18
November 2004
Mrs.
Rita Hayes
WIPO Deputy-Director General
Dear
Mrs. Hayes:
We welcome WIPO’s recent efforts at greater
transparency and support for civil society participation at these
important
meetings. It is therefore with regret
that we have to inform you of difficulties we have experienced during
this 12th
Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. We write to you to request your
assistance
to avoid a repetition of these unfortunate events.
Both yesterday and again today, written
statements
provided by IP Justice and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which
were
placed on the table designated for floor papers, were stolen within
minutes of
being deposited on the table. Additionally
yesterday documents provided by the Union for the Public Domain were
also
missing shortly after being placed on the table.
This morning, many of these documents
were recovered
from the trash can in the first floor men’s restroom.
Another set of IP Justice statements as well as copies of the
alternative NGO Proposal for a Broadcasting Treaty were recovered from
behind a
desk on the ground floor. These
documents provided by IP Justice, EFF, and the Union for the Public
Domain were
critical of the proposed Broadcasting Treaty.
The papers drafted by the broadcasting industry, urging the
treaty’s
adoption, however, remain undisturbed on the table for floor papers.
Delegates’ receipt of written statements
provided by
civil society are doubly crucial because of the limited time that has
been
allocated for interventions for civil society during this meeting. The briefing papers’ disappearance causes us
particular difficulty given WIPO’s new procedure to no longer
photo-copy NGO
floor papers for the delegates. In
order for us to get replacements, we would have to get on a bus and
travel back
into town to make more copies for the delegates, who have invited us to
submit
advice on these issues.
Currently, we have placed a
representative from
civil society near the table for floor papers to “guard” these written
statements. But clearly this in not an
acceptable situation for NGOs or WIPO.
We request that you take adequate and effective measures to
protect the
materials placed on the floor paper table, regardless of the views
expressed in
those statements. Thank you for your
attention to these matters.
Very
truly,
Robin
Gross
IP
Justice
robin@ipjustice.org
Cory
Doctorow
Electronic
Frontier Foundation
cory@eff.org
David
Tannenbaum
and Shyamkrishna Balganesh
Union for the Public Domain
davidt@public-domain.org
cc: US
Delegation, SCCR Chairman
IP Justice is an international civil
liberties organization that promotes balanced intellectual property
laws. IP Justice defends consumer rights to use digital media worldwide
and is a non-profit organization based in San Francisco. IP Justice was
founded in 2002 by Robin Gross, who serves as its Executive Director.
To learn more about IP Justice, visit the website at http://www.ipjustice.org.
