[WSIS CS-Plenary] WIPO denies ad hoc NGO observor statusfor April Development Agenda meeting

[Milton Mueller]

Hi, Shari
I hope I did not imply that EFF should not be working in WIPO - it should, and everyone appreciates that work. Also, I do not mean to imply that EFF must stretch its resources to become as involved in WSIS/WGIG as we are here. We all know that is not possible. Everyone needs to focus their efforts on one thing or another. 

What we'd like to see is greater recognition and coordination of campaigns across venues. We have had a debate/dialogue here about the role of IPR issues in the WGIG and some have contended that the whole thing should be left to the WIPO forum. They have, I think, failed to understand the helpful and complementary effect that coordination across WSIS/WGIG, WIPO, and other forums could have. 

Dr. Milton Mueller
Syracuse University School of Information Studies
http://www.digital-convergence.org
http://www.internetgovernance.org

>>> ssteele at eff.org 02/16/05 2:59 PM >>>
Hi Milton.
WIPO's decision to reject ad hoc observers is terrible, and EFF plans to 
publicly criticize this.  But I believe our work at WIPO has been worth the 
time and effort we've put in, and I think our decision to focus resources 
there has been a good one.  We're not fighting the international IP battle 
at WIPO alone and never have been.  We've been working in a more focused 
way on free trade agreements, and we've recently dipped our toe into 
UNESCO's cultural diversity proceedings.  We believe that we can be 
effective in all of these fora, and we'll continue to focus our efforts there.

EFF has stretched our limited resources as far as we can at this point, and 
I don't believe we'd be able to be as effective at any of the things we're 
doing if we added WSIS to our queue.  I'm glad you're there fighting the 
good fight, because I know the work there is no less important.
Shari


At 09:14 AM 2/16/2005, Milton Mueller wrote:
>So, now maybe CPTech, EFF and others will understand better why it is 
>necessary for them to help us push the WGIG into linking internet 
>governance and ipr issues. This battle cannot be fought in WIPO alone, 
>because the playing field is tilted (deliberately).
>
>
>Dr. Milton Mueller
>Syracuse University School of Information Studies
>http://www.digital-convergence.org
>http://www.internetgovernance.org
>
>
> >>> martin_olivera at yahoo.com.ar 2/16/2005 9:10:57 AM >>>
>FYI
>
>  --- James Love escribió:
> > WIPO has apparently decided to reject applications
> > for ad hoc observor
> > status for the April Development Agenda meeting.
> > That will leave a very
> > large number of speaking slots for right-owner NGOs,
> > and very few for NGOs
> > representing development groups, free software, or
> > consumer interests.
> > Perhaps a letter should be drafted to ask the WIPO
> > Secretariat to change
> > its position on this issue, in order to permit
> > groups concerned about
> > development and IP to attend.  I note also that few
> > developing country
> > NGOs have permanent NGO status at WIPO.
> >
> >  Jamie
> >
> > --
> > A2k mailing list
> > A2k at lists.essential.org
> > http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k
> >
>
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*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shari Steele
Executive 
Director                                                        ssteele at eff.org
Electronic Frontier 
Foundation                                       415.436.9333 (voice)
454 Shotwell 
Street                                                      415.436.9993 (fax)
San Francisco, CA  94110 

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