[governance] Workshop invitation: Global State of Copyright and Access to Knowledge

[Jeremy Malcolm]

If you are in Sharm el Sheikh, please consider attending this  
workshop, co-organised by Consumers International and the African  
Copyright and A2K Project (ACA2K), in the Red Sea room today at 11:30am:

Although the Internet's reach is global, copyright laws remain  
tethered to national borders, providing different terms of protection,  
exceptions and limitations, and enforcement mechanisms. This has  
resulted in a patchwork of rights of access to copyright materials  
across the world, incorporating little regard for the special needs of  
users in developing countries. This in turn has produced both  
uncertainty amongst consumers about what the law allows, and  
contributed to their disenchantment with a legal system that often  
does not allow permit them reasonable access to materials that they  
need for their educational and cultural advancement. The Access to  
Knowledge movement is a global Internet-linked movement aiming to  
improve consumers' access to materials protected by  
copyright,including learning materials, through various mechanisms  
including law reform, education, and by addressing access barriers  
such as cost, availability and access to ICTs. This workshop will  
introduce two multi-country research programmes, one of the African  
Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) Project, and the other of  
Consumers International (CI). These studies approach the study of  
copyright at the doctrinal and practical levels. The former  
encompasses national copyright laws, related access and case law. The  
practical component involves qualitative impact assessement interviews  
with different stakeholders to determine the impact of the legal  
framework on access. The panel at IGF Egypt 2009 will feature  
researchers from both ACA2K and CI sharing their findings and the  
policy changes necessary to ensuring access-friendly copyright  
environments.

1. Mr. Tobias Schonwetter, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town,  
South Africa

2. Prof. Said Aghrib from Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco

3. Dr. Perihan Abou Zeid, Faculty of Legal Studies and International  
Relations, Pharos University, Alexandria Egypt

4. Dr. Bassem AWAD, Chief Judge at the Egyptian Ministry of Justice  
and IP Expert

5. Pranesh Prakash, Programme Manager, the Centre for Internet and  
Society, Bangalore, India

6. Jeremy Malcolm, Project Coordinator, Consumers International, Kuala  
Lumpur, Malaysia

7. Lea Shaver, Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer in Law at Yale  
Law School, New Haven, USA

8. Hempal Shrestha, Program Officer, Bellanet Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal

-- 
JEREMY MALCOLM
Project Coordinator
CONSUMERS INTERNATIONAL-KL OFFICE
for Asia Pacific and the Middle East	

Lot 5-1 Wisma WIM
7 Jalan Abang Haji Openg
TTDI, 60000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +60 3 7726 1599
Mob: +60 12 282 5895
Fax: +60 3 7726 8599
www.consumersinternational.org

Consumers International (CI) is the only independent global  
campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member organisations in  
115 countries, we are building a powerful international consumer  
movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere. For more  
information, visit www.consumersinternational.org.

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