136 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
136 lines
5.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html>
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<version>1</version>
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<author id="greve"/>
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<date>
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<original content="2007-09-28"/>
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</date>
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<head>
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<title>Observing WIPO - Statement at the 2007 Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO, 28 September 2007</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<p align="center">
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[ <a href="statement-20070928.pdf">PDF Version (44k)</a> ]
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</p>
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<p id="category">
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<a href="/activities/policy.html">WIPO</a>
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</p>
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<h1>Intervention by Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE)</h1>
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<h4>Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO Forty-Third Series of Meetings, Geneva, 24 September – 3 October 2007</h4>
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<!--<p id="introduction"> Summary: </p>-->
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<p>The FSFE has comments on various items on the agenda of this year's
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Assemblies of the Member States. In the interest of time and on
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invitation of the chair, we are submitting these comments in writing
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for your kind consideration.</p>
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<h3>Considerations for WIPO's procurement decisions</h3>
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<p>On the question of WIPO's technical needs and systems, as discussed in
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multiple agenda items, FSFE submits that WIPO should follow the
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established principles of vendor independence, interoperability and
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Open Standards for all its procurement. References in this area are
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provided by the European Commission's IDABC European Interoperability
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Framework (EIF) or the work done on the subject in other Member States.</p>
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<p>Experience indicates that cost related to lack of interoperability easily
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accounts for up to 40% of IT budgets, and is a major cost driver for
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all users of information technology, including public bodies. This
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lack of interoperability is a common result of vendor specific
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procurement decisions and lack of Open Standards.</p>
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<p>Interoperability and Open Standards are also central for the issue of
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sustainable storage of and perpetual access to data and
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information. FSFE submits that it is in direct conflict to the mandate
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of WIPO as a multi-stakeholder intergovernmental organisation to
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depend on any particular company's products for access to its data and
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communication with its Member States.</p>
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<p>FSFE therefore suggests that the Assemblies of the Member States
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establishes clear guidelines for WIPO's management to ensure vendor
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independence, interoperability and Open Standards in all its
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procurement decisions.</p>
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<h3>On a Development Agenda for WIPO</h3>
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<p>FSFE congratulates the Member States of WIPO for their agreement to
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work together on a concrete set of issues to establish a Development
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Agenda of WIPO. We have followed this process for the past years and
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continue to offer our input and assistance in allowing these
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discussions and their implementation to come to a successful outcome.</p>
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<p>Pertaining to the comments on interoperability, Open Standards, and
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vendor-independence, we believe the same issues should also be
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included in the Development Agenda discussions, specifically in
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Cluster A, including, but not limited to, items 7, 10 and 11.</p>
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<p>Regarding Cluster B, in particular items 22 and 23, FSFE would like to
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emphasise the role of Free Software to establish and maintain an open,
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competitive and innovative technology industry. Free Software is often
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the only remaining competitor in markets that saw abuse of neighboring
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monopolies, and the best choice to re-establish competition.</p>
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<p>For reference, we would like to point out the investigation conducted
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since 1998 by the European Commission in this field, and the recent
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decision of the European Court of First Instance. The decision
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concerned two markets, one of which was the workgroup server
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market. In this market, due to massive leveraging of desktop monopoly
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into the market based on obstruction of interoperability, Free
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Software is left as the only remaining competitor, currently providing
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the basis for competing products by no less than four major vendors.</p>
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<p>Pertaining to Cluster C, FSFE would like to emphasise the importance
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to discuss the role of Free Software in technology transfer and
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capacity building, as agreed upon during the World Summit on the
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Information Society in Geneva, referenced in item 24. Citing section
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C3, 10, point e of the WSIS Plan of Action:</p>
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<blockquote>
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<em>"Encourage research and promote awareness among all stakeholders of
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the possibilities offered by different software models, and the
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means of their creation, including proprietary, open-source and
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free software, in order to increase competition, freedom of choice
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and affordability, and to enable all stakeholders to evaluate which
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solution best meets their requirements."</em>
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</blockquote>
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<p>Overall, FSFE considers it imperative to dedicate sufficient resources
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to the upcoming Development Agenda discussions within WIPO to bring
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this work to concrete results in a timely manner.</p>
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<h3>On the future activities of the SCCR and SCP</h3>
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<p>Regarding agenda item 17, the future activities of the SCCR, FSFE
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would like to reaffirm its support for the September 2006 Joint
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Statement of Certain Civil Society, Industry and Rightholders
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Representatives Regarding the Draft Basic Proposal for SCCR 15.</p>
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<p>Considering the large amount of pressing issues in the area of
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Copyright and related rights, including a potential treaty on Access
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to Knowledge, the issue of Limitations and Exceptions, and the issue
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of alternative Copyright-based system to incentivise creativity, such
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as Creative Commons and Free Software, FSFE believes the SCCR should
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priorise these issues over more meeting devoted to issues that are
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unlikely to see consensus in the next years.</p>
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<p>FSFE furthermore in reference to agenda item 19 believes that the SCP
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should analyse the effect of patenting in the area of IT standards,
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incorporating a perspective on potential antitrust issues, which in
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our experience are relevant to the full picture.</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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