The relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity - Summary of issues raised and points made by WTO TRIPS Council Secretariat | 9 Mar 2006
Review of the provisions of Article 27.3(b) - summary of issues raised and points made by WTO TRIPS Council Secretariat | 9 Mar 2006
The protection of traditional knowledge and folklore - summary of issues raised and points made by WTO TRIPS Council Secretariat | 9 Mar 2006
Fowl play: The poultry industry's central role in the bird flu crisis by GRAIN | 26 Feb 2006 Backyard or free-range poultry are not fuelling the current wave of bird flu outbreaks stalking large parts of the world. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu is essentially a problem of industrial poultry practices. Its epicentre is the factory farms of China and Southeast Asia and -- while wild birds can carry the disease, at least for short distances -- its main vector is the highly self-regulated transnational poultry industry, which sends the products and waste of its farms around the world through a multitude of channels. Yet small poultry farmers and the poultry biodiversity and local food security that they sustain are suffering badly from the fall-out. To make matters worse, governments and international agencies, following mistaken assumptions about how the disease spreads and amplifies, are pursuing measures to force poultry indoors and further industrialise the poultry sector. In practice, this means the end of the small-scale poultry farming that provides food and livelihoods to hundreds of millions of families across the world. This paper presents a fresh perspective on the bird flu story that challenges current assumptions and puts the focus back where it should be: on the transnational poultry industry. Backyard or free-range poultry are not fuelling the current wave of bird flu outbreaks stalking large parts of the world. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu is essentially a problem of industrial poultry practices. Its epicentre is the factory farms of China and Southeast Asia and -- while wild birds can carry the disease, at least for short distances -- its main vector is the highly self-regulated transnational poultry industry, which sends the products and waste of its farms around the world through a multitude of channels. Yet small poultry farmers and the poultry biodiversity and local food security that they sustain are suffering badly from the fall-out. To make matters worse, governments and international agencies, following mistaken assumptions about how the disease spreads and amplifies, are pursuing measures to force poultry indoors and further industrialise the poultry sector. In practice, this means the end of the small-scale poultry farming that provides food and livelihoods to hundreds of millions of families across the world. This paper presents a fresh perspective on the bird flu story that challenges current assumptions and puts the focus back where it should be: on the transnational poultry industry.
Mali: Citizens' jury rejects GM agriculture by Organized by the Regional Assembly of Sikasso | 20 Feb 2006 Farmers in Mali decide that GM crops are not the way forward and instead propose a package of recommendations to strengthen traditional agricultural practice and support local farmers. Farmers in Mali decide that GM crops are not the way forward and instead propose a package of recommendations to strengthen traditional agricultural practice and support local farmers.
Software and seeds: open source methods by Margaret EI Kipp | 17 Feb 2006 Open source methodologies used in software are interrogated and then compared to the methods used in farmers’ rights groups. The use of open source methods in other contexts illustrates increasing interest in grassroots democratic movements participating in the continuing process of balance between public and private interests. These efforts provide a possible alternate framework for policy decisions concerning intellectual property. Open source methodologies used in software are interrogated and then compared to the methods used in farmers’ rights groups. The use of open source methods in other contexts illustrates increasing interest in grassroots democratic movements participating in the continuing process of balance between public and private interests. These efforts provide a possible alternate framework for policy decisions concerning intellectual property.
The common good by Jonathan Rowe | 17 Feb 2006 An argument for asserting our rights to quiet, community, a drink of pure water, and a breath of fresh air. An argument for asserting our rights to quiet, community, a drink of pure water, and a breath of fresh air.
Contested Commons / Trespassing Publics by SARAI (India) | 17 Feb 2006 Contested Commons/Trespassing PublicsA Conference on Inequalities, Conflicts and Intellectual Property 6th - 8th January 2005 in New DelhiWe would like to push comparative discussions between earlier and contemporary moments of dispossession and criminalisation, between the open source movement and discussions on traditional knowledge and bio-diversity. We would also like to build a dialogue between different moments in media history: print, film, music and the new media, so as to prise open questions around culture, circulation and property. Contested Commons/Trespassing PublicsA Conference on Inequalities, Conflicts and Intellectual Property 6th - 8th January 2005 in New DelhiWe would like to push comparative discussions between earlier and contemporary moments of dispossession and criminalisation, between the open source movement and discussions on traditional knowledge and bio-diversity. We would also like to build a dialogue between different moments in media history: print, film, music and the new media, so as to prise open questions around culture, circulation and property.
Imagining a World without Copyright by Marieke van Schijndel & Joost Smiers | 17 Feb 2006 It is time to move beyond merely criticizing copyright. The pressing question is: which alternative can we offer artists and other cultural entrepreneurs in rich as well as poor countries that benefits them, and that brings the increasing privatisation of creativity and expertise to a halt? Our goal in this essay is to develop such an alternative, and to move beyond any notion centred on private intellectual property rights. It is time to move beyond merely criticizing copyright. The pressing question is: which alternative can we offer artists and other cultural entrepreneurs in rich as well as poor countries that benefits them, and that brings the increasing privatisation of creativity and expertise to a halt? Our goal in this essay is to develop such an alternative, and to move beyond any notion centred on private intellectual property rights.
The case for biolinuxes and other pro-commons innovations by K Ravi Srinivas | 17 Feb 2006 A biolinux model would be based on the logic that farmers are both users and innovatorsof technology, coupled with the idea of Copyleft. A biolinux model would be based on the logic that farmers are both users and innovatorsof technology, coupled with the idea of Copyleft.
Free culture by Lawrence Lessig | 17 Feb 2006 Flash presentation from OSCON 2002 Flash presentation from OSCON 2002