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Interesting theme of this series of global congresses: 'Intellectual
Property and the Public Interest' !<br>
<br>
Wonder if you ever thought of calling it "IP and the
multistakeholder Interest' ?<br>
<br>
You all have have seen the discussion I recently had with Peng Hwa,
head of the AP regional IGF process for many years, who strongly
argued that public interest perspective is a very unclear concept
but multistakeholder perspective or interest is much easier to
establish.<br>
<br>
The discussion started when I objected to the call for workshops for
the AP regional IGF which was categorical that every workshop
proposal must incorporate a 'multistakeholder perspective'. I
suggested that it be replaced by 'public interest'. This suggestion
was not accepted. So, in fact, indeed the dominant groups involved
with the IGF process do seem to think that 'public interest' is a
problematic concept, and the idea of 'multistakeholder perspective'
or interest is a positive political evolution over it!<br>
<br>
Friends, these are serious post-democratic developments to which, it
is my duty of observe, most of the civil society involved in IG area
are either a silent or active accomplices. <br>
<br>
Meanwhile, of course, I wait for arguments that Internet ( unlike
intellectual property!?) is a bottom up , private, etc etc, thing,
and therefore its governance has to be different.... Well, lets
admit it, such an arugment really does not hold unless we are intent
to be misled by it - the social artefact of the Internet is no more
bottom up, private, etc that the social relationships of trade and
property, whose governance continue to be done in democratic
fashions... Time we claimed democratic governance for the Internet
as well, and rubbish the post-democratic multistakeholderist ideas
that are so solidly taking root in this space, for which the IG
civil society will have to answer to history. <br>
<br>
Would anyone agree that the proposed global congress on IP and
public interest to be held in a 'multistakeholder' way, with equal
space for the big IP holders, as one always insists for an IG
meeting... What really is the difference, other than that the
discourse in the IG space has been captured by powerful forces
before public interest actors could assert themselves. Civil society
in this area must help in re-democraticing this area, and reclaiming
'public interest'.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, my best wishes to the the organisers of this very
importanr congress.<br>
<br>
In fact some of us have been talking about holding a global congress
on 'Internet governance and public interest'. Happy to talk to those
who may be interested.<br>
<br>
parminder <br>
<br>
On Friday 15 May 2015 03:21 PM, Geetha Hariharan wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">PFA the call for participation for the
Global Congress on Intellectual<br>
Property and Public Interest.<br>
<br>
Apologies for cross-posting. Please do circulate to anyone you
think<br>
might be interested.<br>
<br>
Best,<br>
Geetha.<br>
<br>
---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>
From: Swaraj Barooah<br>
Date: Wed, May 13, 2015 at 1:05 PM<br>
Subject: Call for Participation: Global Congress on Intellectual<br>
Property and the Public Interest, 2015<br>
<br>
Dear all,<br>
<br>
We are pleased to announce the call for participation for the
fourth<br>
edition of the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the
Public<br>
Interest (“Global Congress”). The theme for this year’s Congress
will be<br>
“Three Decades of Openness; Two Decades of TRIPS.” We are now
inviting<br>
applications to participate in the Congress, including session<br>
participation and presentations. We are also welcoming proposals
for<br>
panels and workshops.<br>
<br>
The application form is available now at<br>
[<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973">http://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973</a>?] Please note that
this<br>
form is for application purposes, and does not amount to
confirmation of<br>
participation. The registrations for the plenary sessions, which
are<br>
open to the public, will open closer to the date of the Global
Congress.<br>
<br>
Deadlines<br>
<br>
August 1st: Priority Deadline for Applications- Applicants will be<br>
considered on a rolling basis, with applications made by August
1st<br>
being given first consideration. Applications after August 1st to<br>
receive travel assistance will be considered only under
exceptional<br>
circumstances (these details will be collected in a subsequent
form).<br>
<br>
November 1st: All applications for session participation and paper<br>
submissions will close on November 1st.<br>
<br>
Application Information<br>
<br>
For applications to participate/host: Applications to present or
host<br>
workshops shall be considered based on the proposals to be
submitted in<br>
the form.<br>
<br>
For applications to attend sessions:Applications to attend
sessions as<br>
discussants will be considered based on the statement of purpose
and/or<br>
any other relevant information provided by the applicant.<br>
<br>
Limited travel grants to cover accommodation and/or travel to the<br>
Congress will be available, with priority to those from developing<br>
countries.<br>
<br>
Background, Theme and Expected Outcomes<br>
<br>
The Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public
Interest is<br>
the most significant event on the calendar for scholars and policy<br>
advocates working on intellectual property from a public interest<br>
perspective. By sharing their research and strategies, the network
of<br>
experts and activists supported by the Global Congress are
empowered to<br>
put forward a positive agenda for policy reform. The Global
Congress<br>
began in Washington D.C. in 2011, moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2012,
and<br>
was held in Cape Town in 2013. The fourth Global Congress will now
be<br>
held in New Delhi, in December 2015. The event would be the
largest<br>
convening of public interest-oriented intellectual property<br>
practitioners ever held in Asia, and would help link in the
world's most<br>
populous region to these global debates around how intellectual
property<br>
policy can best serve the public interest.<br>
<br>
The fourth edition of the Global Congress, which brings research,
civil<br>
society, industry and regulatory and policy-making communities
together<br>
for active, intense engagement on key public-interest intellectual<br>
property issues. Opportunities for these groups to interact are
rare but<br>
valuable; and have been proven to lead to successful policy
outcomes.<br>
The 4thedition of the Congress, slated to be held in December,
2015 in<br>
New Delhi seeks to be one such opportunity.<br>
<br>
The theme for the 2015 Congress is Three Decades of Openness; Two<br>
Decades of TRIPS-coming at a pivotal time for reflection,
revision, and<br>
further strategizing. Specifically, the 2015 Congress seeks to
produce<br>
three outcomes- first, the mobilization of existing scholarly
research<br>
directly into the hands of civil society advocates, business
leaders and<br>
policy makers, leading to evidence-based policies and practices;<br>
second,the collaborative identification of urgent, global and
local<br>
research priorities and generation of a joint research/advocacy
agenda;<br>
and third, the solidification of an inter-disciplinary,
cross-sector and<br>
global networked community of experts focused on public interest
aspects<br>
of IP policy and practice.<br>
<br>
Participation Opportunities<br>
<br>
Discussions at the Global Congress will be carried out in the form
of<br>
plenary sessions, thematic tracks, cross-track sessions, and the
room of<br>
scholars. Participation is invited for the thematic track
sessions,<br>
cross-track sessions and the room of scholars.<br>
<br>
The thematic tracks at the Global Congress are: 1) Openness, 2)
Access<br>
to Medicines, 3) User Rights, 4) IP and Development.<br>
<br>
Cross-track sessions will feature research that cuts across tracks
in<br>
order to facilitate engagement between tracks on themes of mutual<br>
interest.<br>
<br>
The Room of Scholars will feature presentations of research
outputs such<br>
as draft works or white papers that may not fit directly within
the<br>
thematic tracks but fall within the overall theme of the Global
Congress<br>
.<br>
<br>
Participation could be in the form of presenting / discussing
conference<br>
papers or policy briefs, or by conducting workshops where they may
share<br>
their own work and solicit feedback from peers, during the<br>
aforementioned sessions.<br>
<br>
The application form for participation is available now<br>
athttp://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973?. Please forward
this<br>
invitation to interested lists and individuals. For more
information or<br>
questions, you may contact <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:globalcongress2015@gmail.com">globalcongress2015@gmail.com</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:globalcongress2015@gmail.com"><mailto:globalcongress2015@gmail.com></a>.<br>
<br>
Organisation<br>
<br>
The Centre for Internet and Society
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://cis-india.org/"><http://cis-india.org/></a>serves as the<br>
convenor of the fourth Global Congress on Intellectual Property
and<br>
Public Interest, carried out in cooperation withNational Law
University,<br>
Delhi <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.nludelhi.ac.in/"><http://www.nludelhi.ac.in/></a>.<br>
<br>
The implementing partners arethe
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.openair.org.za/"><http://www.openair.org.za/></a>American<br>
Assembly <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://americanassembly.org/"><http://americanassembly.org/></a>at Columbia
University in New<br>
York,Open A.I.R <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.openair.org.za/"><http://www.openair.org.za/></a>., and
theProgram on<br>
Information Justice and Intellectual Property
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.pijip.org/"><http://www.pijip.org/></a>at<br>
American University Washington College of Law in Washington DC.<br>
<br>
<br>
On behalf of the organizing committee,<br>
<br>
Swaraj Barooah<br>
<br>
Swaraj Paul Barooah<br>
Project Manager, "Global Congress"<br>
(Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest, 2015)<br>
<br>
Editor-in-Chief, SpicyIP.com <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://SpicyIP.com"><http://SpicyIP.com></a><br>
Founder, Know-GAP<br>
Twitter: @swarajpb<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
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