135 lines
5.5 KiB
HTML
135 lines
5.5 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta name="author-name-1" content="Georg C.F. Greve"/>
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<meta name="author-link-1" content="/about/greve/greve.html"/>
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<meta name="publication-date" content="2005-09-30"/>
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<title>FSF Europe - Statement of the Free Software Foundations</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<p id="category">
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<a href="/activities/un/">United Nations</a> / <a href="/activities/wipo/">WIPO</a>
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</p>
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<h1>Statement of the Free Software Foundations towards the 2005 WIPO general assemblies</h1>
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<h2 align="center">Free Software Foundation Europe</h2>
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<h2 align="center">Free Software Foundation Latin America</h2>
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<!--<p id="introduction"> Summary: </p>-->
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<p>Mr. Chairman,</p>
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<p>on behalf of the Free Software Foundations Europe and Latin
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America, let me express my congratulations to you and your colleagues
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on your chairing this historic general assembly. The Free Software
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Foundations are globally active centres of expertise acting in a
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network of sister organisations based in India, Latin America, Europe
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and the United States of America.</p>
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<p>Our area of expertise are the issues raised by a digitised society and
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economy, questions which are addressed effectively by Free Software;
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as defined by the freedom of unlimited use for any purpose, the
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freedom to study, the freedom to modify and the freedom to
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distribute.</p>
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<p>Through the Free Software Foundation Europe the FSFs participated in
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all sessions of the Development Agenda IIM process and also followed
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the broadcasting treaty negotiations with great interest. Our comments
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relate to both activities.</p>
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<p>Mr Chairman,</p>
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<p>much has been said and written about the knowledge society that
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humankind is about to enter. Looking at the regulatory initiatives,
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one stumbles upon a paradox: While society is getting ready to unleash
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human creativity as it has never done before, regulatory proposals
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seek to create new barriers.</p>
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<p>The Broadcasting Treaty is a good example of such a new barrier for
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which the potential benefits and costs seem unequally matched in
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disfavor of humankind.</p>
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<p>The result of ignoring the wisdom of approaching crucial legal
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regulation can be seen in another area: software patents have been
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introduced without evaluation, and according to the findings of
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several renowned institutions we now have to realise that they are
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harmful to competition and stifle innovation. For your information:
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these institutions include Massachussetts Institute of Technology
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(MIT), the Boston University School of Law, Price Waterhouse Coopers,
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US Federal Trade Commission and Deutsche Bank Research.</p>
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<p>The situation has degenerated to the point that a vice president of
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IBM, Mr Wladawsky-Berger, likened software patents to weapons of mass
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destruction in a New York Times interview.</p>
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<p>Similar experiences seem possible with the Broadcasting Treaty.</p>
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<p>Erecting additional barriers and raising all barriers by introduction
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of criminal sanctions against commercial infringement at a time when
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humankind is still struggling to fully understand the implications of
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the digital age would be hasty and unwise.</p>
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<p>Mr. Chairman,</p>
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<p>the traditional toolset of WIPO revolves centrally around limited
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monopolies, such as Copyrights, Patents or Trademarks. These have
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often been treated on the basis that more is always better, an
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approach that ignores both Liebigs law of the minimum as well as
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Shelfords law of tolerance: Not only will increasing the dose of the
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non-limiting factor have no positive effect, an overdose can be toxic.</p>
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<p>Finding the proper balance between too little and too much is the
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challenge that lies before any regulation. Given the fundamental
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impact of all regulations made on WIPO level, wisdom would suggest a
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conservative approach:</p>
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<p>New regulations should only be introduced if scientific evidence and
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evidence from a public review period conclusively show it to have a
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positive effect.</p>
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<p>Old regulations should be reviewed periodically as to whether they are
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still up to the needs of the time, or whether they require adjustment.</p>
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<p>In the light of the wisdom of Liebig and Shelford, agreeing to the
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creation of a WIPO Research and Evaluation Office (WERO) would seem
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trivial, so would the search for alternative means of fostering
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creativity.</p>
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<p>As the secretariat and member states correctly pointed out repeatedly
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in the past: WIPO exists to promote creativity. At the time of its
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inception, most alternative means of fostering creativity were not yet
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concieved, in particular those related to digitalisation. Now that
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they exist, what would seem more natural for WIPO than exploring them?</p>
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<p>The discussions around the Development Agenda have proven to be most
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difficult, also because of procedural discussions, which indeed took
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the majority of the time spent in the IIM process. After these had
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been largely resolved, substantive discussion took place, cut short by
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the need to come to a formal outcome that could be presented to this
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general assembly.</p>
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<p>Not continuing what was begun, or changing from a horse to a mule
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midstream, as the honored Indian delegate so eloquently put it, would
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be wasting the time and effort spent on this initiative by all sides,
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North and South. For this reason we strongly support the notion of
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letting the IIM process finish what it began.</p>
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<p>Mr Chairman,</p>
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<p>Thank you for your attention.</p>
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</body>
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<timestamp>$Date$ $Author$</timestamp>
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</html>
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