Discussion on proposals has begun “The idea [of a Development Agenda for WIPO] is horrible, but luckily it’s starting to fray”, said one of the German delegates to the IIM. Not only does this not exactly make me proud of my country’ s position on this; it is also simply wrong. As during the last Read more »
The public interest NGOs present at WIPO have published a common statement supporting the proposals of the Group of Friends of Development (.pdf, 3.3 MB) to establish a Development Agenda for WIPO. Those who want to support the statement can now sign up at www.ipjustice.org. The common statement demands that: the development dimension should be Read more »
Just arrived in Geneva today. The third part of the “Intersessional Intergovernmental Meeting on a Development Agenda for WIPO” (aka IIM/3) is due to start on Wednesday, July 20. This is the last bit of time officially assigned to the question if WIPO should start to seriously consider development issues when watching over copyright, patents Read more »
For those of you who read German: There’s a well-informed new blog on Free Software and Free Culture. At www.fair-code.net, Meike Richter is gathering news and events related to cultural life in cyberspace and meatspace. This one looks like it’s going to be good.
Found an interesting bit of news on rotten.com: A certain Professor Landsburg of the University of Rochester has calculated the economic value of imposing the death penalty on hackers (or, more exactly, crackers; Mr Landsburg does not bother with such fine distinctions). There is a NY Times article (use Bugmenot if you don’t want to Read more »
The software patent directive’s dead body is not quite cold yet, as another beast is raising its head. It goes by the name of “Proposal For EU Directive on criminal measures aimed at ensuring the enforcement of intellectual property rights”. On the face of it, this is a proposal for a directive which will impose Read more »
Weird copyright decision by a German court today. The opera “Montezuma” by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was long believed to be lost. Recently, the score has been discovered in the archives of the “Sing-Akademie zu Berlin”. The academy now successfully stopped a German music festival from putting on the opera, which was first performed in 1733 Read more »
And everyone thought that it would finally be over. When the European parliament rejected the Directive on Computer-Implemented Inventions (aka “the software patents directive”) minutes ago with 648 of 680 votes, it dashed not only the hopes of pro-swpat-lobby groups such as EICTA of finally getting their way by inviting enough bureaucrats for dinner; the Read more »
The question of why software patents are not such a good idea has been discussed to such a degree that it is hard for people becoming newly interested in the issue to gain a basic understanding. Though not being exactly new (April 2005), this video from ffii.org gives a great introduction. Enjoy!
The software patent battle in Brussels is at full force, and we are feeling the strain. Here’s an interesting quote I read a few days ago in the Financial Times, which comments on the decision by the European parliament’s legislative committee to recommend adopting the Commission’s pro-software patents text: Mark MacGann, president of Eicta, an Read more »