[governance] Call for Support of International Civil Society
Baudouin SCHOMBE
b.schombe at gmail.com
Wed Jun 23 10:22:28 EDT 2010
I give my support for this declaration
SCHOMBE BAUDOUIN
COORDONNATEUR DU CENTRE AFRICAIN D'ECHANGE CULTUREL (CAFEC)
COORDONNATEUR NATIONAL REPRONTIC
MEMBRE FACILITATEUR GAID AFRIQUE
GNSO and NCUC MEMBER (ICANN)
Téléphone mobile: +243998983491/+243999334571
+243811980914
email: b.schombe at gmail.com
blog: http://akimambo.unblog.fr
siège temporaire : Boulevard du 30 juin Immeuble Royal, Entrée A,7e
niveau.
2010/6/20 SAMUELS,Carlton A <carlton.samuels at uwimona.edu.jm>
> Dear Robin:
>
> Thanks for this. Knowing that this and related matters are concerns in
> these groups, I have onward circulation to the Library Association of
> Jamaica (LIAJA) and the ICT4D Jamaica Group.
>
>
>
> Carlton Samuels
>
>
>
> *From:* Robin Gross [mailto:robin at ipjustice.org]
> *Sent:* Saturday, June 19, 2010 5:21 PM
> *To:* governance at lists.cpsr.org
> *Subject:* [governance] Call for Support of International Civil Society
> Declaration Against ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement)
>
>
>
> Dear Friends,
>
>
>
> As you are probably aware, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA<http://www.wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/acta04212010>)
> is a dangerous proposal to radically expand intellectual property rights at
> the global level. The draft agreement has been negotiated in secret,
> without inclusion of developing nation perspectives, and without any
> participation from civil society or regard for the global public interest.
> ACTA specifically targets the Internet and regulates the flow of
> information in a digital environment. ACTA would create significant
> negative consequences for fundamental freedoms, access to medicines,
> innovation, the balance of public/private interests, access to knowledge and
> culture, to name a few of its problems. ACTA represents a "wish list" from
> Hollywood and Big Pharma which will be imposed unilaterally on developing
> countries through trade pressure from the US, Europe and other wealthy
> states.
>
>
>
> Please consider signing on to the below (draft) International Civil
> Society Declaration <http://wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/acta-communique>,
> which was the result of a meeting in Washington, DC<http://www.wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/blog-post/meeting-to-bring-together-academics-and-advocates-to-discuss-public-interest-impacts-of-controversial-intellectual-property-treaty> this
> week of over 90 academics from 5 continents, public interest organizations
> and other legal experts concerned with the public interest aspects of ACTA.
> The meeting of international experts was hosted by American University
> Washington College of Law Program on Information Justice and Intellectual
> Property (PIJIP <http://www.wcl.american.edu/pijip/>).
>
>
>
> Both organizations and individuals are welcome to sign-on to the statement
> until *23 June 9am* (US East Coast time) by email to < *
> acta.declaration at gmail.com* >.
>
>
>
> Further details for sign-on and proposing edits to the draft declaration
> are below. Please take a moment and read the declaration and consider
> signing-on and adding your support to raise awareness on ACTA. And also
> please help to spread the word and gather additional civil society support
> from your own networks and contacts by forwarding this email on to others or
> reference to the website:
> http://www.wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/blog-post/urgent-acta-communique for
> details.
>
>
>
> The next closed-door ACTA negotiations are scheduled for 28 June - 2 July
> 2010 in Lucerne, Switzerland, and the US promises a final agreement will be
> concluded shortly thereafter. Time is of the essence to act on ACTA.
>
>
>
> Thank you for any support and assistance you can provide to raise awareness
> on the public interest concerns with ACTA. It is only through global
> grass-roots efforts and small individual actions made by many people that we
> can fight to overcome this flawed treaty.
>
>
>
> All best,
>
> Robin Gross
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>
>
> *From: *"Sean Flynn" <sflynn at wcl.american.edu>
>
> *Date: *June 19, 2010 10:30:38 AM PDT
>
> *To: *"Robin Gross" <robin at ipjustice.org>
>
> *Subject: **acta communique*
>
> The DRAFT statement below reflects the conclusions reached at a meeting of
> over 90 academics, practitioners and public interest organizations from five
> continents gathered at American University Washington College of Law, June
> 16-18, 2010. The statement is now open to endorsements.
> The latest version of the draft communiqué is now posted to a public blog
> post at:
>
> http://wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/acta-communique
>
>
>
> Please share the draft with others, circulate on your blogs, etc.
>
>
>
> THIS DRAFT STATEMENT IS NOW OPEN FOR INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL
> ENDORSEMENTS AS WELL AS EDITING COMMENTS.
>
> • Please send signatures to: acta.declaration at gmail.com
>
> • Please send edits to: pijip at wcl.american.edu
>
>
>
> *EDITING SUGGESTIONS*
>
> WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL NOON MONDAY JUNE 21. THE FINAL TEXT WITH EDITS
> INCLUDED WILL BE RELEASED BY 5PM MONDAY JUNE 21.
>
>
>
> THE FINAL STATEMENT WILL BE RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC WITH ENDORSEMENTS ON
> WEDNESDAY JUNE 23 AT 10AM. ENDORSEMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL JUNE 23 AT
> 9AM.
>
>
>
> *ENDORSEMENTS:*
>
> WE WILL ACCEPT PROVISIONAL ENDORSEMENTS NOW. ENDORSERS WILL BE GIVEN THE
> OPTION TO OPT-OUT WHEN THE FINAL TEXT IS CIRCULATED BY 5PM MONDAY JUNE 21.
>
>
>
> *FOR INDIVIDUAL ENDORSEMENTS,* SEND YOUR NAME, TITLE AND ORGANIZATION AND
> PLACE (CITY, COUNTRY) OF OCCUPATION to acta.declaration at gmail.com
>
>
>
> *FOR ORGANIZATIONAL ENDORSEMENTS*, ENTER THE NAME OF THE ORGANIZATION AND
> PLACE(S) (CITY(IES), COUNTRY(IES)) IN WHICH THE ORGANIZATION HAS OFFICES
> to acta.declaration at gmail.com.
>
>
>
> INDIVIDUALS WITHIN SIGNATORY ORGANIZATIONS MAY ENDORSE AS INDIVIDUALS AS
> WELL AS BEING PART OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL ENDORSEMENT.
>
>
>
> PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY.
>
>
>
>
> DRAFT Urgent Communique: Consultation of International Experts on ACTA
> and the Public Interest
>
> Release Date: June 23, 2010
>
> American University Washington College of Law
>
> Washington, D.C.
>
> http://wcl.american.edu/pijip/go/acta-communique
> International Experts Find that Pending Anti-Counterfeiting Trade
> Agreement Threatens Public Interests
>
> We find that the terms of the agreement threaten numerous public interests,
> including nearly every concern specifically disclaimed by the negotiators in
> their announcement.
>
> The proposed agreement is a deeply flawed product of a deeply flawed
> process.
>
> What started as a proposal to coordinate customs enforcement offices has
> morphed into a massive new international intellectual property (IP) and
> internet regulation with grave consequences for the global economy and
> governments' ability to promote and protect public interests.
>
> Any agreement of this scope and consequence must be based on a broad and
> consultative process and reflect a full range of public interest concerns.
> As detailed below, this text fails to meet these standards.
>
> Recognizing that the terms of the agreement are under negotiation, a fair
> reading of the proposed text as a whole leads to our conclusions that ACTA:
>
> THE INTERNET
> -Encourages internet service providers to police users of the internet
> without adequate court oversight or due process;
>
> -Globalizes 'anti-circumvention' provisions which threaten innovation,
> competition, open source business models, interoperability, copyright
> exceptions, and user choice;
>
> FREE TRADE AND ACCESS TO MEDICINES
> -Disrupts the free trade in legitimate generic medicines and other goods,
> and sacrifices the foundational principle that IP rights are territorial, by
> requiring customs authorities to seize goods in transit countries even when
> they do not violate any law of the producing and importing countries;
>
> -Does little or nothing to address the problem of medicines with
> insufficient or wrong ingredients as the majority of these are not IP but
> regulatory system problems.
>
> -Extends the powers of custom officials to search and seize a wide range of
> goods, including computers and other electronic devices, without adequate
> safeguards against unwarranted confiscations and privacy invasions;
>
> -Extends 'ex officio' border search and seizures from willful, commercial
> scale trademark counterfeiting to a broad range of intellectual property
> infringements, including “confusingly similar” trademark violations,
> copyright infringement standards that require interpretation of "fair use"
> or similar user rights, and even to patent cases which frequently involve
> complex questions of law and fact that are difficult to adjudicate even by
> specialist courts after full adjudicative processes;
>
> FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
> -Will curtail full enjoyment of fundamental rights and liberties, including
> rights to privacy and the protection of personal data, health, access to
> information, free expression, due process and presumptions of innocence,
> cultural participation, and other internationally protected human rights;
>
> SCOPE AND NATURE OF IP LAW
> Distorts the balance fundamental to IP law between the rights and interests
> of proprietors and users, including by
>
> - introducing very specific rights and remedies for rights holders
> without correlative requirements to provide exceptions, limitations, and due
> process safeguards for users;
> - shifting enforcement from private civil mechanisms to public
> authorities and third parties, including to customs officials, criminal
> prosecutors and internet service providers -- in ways that are likely to be
> more sensitive to proprietary concerns and less sensitive to user concerns;
> - omitting liability and disincentives for abuses of enforcement
> processes by right holders; and
> - requiring the adoption of automatic damages assessments unrelated to
> any proven harm;
>
> -Alters the traditional and constitutionally mandated law making
> processes for IP by:
>
> - locking in and exporting controversial aspects of US and EU
> enforcement practices whcih have already proven problematic, foreclosing
> future legislative improvements in response to changes in technology or
> policy;
> - requiring substantive changes to intellectual property laws of a
> large number of negotiating countries.
>
> INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT
> -Will disproportionately harm development and social welfare of the poor,
> particularly in developing countries, including through raising
> unjustifiable trade barriers to imports and exports of needed medicines and
> other knowledge embedded goods;
>
> -Contains provisions inconsistent with the WTO Agreement on Trade Related
> Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement);
>
> -Conflicts with the World Trade Organization Doha Declaration on TRIPS and
> Public Health and World Health Assembly Resolution 61.21 by limiting the
> ability of countries to exercise to the full flexibilities in the TRIPS
> agreement that can promote access to needed medicines;
>
> -Circumvents and undermines the commitments agreed to under the World
> Intellectual Property Organization development agenda, particularly
> recommendation 45 committing to “approach intellectual property enforcement
> in the context of broader societal interests and especially
> development-oriented concerns," and "in accordance with Article 7 of the
> TRIPS Agreement";
>
> INSTITUTIONAL ISSUES
> -Creates a new and redundant international administration for IP issues
> outside of WIPO or the WTO with broad powers but limited transparency,
> threatening multilateralism in international IP norm setting;
>
> -Encourages technical assistance, public awareness campaigns, and
> partnerships with the private sector that appear designed to promote only
> the interests of IP owners;
>
> CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS
>
> The current process for considering public input into ACTA is fundamentally
> flawed in numerous respects. In many countries, the only consultations
> taking place are with select members of the public, off-the-record and
> without benefit of sharing the latest version of the rapidly changing text.
> There is little possibility that a fair and balanced agreement that protects
> and promotes public interests can evolve from such a distorted policy making
> process.
>
> Governments, right holders and civil society should have an open and
> evidence-based discussion on the right strategy to confront willful
> commercial scale trademark counterfeiting and commercial scale copyright
> piracy. This discussion should take place in multilateral and national open
> and on-the-record forums with access to current negotiating text so that all
> interested stakeholders can participate.
>
> ENDORSEMENTS
>
> - Please send signatures (individual or Organization, City, Country)
> to: acta.declaration at gmail.com
> - Please send edits to: pijip at wcl.american.edu
>
>
>
>
>
> Sean Flynn
>
> Associate Director
>
> Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property
>
> American University Washington College of Law
>
> 202 274 4157
>
> www.pijip.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> IP JUSTICE
>
> Robin Gross, Executive Director
>
> 1192 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 USA
>
> p: +1-415-553-6261 f: +1-415-462-6451
>
> w: http://www.ipjustice.org e: robin at ipjustice.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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