador To The UN Says WIPO Too Biased Against IP Holders

from the er,-what? dept

Back in 2010, Techdirt reported on a fairly remarkable comment from the US ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Betty E. King, who said at a press conference:

if we get to a system where the protections of patents are abrogated in the name of development then we certainly will kill [WIPO].

If that's not clear, she's saying that intellectual property is more important than economic development (especially in emerging countries).

Howard Knopf points out a post from Intellectual Property Watch where she was asked what her thoughts on the subject were now:

King said she is not concerned about the Development Agenda [at WIPO], but that there is still a need for greater balance for those who have IP rights.

In other words, she's not as worried, but she apparently feels that WIPO is somehow biased against patent and copyright holders. I suppose keeping out those evil Pirates out of WIPO was a step in the right direction, then....

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Filed Under: betty king, developing nations, economics, ip, wipo