Karsten on Free Software

The thursday morning session starts with the Chairman’s announcement that, as the discussion of the individual proposals is nearing its end (we’re well into the US proposal, and after that only that of the Friends of Development is left), he will seek to draft a list of topics that have been discussed or are to be discussed.

After that, Brasil quickly finishes ripping apart the US proposal. The Brazilians reject the careless usage of words like “counterfeiting” or “piracy”, since their exact meaning differs from country to country – illicit copying is obviously something to be judged according to national law, and according to Brasil, WIPO has neither the power to define “piracy”, nor is it in its mandate to prosecute such activities.

Then there is the issue of WIPONET, a sort of intranet connecting WIPO and national copyright and patent offices. The US want to use this for their website database connecting “IP beggars” and “IP donors”; Brazil claims that, after sinking roughly a billion Swiss Francs into the project, the network is still not operational. Maybe this issue should be cleared up first, before building new projects on top of it.

Argentina follows in Brazil’s footsteps. They point out that the US is the prime market for counterfeited goods in the world. This demonstrates that piracy and counterfeiting are not a phenomenon that is exclusive to developing countries. Thus, it does not seem clear why the US want counterfeiting studied in connection with technology transfer.

This prompted quite a few chuckles in the room, especially as the Argentinian delegate referred to an article in an international newspaper, which yesterday reported on New York’s effort to fight the sale of counterfeited goods in the city.

Even the delegate of the Ivory Coast heavily criticises a notion he detects in the US proposal: that technology, once transferred to a developing country, will there be used for counterfeiting alone. Though he emphasises that counterfeiting and piracy hurt development, he rejects the idea that developing countries are a hotbed of counterfeiting.

Most people in the room were surprised at the heavy-handedness of the Brazilian statement. Tactically, it is indeed questionable why Brazil would intentionally attack the US so heavily.

If the debate was until now rather non-confrontational, that has certainly changed. It seems logical that now the US will go on and rip apart the Friends of Development proposal, which is next up for discussion. As well as most NGO delegates, EU representatives also admitted to being stunned.

But for now, there is a somewhat eerie quiet, as countries with more middle-of-the-road positions discuss individual points of the US statement. This includes Romania, Australia, and Nigeria. I’m curious when the US will hit back, and if the Brazilian move turns out to be smart in the end.