Online Forum on Intellectual Property in the Information Society

The forum is part of WIPO's continuing work to raise awareness about intellectual property (IP) issues, and to encourage debate among all stakeholders about IP-related issues in a rapidly changing information society. While membership of WIPO is limited to Member States, the Organization welcomes non-State observers and attaches importance to building collaborative relationships with representatives from across the private sector and civil society. The WSIS Declaration of Principles recognizes that "building an inclusive Information Society requires new forms of solidarity, partnership and cooperation among governments and other stakeholders, i.e., the private sector, civil society and international organizations." The online forum aimed to reach beyond WIPO's members, observers and partners in order to offer the man and woman in the (cyber) street a chance to have their voices heard on issues of wide interest and concern.

The feedback

The postings on all the themes of the forum reflect the desire to be heard and to participate in global discussions on IP. Some, however, also express concern as to whether their voices would reach policymakers, or make a difference. Toby Bainton writes: "As in so many matters, policy is set by government delegations whose opinions are influenced mostly by the needs of businesses. (...) But governments should remember that information in a civilized society is like the air we breathe, and its circulation should not be unduly restricted. (...) A true information society would be in accord with the whole of society's needs." Taran Rampersad recognizes the difficulty of the task, writing "The role of international organizations is not to have easy jobs - but hard ones, where real problems are dealt with... Balance requires discussion - which is something in which Civil Society needs to have a more active role and that role must have more weight."

Questions relating to the public domain and open access (Theme Three) received the most postings. Introducing the theme of open source software, the WIPO commentary states: Software innovation is a powerful tool for economic development. IP plays a critical role in promoting research and development in this field and in protecting and rewarding creative software development, whether based on open source or proprietary models. The choice between open source and proprietary models of software is...