Saturday, April 30, 2005
Emailnews Issue 04/2005
All is not well with Intellectual Property:
The World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) meeting on Intellectual Property was held, April 11 to 13, 2005 at Geneva to discuss Development Agenda in which Indian representative expressed his stand point; the following is the edited text of the statement:
Mr. Chairman,
Let me congratulate you on your election to Chair this very important meeting. We have high expectations that the outcome of this session will lead to mainstreaming the development dimension into all areas of WIPO’s work and activities. I also take this opportunity to congratulate the Group of Friends of Development for introducing the proposal for a Development Agenda. We fully support their proposal, in particular, the establishment of a WIPO Evaluation and Research Office (WERO).
“Development”, in WIPO’s terminology means increasing a developing country’s capacity to provide protection to the owners of intellectual property rights. This is quite opposite of what developing countries understand when they refer to the ‘development dimension’. The document presented by the Group of Friends of Development corrects this misconception - that development dimension means technical assistance.
The interest of Intellectual Property owners is not to be secured at the expense of the users of IP, of consumers at large, and of public policy in general. The primary rationale for IP protection is to promote societal development by encouraging technological innovation. The legal monopoly granted to IP owners is an exceptional departure from the general principle of competitive markets. The rationale for the exception is to produce sufficient benefits for society to compensate for the immediate loss to consumers. Monopoly rights are to be carefully calibrated by each country, in the light of its own circumstances.
It makes little sense for one party, especially the weaker party, to agree to assume greater obligations than he is contractually bound to accept. This, in short, is what the developed countries have sought to do so far in WIPO (In the context of TRIPS). The message of the Development Agenda is clear: no longer are developing countries prepared to accept this approach, or continuation of the status quo.
Even in a developed country, there is continuing debate, with some even questioning its claimed social benefits. Given the total absence of any mandatory cross-border resource transfers (domestic recycling of the monopoly profits), the case for strong IP protection in developing countries is without any economic basis. Harmonization of IP laws across countries with asymmetric distribution of IP assets is, clearly, intended to serve the interest of rent seekers in developed countries rather than that of the public in developing countries.
Neither intellectual property protection, nor the harmonization of intellectual property laws can be an end in itself. Developing countries could benefit from providing IP protection when there is an obligation on the part of developed countries to transfer and disseminate technologies to developing countries. Absent an obligation on technology transfer, asymmetric IP rent flows would become a permanent feature, and the benefits of IP protection would forever elude consumers in developing countries. As pointed out in the proposal by the Group of Friends of Development, technology transfer should be a fundamental objective of the global intellectual property system.
The current emphasis of Technical Assistance on implementation and enforcement issues is misplaced. Society faces a considerable challenge to effectively protect, and resolve disputes over, physical property. To expect that the police, the lawyers and the courts should dedicate a sizable part of society’s enforcement resources for protecting intangible intellectual property is unrealistic. Therefore, WIPO’s current focus of Technical Assistance should be shifted to other areas such as development impact assessment.
In conclusion, it is important that developed countries and WIPO acknowledge that IP protection is an important policy instrument for developing countries. For developing countries, the benefits IP protection are always in the distant future, the costs are substantial and immediate. It is clearly in the interest of developing countries that WIPO recognizes this and formulates its work program accordingly - including its ‘technical assistance’ - and not limit its activities, as it currently does, to the blind promotion of increasingly higher levels of IP protection. This is where WIPO, as a specialized UN agency, can make a major impact - by truly incorporating the development dimension into its mission - in letter and in spirit, so that it is appropriately reflected in all its instruments. Certainly it will result in a revitalisation of WIPO as an organisation sensitive to integrating the development concerns of developing countries into all areas of its work.
The above text explicitly exposes that all is not well with intellectual property.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection intellectual property. With headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, WIPO is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations system of organizations.
Developmental Agenda of WIPO
Contributed by Dr.M K Sridharan
New and exciting application is born for
The World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) meeting on Intellectual Property was held, April 11 to 13, 2005 at Geneva to discuss Development Agenda in which Indian representative expressed his stand point; the following is the edited text of the statement:
Mr. Chairman,
Let me congratulate you on your election to Chair this very important meeting. We have high expectations that the outcome of this session will lead to mainstreaming the development dimension into all areas of WIPO’s work and activities. I also take this opportunity to congratulate the Group of Friends of Development for introducing the proposal for a Development Agenda. We fully support their proposal, in particular, the establishment of a WIPO Evaluation and Research Office (WERO).
“Development”, in WIPO’s terminology means increasing a developing country’s capacity to provide protection to the owners of intellectual property rights. This is quite opposite of what developing countries understand when they refer to the ‘development dimension’. The document presented by the Group of Friends of Development corrects this misconception - that development dimension means technical assistance.
The interest of Intellectual Property owners is not to be secured at the expense of the users of IP, of consumers at large, and of public policy in general. The primary rationale for IP protection is to promote societal development by encouraging technological innovation. The legal monopoly granted to IP owners is an exceptional departure from the general principle of competitive markets. The rationale for the exception is to produce sufficient benefits for society to compensate for the immediate loss to consumers. Monopoly rights are to be carefully calibrated by each country, in the light of its own circumstances.
It makes little sense for one party, especially the weaker party, to agree to assume greater obligations than he is contractually bound to accept. This, in short, is what the developed countries have sought to do so far in WIPO (In the context of TRIPS). The message of the Development Agenda is clear: no longer are developing countries prepared to accept this approach, or continuation of the status quo.
Even in a developed country, there is continuing debate, with some even questioning its claimed social benefits. Given the total absence of any mandatory cross-border resource transfers (domestic recycling of the monopoly profits), the case for strong IP protection in developing countries is without any economic basis. Harmonization of IP laws across countries with asymmetric distribution of IP assets is, clearly, intended to serve the interest of rent seekers in developed countries rather than that of the public in developing countries.
Neither intellectual property protection, nor the harmonization of intellectual property laws can be an end in itself. Developing countries could benefit from providing IP protection when there is an obligation on the part of developed countries to transfer and disseminate technologies to developing countries. Absent an obligation on technology transfer, asymmetric IP rent flows would become a permanent feature, and the benefits of IP protection would forever elude consumers in developing countries. As pointed out in the proposal by the Group of Friends of Development, technology transfer should be a fundamental objective of the global intellectual property system.
The current emphasis of Technical Assistance on implementation and enforcement issues is misplaced. Society faces a considerable challenge to effectively protect, and resolve disputes over, physical property. To expect that the police, the lawyers and the courts should dedicate a sizable part of society’s enforcement resources for protecting intangible intellectual property is unrealistic. Therefore, WIPO’s current focus of Technical Assistance should be shifted to other areas such as development impact assessment.
In conclusion, it is important that developed countries and WIPO acknowledge that IP protection is an important policy instrument for developing countries. For developing countries, the benefits IP protection are always in the distant future, the costs are substantial and immediate. It is clearly in the interest of developing countries that WIPO recognizes this and formulates its work program accordingly - including its ‘technical assistance’ - and not limit its activities, as it currently does, to the blind promotion of increasingly higher levels of IP protection. This is where WIPO, as a specialized UN agency, can make a major impact - by truly incorporating the development dimension into its mission - in letter and in spirit, so that it is appropriately reflected in all its instruments. Certainly it will result in a revitalisation of WIPO as an organisation sensitive to integrating the development concerns of developing countries into all areas of its work.
The above text explicitly exposes that all is not well with intellectual property.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection intellectual property. With headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, WIPO is one of the 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations system of organizations.
Developmental Agenda of WIPO
Contributed by Dr.M K Sridharan
New and exciting application is born for
the Word/Excel users in computers:
Good news for the users of Word/Excel in computers for on line sharing of documents in real time. The Hotline fame Sabeer Bhatia has come out with new application InstaColl (Instant Collaboration) which provides online sharing of documents throw the new application. People can share and work on documents like Word, Excel and PowerPoint files in real time.
The lack of real-time feature in e-mail is addressed in this application. The InstaColl button is embedded in the MS Office document. The user simply has to click the button to begin with where he can work with his counter part or co worker in real time, review, edit and information exchange between them from within the same application.
Unlike e-mail which has store and forward mechanism, InstaColl adds new dimension for sharing and processing documents on line.
InstaColl has presently incorporated into MS Office applications and most likely to be commercially launched in May-05. IBM has decided to bundle this product into their X series servers.
“After we launch it commercially, we will ensure that it is affordable to common man” Bhatia told reporters after launching InstaColl in Bangalore on April 13th 2005. Bhatia is eying on the users of MS Office who are nearly 400 million world wide.
You can download InstaColl from the website www.instacoll.com
Times of India /Business Times Page 13/ Dated: April14th 2005
Name of the car; story of the Name:
There is a big an attractive advertisement covering two and half pages in Times of India on April, 7th, 2005 It is not the advertisement that attracted me but it is the massive add that made me to go throw. Rocky terrain is depicted in one part of the add and a new Hyundai car in another part in the same background. The add is a usual advertisement of the Hyundai car but the stress is to convey the power of the car along the name in particular.
The name and the power is synchronized in the add to name the car Tucson (please pronounce as “too-sawn”).
The name of the car is a legend, really worth reading, the story goes like this.
Hundreds of years of ago in the red lands of Arizona , a group up of native Americans warriors left their homes and set out on a journey to seek a spirit - a spirit that was believed to give men the power to conquer new lands and preserve their youth.
These men set out, braving the elements. But having travelled far and wide fruitlessly, many gave up hope and returned one by one. Until there were only two left who refused to give up until they found spirit.
After forty days and forty nights of traveling without rest or an end in sight, they slept. And in a dream, the spirit revealed itself, waiting for only one of them at the foot of the black mountain.
With renewed energy and each wanting to be chosen one, reaching it at the crack of dawn, only to discover a roaring river surrounding it on all sides!
Not wanting to lose out at this crucial stage, they both dived into the roaring water and raced towards their goal.
And just one of them was on the verge of reaching the other side, heard a scream of terror. He looked back to see his competitor floundering in the savage of waters, about to be swept away.
The man's conscience prevailed- saving a fellow man was more important than finding the spirit. And without any further thought, he turned back!
In a flash, the savage waters magically clamed, turning the mighty river into sparkling stream. And a booming voice rose from the heart of the black mountain.
“I am TUCSON!” it echoed “And the spirit you seek is within you… and as long as you travel together, keeping a lookout for one another, the spirit will live on! Keeping you young, Keeping you alive”.
This is the story of the name “TUCSON”.
Behind every great adventure lies a great spirit;
The advertisement further goes on to tell you; centuries after the legend; Tucson was born with its spirit that is ever willing to take you on new journeys, through new lands.
Meet the new Hyundai's Tucson the new car that awaits you!
Is it not amusing and meaningful to name a car like this!
Advertisement In Times of India Dated: April 7th, 2005.Page 21 and 24
There is a big an attractive advertisement covering two and half pages in Times of India on April, 7th, 2005 It is not the advertisement that attracted me but it is the massive add that made me to go throw. Rocky terrain is depicted in one part of the add and a new Hyundai car in another part in the same background. The add is a usual advertisement of the Hyundai car but the stress is to convey the power of the car along the name in particular.
The name and the power is synchronized in the add to name the car Tucson (please pronounce as “too-sawn”).
The name of the car is a legend, really worth reading, the story goes like this.
Hundreds of years of ago in the red lands of Arizona , a group up of native Americans warriors left their homes and set out on a journey to seek a spirit - a spirit that was believed to give men the power to conquer new lands and preserve their youth.
These men set out, braving the elements. But having travelled far and wide fruitlessly, many gave up hope and returned one by one. Until there were only two left who refused to give up until they found spirit.
After forty days and forty nights of traveling without rest or an end in sight, they slept. And in a dream, the spirit revealed itself, waiting for only one of them at the foot of the black mountain.
With renewed energy and each wanting to be chosen one, reaching it at the crack of dawn, only to discover a roaring river surrounding it on all sides!
Not wanting to lose out at this crucial stage, they both dived into the roaring water and raced towards their goal.
And just one of them was on the verge of reaching the other side, heard a scream of terror. He looked back to see his competitor floundering in the savage of waters, about to be swept away.
The man's conscience prevailed- saving a fellow man was more important than finding the spirit. And without any further thought, he turned back!
In a flash, the savage waters magically clamed, turning the mighty river into sparkling stream. And a booming voice rose from the heart of the black mountain.
“I am TUCSON!” it echoed “And the spirit you seek is within you… and as long as you travel together, keeping a lookout for one another, the spirit will live on! Keeping you young, Keeping you alive”.
This is the story of the name “TUCSON”.
Behind every great adventure lies a great spirit;
The advertisement further goes on to tell you; centuries after the legend; Tucson was born with its spirit that is ever willing to take you on new journeys, through new lands.
Meet the new Hyundai's Tucson the new car that awaits you!
Is it not amusing and meaningful to name a car like this!
Advertisement In Times of India Dated: April 7th, 2005.Page 21 and 24
All students of Xth “B” section met again
after 25 years
All students of X th “B” section of Gandhi Vidyashala High school Sriramapuram Bangalore gathered after 25 years on July 19th 2004; not only their classmates but also with their teachers; is really amazing. The 45 students who started their studies during the period 1976 to 1979 in the school had kept up good contact met again for the silver jubilee occasion of 25 years of their completing metric examination (Xth class). For this occasion the students organized the program in such a way as if they are one family member. The Students Gandhi Vidyashala High school (Government aided Institution) are from middle class families celebrated the unique program without any fan fare.
The students, their families with their teachers participated in the program as if they are celebrating a great festival greeting each other exchanging greetings, pleasantries and gifts. They recollected their old sweet memories and achievements they made in recent years. The organizers invited all their teachers including the one who taught even a single lesson; and also invited non teaching staff.
The program was video graphed and numerous photos were taken by students themselves. A beautiful group photo was published in English daily "Deccan Herald" on September 18th 2004 and news was published in Kannada dailies like “Prajavani” dated 26/07/04 page-3, “Vijayakarnataka” dated 26/07/04 page-"Bangalore Vijaya" and Tamil dailies like “Kalikadir” dated 19/07/04 page-5, “Daily Thanthi” dated 20/07/04 page-7.
after 25 years
All students of X th “B” section of Gandhi Vidyashala High school Sriramapuram Bangalore gathered after 25 years on July 19th 2004; not only their classmates but also with their teachers; is really amazing. The 45 students who started their studies during the period 1976 to 1979 in the school had kept up good contact met again for the silver jubilee occasion of 25 years of their completing metric examination (Xth class). For this occasion the students organized the program in such a way as if they are one family member. The Students Gandhi Vidyashala High school (Government aided Institution) are from middle class families celebrated the unique program without any fan fare.
The students, their families with their teachers participated in the program as if they are celebrating a great festival greeting each other exchanging greetings, pleasantries and gifts. They recollected their old sweet memories and achievements they made in recent years. The organizers invited all their teachers including the one who taught even a single lesson; and also invited non teaching staff.
The program was video graphed and numerous photos were taken by students themselves. A beautiful group photo was published in English daily "Deccan Herald" on September 18th 2004 and news was published in Kannada dailies like “Prajavani” dated 26/07/04 page-3, “Vijayakarnataka” dated 26/07/04 page-"Bangalore Vijaya" and Tamil dailies like “Kalikadir” dated 19/07/04 page-5, “Daily Thanthi” dated 20/07/04 page-7.
For further details please contact: sdraj1@indiatimes.com
Tel: (O) 23322479 (R) 23357824
Tel: (O) 23322479 (R) 23357824
