[governance] [bestbits] Call for Participation: Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, 2015

parminder parminder at itforchange.net
Sun May 17 23:39:17 EDT 2015 


On Sunday 17 May 2015 10:55 PM, azrak_khan at hotmail.com wrote:
> Parminder please shed some light on whether civil society is working
> on public interest or has it become a tool for global organization at
> times very powerful corporations to pursue their own agendas. 

Arzak, since you ask a clear and direct question I would give a clear
and honest response. My apologies if it makes some people here unhappy. 
In my view, yes, the manner in which much of global civil society has
worked in the IG space, it has served the agenda of the powerful
corporations. The most important way this happens is through its
promotion of a deliberately confusing and unclear MS model of governance
whose real purpose is to not let any real and effective governance of
the Internet and the larger information society space take root, which
of course is the agenda of the most powerful players in the field - the
big global corporations backed by the US government.

I keep making this point, hoping to contribute to some kind of course
correction.

parminder
>
> Best,
> Arzak 
>
>
> Sent by Outlook <http://taps.io/outlookmobile> for Android
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 17, 2015 at 6:47 AM -0700, "parminder"
> <parminder at itforchange.net <mailto:parminder at itforchange.net>> wrote:
>
> Interesting theme of this series of global congresses: 'Intellectual
> Property and the Public Interest' !
>
> Wonder if you ever thought of calling it "IP and the multistakeholder
> Interest' ?
>
> 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.
>
> 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!
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> 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'.
>
> Meanwhile, my best wishes to the the organisers of this very importanr
> congress.
>
> 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.
>
> parminder
>
> On Friday 15 May 2015 03:21 PM, Geetha Hariharan wrote:
>> PFA the call for participation for the Global Congress on Intellectual
>> Property and Public Interest.
>>
>> Apologies for cross-posting. Please do circulate to anyone you think
>> might be interested.
>>
>> Best,
>> Geetha.
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Swaraj Barooah
>> Date: Wed, May 13, 2015 at 1:05 PM
>> Subject: Call for Participation: Global Congress on Intellectual
>> Property and the Public Interest, 2015
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> We are pleased to announce the call for participation for the fourth
>> edition of the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public
>> Interest (“Global Congress”). The theme for this year’s Congress will be
>> “Three Decades of Openness; Two Decades of TRIPS.” We are now inviting
>> applications to participate in the Congress, including session
>> participation and presentations. We are also welcoming proposals for
>> panels and workshops.
>>
>> The application form is available now at
>> [http://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973?] Please note that this
>> form is for application purposes, and does not amount to confirmation of
>> participation. The registrations for the plenary sessions, which are
>> open to the public, will open closer to the date of the Global Congress.
>>
>> Deadlines
>>
>> August 1st: Priority Deadline for Applications- Applicants will be
>> considered on a rolling basis, with applications made by August 1st
>> being given first consideration. Applications after August 1st to
>> receive travel assistance will be considered only under exceptional
>> circumstances (these details will be collected in a subsequent form).
>>
>> November 1st: All applications for session participation and paper
>> submissions will close on November 1st.
>>
>> Application Information
>>
>> For applications to participate/host: Applications to present or host
>> workshops shall be considered based on the proposals to be submitted in
>> the form.
>>
>> For applications to attend sessions:Applications to attend sessions as
>> discussants will be considered based on the statement of purpose and/or
>> any other relevant information provided by the applicant.
>>
>> Limited travel grants to cover accommodation and/or travel to the
>> Congress will be available, with priority to those from developing
>> countries.
>>
>> Background, Theme and Expected Outcomes
>>
>> The Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest is
>> the most significant event on the calendar for scholars and policy
>> advocates working on intellectual property from a public interest
>> perspective. By sharing their research and strategies, the network of
>> experts and activists supported by the Global Congress are empowered to
>> put forward a positive agenda for policy reform. The Global Congress
>> began in Washington D.C. in 2011, moved to Rio de Janeiro in 2012, and
>> was held in Cape Town in 2013. The fourth Global Congress will now be
>> held in New Delhi, in December 2015. The event would be the largest
>> convening of public interest-oriented intellectual property
>> practitioners ever held in Asia, and would help link in the world's most
>> populous region to these global debates around how intellectual property
>> policy can best serve the public interest.
>>
>> The fourth edition of the Global Congress, which brings research, civil
>> society, industry and regulatory and policy-making communities together
>> for active, intense engagement on key public-interest intellectual
>> property issues. Opportunities for these groups to interact are rare but
>> valuable; and have been proven to lead to successful policy outcomes.
>> The 4thedition of the Congress, slated to be held in December, 2015 in
>> New Delhi seeks to be one such opportunity.
>>
>> The theme for the 2015 Congress is Three Decades of Openness; Two
>> Decades of TRIPS-coming at a pivotal time for reflection, revision, and
>> further strategizing. Specifically, the 2015 Congress seeks to produce
>> three outcomes- first, the mobilization of existing scholarly research
>> directly into the hands of civil society advocates, business leaders and
>> policy makers, leading to evidence-based policies and practices;
>> second,the collaborative identification of urgent, global and local
>> research priorities and generation of a joint research/advocacy agenda;
>> and third, the solidification of an inter-disciplinary, cross-sector and
>> global networked community of experts focused on public interest aspects
>> of IP policy and practice.
>>
>> Participation Opportunities
>>
>> Discussions at the Global Congress will be carried out in the form of
>> plenary sessions, thematic tracks, cross-track sessions, and the room of
>> scholars. Participation is invited for the thematic track sessions,
>> cross-track sessions and the room of scholars.
>>
>> The thematic tracks at the Global Congress are: 1) Openness, 2) Access
>> to Medicines, 3) User Rights, 4) IP and Development.
>>
>> Cross-track sessions will feature research that cuts across tracks in
>> order to facilitate engagement between tracks on themes of mutual
>> interest.
>>
>> The Room of Scholars will feature presentations of research outputs such
>> as draft works or white papers that may not fit directly within the
>> thematic tracks but fall within the overall theme of the Global Congress
>> .
>>
>> Participation could be in the form of presenting / discussing conference
>> papers or policy briefs, or by conducting workshops where they may share
>> their own work and solicit feedback from peers, during the
>> aforementioned sessions.
>>
>> The application form for participation is available now
>> athttp://form.jotformpro.com/form/50854976184973?. Please forward this
>> invitation to interested lists and individuals. For more information or
>> questions, you may contact globalcongress2015 at gmail.com
>> <mailto:globalcongress2015 at gmail.com>
>> <mailto:globalcongress2015 at gmail.com>
>> <mailto:globalcongress2015 at gmail.com>.
>>
>> Organisation
>>
>> The Centre for Internet and Society <http://cis-india.org/>
>> <http://cis-india.org/>serves as the
>> convenor of the fourth Global Congress on Intellectual Property and
>> Public Interest, carried out in cooperation withNational Law University,
>> Delhi <http://www.nludelhi.ac.in/> <http://www.nludelhi.ac.in/>.
>>
>> The implementing partners arethe <http://www.openair.org.za/>
>> <http://www.openair.org.za/>American
>> Assembly <http://americanassembly.org/>
>> <http://americanassembly.org/>at Columbia University in New
>> York,Open A.I.R <http://www.openair.org.za/>
>> <http://www.openair.org.za/>., and theProgram on
>> Information Justice and Intellectual Property <http://www.pijip.org/>
>> <http://www.pijip.org/>at
>> American University Washington College of Law in Washington DC.
>>
>>
>> On behalf of the organizing committee,
>>
>> Swaraj Barooah
>>
>> Swaraj Paul Barooah
>> Project Manager, "Global Congress"
>> (Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest, 2015)
>>
>> Editor-in-Chief, SpicyIP.com <http://SpicyIP.com> <http://SpicyIP.com>
>> Founder, Know-GAP
>> Twitter: @swarajpb
>>
> >
> >
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