OA on international IP agenda-eIFL is linking policy to practice

[Teresa Hackett (eIFL)]

Dear colleagues,

Two years ago, a coalition of developing country governments known
collectively as the Group of Friends of Development, made a far-reaching
proposal for a development agenda for the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO). Next week, the substantive proposals will be
discussed in Geneva. The proposal below relates to Open Access.

"To negotiate a multilateral agreement where signatories would place
into the public domain, or find other means of sharing at modest cost,
the results of largely publicly funded research. The objective would be
to set out a mechanism for increasing the international flow of
technical information, especially to developing countries, through
expansion of the public domain in scientific and technological
information, safeguarding, in particular, the public nature of
information that is publicly developed and funded without unduly
restricting private rights in commercial technologies."

The examples of your work promoting OA and establishing IRs in your
countries is very valuable for our policy work in Geneva, so that we can
tell governments what is actually happening on the ground. The
governments of the Friends of Development are trying to put in place an
international framework that will move alternative models, such as OA,
up the agenda, making it easier for you to implement OA.

Whatever the outcome of next week's meeting, the impact will be felt on
IP policy making for decades. eIFL will be there to ensure the best
possible result for libraries.

The Friends of Development are led by Argentina and Brazil with Bolivia, 
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Sierra 
Leone, South Africa. Read more here:
http://www.eifl.net/cps/sections/services/eifl-ip/issues/wipo-development-agenda

Teresa
eIFL-IP

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