Absurd WIPO quotes (2): Sorry, we don’t have internet access
Here’s another gem from the WIPO meetings on a Development Agenda, which followed the proposal of 14 developing countries (the "Friends of Development") for WIPO to steer away from bluntly foisting IMP maximalism upon everyone, in serfdom to rich-country rightsholders.
This time, it’s not the quote that is absurd, but rather the text it refers to. At the first IIM in April 2005, the US had made a counterproposal. It tried to appease calls for a structural reform of WIPO by setting up a website. This website should be a place where those needing a copyright or patent licence could meet the rich-country rightsholders, and beg to them for it. The US considered that in this way, WIPO would take development concerns sufficiently into account.
That might have been true, had there not been those pesky have-nots. Morocco, speaking for the African countries, reminded the US (I’m quoting from the protocols, p. 18):
However, the African Group had some reservations regarding the
conceptual basis of the US proposal. For the African Group, the US
proposal assumed, as a pre-established fact, the existence and the
availability of infrastructures enabling access to the Internet in all
countries. The Delegation pointed out that, due to the digital divide,
not all countries had the same facilities with respect to the Internet
access […]
In clear: A website might be all well and good, but sorry, some of us don’t have internet connectivity.<!–
So much for the very valuable and thoughtful proposal by the honorable delegation of the United States.