[okf-coord] [Fwd: WIPO-affiliate membership of the Open Knowledge Foundation]

Tue May 17 09:17:34 UTC 2005

I have been sending this around to various people. If you know anyone 
who might be willing to become a 'WIPO-affiliate member' let me know and 
I can send it to them.

Regards,

Rufus

PS: I assume both of you will be happy to be members :)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: WIPO-affiliate membership of the Open Knowledge Foundation
Date: Sun, 15 May 2005 20:25:58 +0100
From: Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org>
To: geo-coord at lists.okfn.org

Dear All,

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has traditionally
been a bastion or rights-holder interest and IP extremism. Over the last
year there have been several promising moves to redress this. In
particular an unprecendentedly large number of civil society groups have
managed to attend WIPO meetings.

So far this has often been done via ad hoc accreditation (where you
apply for permission to attend each meeting) but there are now
threatening noises being made by certain member states such as the US to
restrict attendance in this way by NGOs. The other and more longterm way
to attend WIPO is to gain permanent accreditation. However for a group
to gain permanent accreditation it must satisfy several criteria the two
most important of which are:

   1. having a formal organizational setup including published set of
rules and procedures by which the group is governed
   2. having a reasonably significant set of members whom the group then
represents at WIPO

My plan had been to create an 'Open Knowledge Coalition' to act as an
umbrella for a variety of groups including the Open Knowledge Foundation
(OKF). However I recently discovered that the deadline for application
was so near that it would not allow enough time to get a formal
framework in place for the coalition. However since it is imperative to
redress the imbalance in NGO presence at WIPO and delay would mean
waiting another year to gain accreditation I have decided to try another
route whereby the Open Knowledge Foundation itself acts as an umbrella
for WIPO attendance. Thus:
   * The OKF applies for accreditation to WIPO
   * The OKF creates a special membership category termed WIPO affiliate
member. Such members may be groups or individuals. Such members will:
     * be entitled to participate in determining any position taken by
the OKF at WIPO (for example by joining the OKF wipo list on which all
plans will be announced and all submissions drafted)
     * be entitled to attend WIPO as part of the OKF delegation
     * be allowing the OKF delegation to be a representative for them at
WIPO
     * NOT take on /any/ obligations or rights of 'full' membership of
the OKF

I am therefore writing to ask invite you to become a WIPO-affiliate
member of the Open Knowledge Foundation. To take up or decline this
invitation all you need to do is reply to this mail and indicate your
preference.

Regards,

Rufus

--------
More on the OKF: http://www.openknowledgefoundation.org/

OKF Memorandum of Association Objects relevant for WIPO:

(a) To promote the openness of all forms of knowledge where knowledge is
taken to include information, data and all other synonymous terms.

(b) In particular
   1) To promote freedom of access, creation and dissemination of knowledge.
   2) To develop, support and promote projects, communities and tools
that foster and facilitate the creation, access to and dissemination of
knowledge.
   3) To campaign against restrictions both legal and non-legal on the
creation, access to and dissemination of knowledge.