6:25 am on April 26, 2013 · Article19 (1), copyright (79), IP (7), wipo (2)

@Article19org launches “Right to Share Principles” today, World Intellectual Property Day @WIPO #copyright #netfreedom

The Right to Share

The Right to ShareToday Friday April 26 2013 is World Intellectual Property Day 2013, which marks the 44th anniversary of  the day on which the WIPO Convention came into force in 1970. Human Rights organization Article 19 have used the day as an opportunity to launch The Right to Share: Principles on Freedom of Expression and Copyright in the Digital Age (Right to Share Principles), a document that aims to guide policy makers, legislators, judiciary and civil society on how to balance the right to freedom of expression and copyright.

According to Article19:

These Principles seek to establish a framework which can be used to ensure firstly, that the right to freedom of expression and the ability to share knowledge and culture are fully protected in the digital age; and secondly, that copyright interests do not unduly restrict them. The Principles also seek to promote positive measures which foster both the free flow of information and ideas and greater access to knowledge and culture on the Internet and beyond.

Apart from English, the document is available in SpanishFrench, and Portuguese, and is accompanied by a new global map documenting copyright laws worldwide.

Video: Lynn St. Amour at Global Innovation Index 2011 @Internet Society #netfreedom

In June 2011 Internet Society President Lynn St Amour participated in a panel at the launch of the Global Innovation Index 2011. Since yesterday the video has been widely viewed after Cory Doctorow posted a link on Boing Boing pointing out that, at 49 mins in,  fellow panelist Francis Gurry, the Director General of the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) asserted the world would have been better off if the World Wide Web had been patented and licensed. Lynn is on at 14:38 and 42:25.