[governance] IP-Watch: World Customs Organization Publications

Mon Oct 27 22:58:34 EDT 2008

William and all,

  I remember you.  Indeed IP-Watch does not have members
per se.  I am a mailing list subscriber only.  I passed this along
for what should be obvious reasons.  Perhaps attempting to
keep everyone informed as any responsible person would, isn't
something that the IGC supports?  If so, please excuse my
attempt, and feel free to enguage in the politics of personal
attacks as has been the emphisis on this forum of late...

William New wrote:

> Hi, thanks for the posting, but just wanted to clarify that IP-Watch does
> not have "members." Perhaps Jeff Williams is signed up for the free email
> alerts or RSS feeds of our news stories.
>
> William New, Editor-in-Chief, Intellectual Property Watch, Geneva,
> Switzerland
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeffrey A. Williams [mailto:jwkckid1 at ix.netcom.com]
> Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 3:00 AM
> To: Governance/IGC
> Subject: [governance] IP-Watch: World Customs Organization Publications
> Copyright Policy Questioned
>
> All,
>
>   As a member of IP-Watch the following struck me as significant,
> and directly relevant to Internet governance on a number of levels.
>
>   As an FYI:
>
>  <http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-trackback.php?p=1280>
> http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-trackback.php?p=1280
>
> Intellectual Property Watch
>
> World Customs Organization Publications Copyright Policy Questioned
>
> By William New
> In an unusual policy for an international organisation, the World
> Customs Organization imposes copyright over every document its
> bodies produce, even agendas, which means that no document can
> be reproduced without the organisation's express consent.
>
> But now some member governments are questioning this practice, which
> they say was intended only for the organisation to protect the rights in
> publications made for sale or containing proprietary information, and is
> now blocking access to information about the organisation's work.
>
> The issue has come to a head in recent months as part of a growing
> controversy around a WCO working group on enforcement that potentially
> puts customs officials in the role of judging counterfeit and pirated
> goods directly and without judges or other authorities.
>
> The next and fourth meeting of the SECURE (Standards to be Employed by
> Customs for Uniform Rights Enforcement) working group is 30-31 October
> at the WCO in Brussels. Quoting from a copy of the agenda obtained by
> Intellectual Property Watch, expected items for discussion include
> adoption of the third working group report; discussion and adoption
> of the terms of reference working draft and revised proposed action
> plan; review and further development of the working draft of the
> SECURE document of 25 April; a private-sector presentation by Philips;
> and under other business, a presentation by the UN Universal Postal
> Union, and, lastly, "discussion of process document from Brazil and
> Argentina."
>
> Brazil and Argentina requested the agenda item be called, "Transparency,
> legitimacy and a member-driven process," but the WCO secretariat chose
> to call it simply a "discussion of process document."
>
> In late September, Brazil and Argentina asked the secretariat to
> circulate a document entitled, "Ensuring transparency and a
> legitimate, member-driven process in the SECURE working group."
> The author governments requested the document to be considered
> an official document, but it was only considered a "non-paper,"
> the sources said.
>
> At the last meeting of the SECURE working group in June, several
> members, including Argentina, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador and
> Uruguay, raised the concern that their voices were not heard in
> the preparation of the draft set of standards on enforcement (
> <http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-trackback.php?p=1117> IPW,
> Enforcement, 27 June 2008). Intellectual Property Watch was
> ordered by WCO to take down a document from that meeting.
>
> The 189-member Universal Postal Union recently came under scrutiny as
> well for a sudden upswing in discussion of enforcement activities.
> The UPU Congress in August reportedly adopted a resolution that
> encouraged members to identify counterfeit and pirated items in the
> postal network and to cooperate with the relevant national and
> international authorities in awareness-raising initiatives to
> prevent illegal circulation of counterfeit goods. But a number
> of countries were concerned that the postal service did not have
> the scope or necessary legal and other expertise to implement
> such a resolution, in particular the expertise to determine
> whether a product is counterfeit or violates IP laws. The resolution's
> adoption was appealed, according to sources.
>
> Publication Policy or Information Control?
>
> The WCO limits circulation of its documents in several ways. It posts
> to documents, even meeting agendas, that "for reasons of economy,
> documents are printed in limited number. Delegates are kindly asked
> to bring their copies to meetings and not to request additional
> copies." WCO then adds: "Copyright C 2008 World Customs Organization.
> All rights reserved. Requests and inquiries concerning translation,
> reproduction and adaptation rights should be addressed to
> copyright at wcoomd.org."
>
> In order to access documents, passwords are needed, according to a
> source. But it is unclear why a copyright is used to protect negotiating
> documents used by elected governments, when the documents are not
> expected to be offered for sale or any other apparent disadvantage to
> the organisation's secretariat.
>
> The WCO could not comment on its copyright policy by presstime. New WCO
> Secretary General Kunio Mikuriya takes office in the new year.
>
> Regards,
>
> Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 281k members/stakeholders strong!)
> "Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
>    Abraham Lincoln
>
> "Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is
> very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt
>
> "If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
> liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
> P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
> United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
> ===============================================================
> Updated 1/26/04
> CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security IDNS.
> div. of Information Network Eng.  INEG. INC.
> ABA member in good standing member ID 01257402 E-Mail
> jwkckid1 at ix.netcom.com
> My Phone: 214-244-4827
> ____________________________________________________________
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Regards,

Spokesman for INEGroup LLA. - (Over 281k members/stakeholders strong!)
"Obedience of the law is the greatest freedom" -
   Abraham Lincoln

"Credit should go with the performance of duty and not with what is
very often the accident of glory" - Theodore Roosevelt

"If the probability be called P; the injury, L; and the burden, B;
liability depends upon whether B is less than L multiplied by
P: i.e., whether B is less than PL."
United States v. Carroll Towing  (159 F.2d 169 [2d Cir. 1947]
===============================================================
Updated 1/26/04
CSO/DIR. Internet Network Eng. SR. Eng. Network data security IDNS.
div. of Information Network Eng.  INEG. INC.
ABA member in good standing member ID 01257402 E-Mail
jwkckid1 at ix.netcom.com
My Phone: 214-244-4827

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