On Tuesday, February 9, 2010, I'll be co-hosting an event to celebrate the publication of two new books. Debra Steger's edited collection, Redesigning the World Trade Organization for the Twenty-first Century, proposes practical ways of modernizing the World Trade Organization (WTO) to adjust to the rise of the emerging economies, cope with the effects of the global economic crisis, and respond to the challenges of the twenty-first century. My own edited collection, Implementing the World Intellectual Property Organization's Development Agenda, focuses on the implementation of a potentially pathbreaking Development Agenda by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that could greatly affect critical international issues of public policy relating to intellectual property.
Both books resulted from collaborative research projects of the EDGE Network on the Emerging Dynamic Global Economies, funded by Networks of Centres of Excellence Canada and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and are published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, IDRC and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).
The event will feature a Roundtable with the following speakers: Thomas A. Bernes, Vice-President of Programs and Acting Executive Director, CIGI; Jennifer Hillman, Member, WTO Appellate Body, and Senior Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund; Rohinton Medhora, Vice-President, Programs, IDRC; Sisule F. Musungu, Executive President, IQsensato; and Don Stephenson, Assistant Deputy Minister, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.
I was in Tunis last week to participate in a WIPO seminar on implementation of the development agenda by Arab member states. Most of the delegates were representatives of national IP offices, though there were also some international diplomats. It was surprising (though in hindsight, it shouldn't have been) that most of the people there had not even heard of WIPO's development agenda, let alone understood its purpose and effect. By the end the seminar's third day, however, people began to see how the agenda might influence their activities at the national level, and what might be done to promote its underlying values. The experience proved to me the need for and value of WIPO's work in this area.
My remarks were mostly based on the content of my recently published collection of essays in Implementing the WIPO's Development Agenda. A summary of what I had to say during my four presentations follows:
Yesterday I delivered the opening presentation at ALAI Canada's conference celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Copyright Board. I argued that the Board is probably the most practically important copyright institution in Canada, though too few people realize the breadth or depth of its impact. It is far more than a rate-setting body; it is heavily involved in either making or implementing copyright policy. While Parliament and the courts have and exercise the power to determine the law, increasingly these bodies are relying on the Board to apply it in practice.
The presentation is embedded below. Use the arrows on the bottom right to move through. Click the hyperlinks to jump to the underlying source materials.
I was interviewed for the October 25/27 episode of one of my favourite programs/podcasts, CBC's Spark with Nora Young. My comments provided context for a story about India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library, or TKDL. I explained how indigenous communities in Southern Africa as well as in Canada have had traditional knowledge appropriated and commercialized. These stories show how in some cases intellectual property rights are the problem, while in others IP licensing can be a solution. My comments run from about 8:40-15:00, but the whole episode is great. Listen and learn more from Spark's website. This topic ties in closely with a course I'm teaching next term in Ottawa, on Global Intellectual Property Policy & Social Justice.
Last Thursday the National Post published my editorial on copyright reform, under the headline Respect and reality are keys to reform. Unfortunately the article was pretty hard to find online, so I've provided the full text here.
The editorial largely reflects my comments at the copyright consultation roundtable held in Gatineau in late July. Here's the audio recording of that event and the transcript is here, if you want to know how I elaborated on some of the ideas I presented.
I was glad to see a recent Intellectual Property Watch report about my new edited book on Implementing WIPO's Development Agenda, and the book launch held in collaboration with IQsensato in Geneva late last month. The report accurately describes some of the book's main themes, and gives a great recap on the comments from panelists who took part in the launch seminar. I'm particularly glad to see this coverage knowing that Intellectual Property Watch is such a widely read and indispensible source of information about the global governance of IP; I hope this means the ideas in the book are reaching the right people.
I am an Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law. My expertise is in the area of technology and intellectual property law. Read more details or follow me on twitter.
Respect and reality are keys to reform
