<nettime> "INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MEANS..."

[richard barbrook <richard@hrc.wmin.ac.uk>]

Announcing the
"INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MEANS..."
Counter Essay Contest
May 2001

In March, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) announced
that it was establishing an international student essay contest asking the
question: "WHAT DOES INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MEAN TO YOU IN YOUR DAILY
LIFE?" (see excerpts of release below.) It quickly became obvious to us
what type of essays WIPO wanted. Anyone who answered that intellectual
property (IP) means: " I can't purchase anti-HIVS drugs because of patent
law" or, " as a farmer, I can't get access to patent-protected seeds for
planting" or, " as a visually impaired person, I can't read books due to
copyright restrictions" or, " as a teacher, I can't distribute materials
to my students for the same reason" or, " I was fired from my job because
I was a whistleblower" or, a thousand other similar responses would not be
winning a prize from WIPO, no matter how articulate or well-argued such an
essay was. And, once again, the negative consequences of IP would go
unchallenged in a flood of congratulatory rhetoric.

And so what is the solution? Set up a counter/alternative essay contest,
ask exactly the same question as WIPO, encourage a range of rather more
critical responses, create a website where the essays can be posted and
viewed, then find some judges, and, at the end of the contest, award some
(admittedly modest) prizes. And that is what a group of us who teach,
study, produce, use, and research intellectual property are now in the
process of doing. Currently composed of 20 people in five countries (UK,
US, Canada, Australia, and The Netherlands), our group thinks such an
essay contest, the public recording of personal testimonials, provides a
good occasion to intervene in the international political, economic, and
social debate about IP which has "moved to centre stage---and will stay
there" as The Economist magazine recently commented.

 The essay contest and the web site will be launched simultaneously on 4
Sept. 2001. The contest closes 15 March 2002 and the winner announced on
26 April 2002, the same day that WIPO announces its winners.

 In addition to the counter essay contest, the web site will also feature
a section of short news items and brief opinion pieces on harmful and
negative developments across the entire IP spectrum: trade marks and
freedom of speech, copyright in music, proprietary computer software,
parodies of works, patents in plants, genes, and pharmaceuticals, the
effects of IP on economic/cultural development, users' rights and fair
dealing/fair use, "whistle blowing" and trade secrets, designs, right of
publicity, etc. We extend a special invitation to contestants and those
interested in IP from countries of the South to join in and to highlight
the effects of the over- protection of intellectual property on peoples
and countries which are outside of the European and North American
domination of intellectual property dialogue. And, by the way, we also
want to have some fun!

As part of this year long project, we are also approaching several
publishers and expect to publish a book containing the winning entries,
plus a selection of other essays.

To be clear on the purpose of this contest and this committee: we are not
saying that individuals and corporations that produce intellectual
property do not deserve some reward for their efforts. We are strongly
opposed, however, to the over-protection of IP and according it trumping
power over other values and social priorities such as access to medicines,
to education, and to the sharing of ideas and information.

Some further details :
1) The question: "What does intellectual property mean to you in your daily
life?"
2) Essays can be submitted by anyone; that is, you do NOT have to be a
student, though, of course, entries from student of all ages are encouraged.
And contestants retain rights in their own submissions.
3) The maximum word length is 2,000 words; shorter submissions will not be
penalised.
4) Initially (and purely because of limited resources), we will be accepting
essays in English, French, Spanish and German ; those speaking other
languages and those willing to judge in other languages are encouraged to
contact us and we will work together to get more languages into the contest.
5) Our contest website will also have links to other IP-related sites and
campaigns.
6) We are in the process establishing an international panels of judges and
would invite further nominations.

 Between now and Sept 1, there is a lot of work to be done and we are only a
small committee of volunteers with limited money and contacts. Perhaps you
might like to
* join our committee and help in the organisation (publicity, sponsors,
website)
* receive more information
* endorse this contest and campaign and/or sponsor this contest and provide
some financial support for prize money
* offer your website as a mirror to the main contest website or set up
reciprocal links between your site and ours.

Please contact:
Alan Story, Kent Law School, University of Kent , Canterbury UK , CT2 NS
acs3@ukc.ac.uk

More details and contest particulars, including website address, will follow
later in the summer.

IP Counter Essay Contest Committee

INITIAL LIST OF ENDORSEMENTS

Groups/Publications:
* Treatment Action Campaign (HIV/AIDS, health care -
http://www.tac.org.za/ ) South
Africa
*  EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation
Associations -  http://www.eblida.org/ ), The Hague, The Netherlands.
*  GENE CAMPAIGN (www.genecampaign.com ), New Delhi, India.
* RTMark (brokerage for anti-corporate activism - www.rtmark.com ) UK
*  Negativland  (experimental-music, radio and video collective,
anti-corporate/copyright artist  activists http://www.negativland.com) USA.
*  The Third World Network ( http://www.twnside.org.sg/), Penang, Malaysia
*  Critical Lawyers' Group, Kent Law School(www.nclg.org.uk ) Canterbury,UK.
*  The Register ("Biting the hand that feeds IT" online magazine-
http://www.theregister.co.uk/), London, UK.
*  Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. (publishers of Linux Journal -
http://www.ssc.com/), USA
* Hypermedia Research Centre, University of Westminster (
http://www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk), London, England.

Individuals:
*  Peter Drahos (IP Professor), Queen Mary and Westfield College, London,
U.K.
*  Noam Chomsky, Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
*  Udo Schuklenk, (Head of Bioethics, Co-Editor BIOETHICS), University of the
Witwatersrand , Johannesburg, South Africa.
*  Paul van Buitenen, (auditor/whistleblower of European Commission fraud;
Readers' Digest "European of the Year"), Luxembourg.
*  Doug Henwood, (editor/ publisher, Left Business Observer)
http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/ ) USA.
*  Peter Lurie, Deputy Director, Public Citizen's Health Research Group,
Washington, USA
*  Michael H. Davis (IP Professor), Cleveland State University,
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law,  Cleveland, OH, USA.
*  Ann Bartow ( IP Professor), Univ. of South Carolina School of Law ,
Columbia, SC, USA
*  Eben Moglen ( Professor of Law & Legal History) Columbia Law School,
General Counsel, Free Software Foundation,  New York, New York, USA.
* Michael Mansfield QC (barrister, honorary president, the Critical Lawyers'
Group), London, UK.
*  Ray Patterson ( IP Professor), University of Georgia Law School, Athens,
Georgia, USA
*  Peter Jaszi ( IP Professor) Washington College of Law, American
University, Washington D.C., USA
*  Rod Dixon (visiting Professor of Law), Rutgers University Law School,
Camden, New Jersey, USA
*  Miltos Manetas, visual artist, www.manetas.com , www.Iamgonnacopy.com  USA
*  Maryly Snow (visual artist & chair, Visual Resources Association
Intellectual Property Rights Committee), Berkeley, Ca. USA.
*  Ram Samudrala (Computational biology (genomics and proteomics) professor),
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington , USA
* David Sorkin (Center for Information Technology and Privacy Law, The John
Marshall Law School) Chicago, Illinois, USA
*  Michael Ashburner ( Biology Professor), Dept. of Genetics, Cambridge
University, Cambridge, UK.
*  Brian Martin (Science, Technology & Society) University of Wollongong,
Australia
*  Deborah Halbert ( Political Science Professor), Otterbein College,
Westerville, OH, USA

WIPO PRESS RELEASE  (March 200l) -  The first ever World Intellectual
Property Day takes place on 26 April 2001, the date in which the Convention
establishing WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organisation) entered
into force in 1970. WIPO member states decided at their last annual meeting
to designate this date for special activities to highlight the importance
and practical use of intellectual property in people's lives. As part of a
series of events, WIPO has launched an international essay competition open
to university students. The 2000 word essay must address the question "What
does intellectual property mean to you in your daily life". It can be
submitted in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian or Spanish. A prize
of 1000 Swiss francs will be awarded for the best essay in each language.
Entries must be sent to the WWA by December 1, 2001. The winners will be
announced on World Intellectual Property Day next year, that is, on April
26, 2002. For further information, please consult www.wipo.int.  .


Alan Story
Kent Law School
University of Kent
Canterbury Kent U.K
CT2 7NS.
a.c.story@ukc.ac.uk
44 (0)1227 823316





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