|
home · nodes · the a2k brazil project / fgv law school · details
The A2K Brazil Project / FGV Law School
lemos · Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Research and activism towards the promotion of access to knowledge.
| The A2K Project presentation at the Free Software Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil |
 |
Category: Policy/law
Project end date: 5/6/2007 (444 days ago)
Creation date:
Development stage: active
city: Rio de Janeiro
country: Brazil
Other countries:
Main Language: Portuguese
Number of people involved: 1
The main goals of the A2K project in Brazil are:
Studies
Studies on intellectual property and development in order to produce research and reference material.
Workshop
Conduct discussions in Brazil with international specialists attended by members of civil society, government and other relevant actors. The workshop is to be documented and its work made available on the A2K webpage.
NGO Collaboration
Establish joint agendas with NGOs and public-interest organizations to promote their involvement and clarify any questions they might have related to intellectual property and development.
Enrollment with International Projects
Participation in discussions related to i) an Access of Knowledge Treaty (A2K), and ii) the issue of intellectual property and development within WIPO, focusing on limitations and exceptions to copyrights taking into account Chile’s proposal.
Education and Information
Discuss knowledge-based goods (intellectual property rights) on a more balanced and fair approach, so that not only lawyers, but also journalists, students, artists, NGOs, the government, consumers and the civil society have access to complete and correct information concerning the flexibilities foreseen by international treaties and conventions, so as to enable these stakeholders to better participate in the discussions.
Law Project
Proposal for amending the Brazilian copyright law focused on limitations and exceptions to copyrights in order to implement the flexibilities as foreseen by international treaties and conventions, and to promote better access to knowledge, educational, scientific and research material.
Distance Learning Course
Online course focused on the intellectual property and development debate, intended to provide a better understanding to persons that do not necessarily work on the legal field, such as members of NGOs, consumers and the general public.
A2K AND THE GOVERNMENT
Suggest and discuss proposals for a more flexible and balanced intellectual property right, taking into account the private and public interests.
Without loosing sight of the industry that owns the content - copyrights - enough attention must be given to the industry that produces technology - responsible for spreading the content.
Creativity and innovation, dissemination and technology transfer, economic and social development, and cultural diversity are all objectives of the intellectual property system.
Intellectual property is not an end in and of itself, but rather a means for development.
EDUCATION AND INFORMATION
Resulting from previous international treaties and conventions, authorizations already exist regarding access to knowledge in terms of the use and copy of educational and scientific material, as well as research. It is important to note that not all of these authorizations have been fully implemented in Brazil. Accordingly, the A2K project aims to discuss knowledge-based goods (intellectual property rights) within a more balanced and fair approach so that not just lawyers but also journalists, students, artists, NGOs, the government, consumers, and civil society all have access to complete and correct information regarding the flexibilities permitted by international treaties and conventions when the subject is limitations and exceptions to copyrights. The project hopes to enable these other sectors to better participate in existing and future discussions and create a greater sense of balance.
A2K International
Despite Brazil’s international leadership in very important debates concerning the flexibilization of intellectual property rights, in the national field little is heard, read, or discussed.
Therefore, Brazil’s population must take greater initiative to engage and participate in existing discussions taking place in the international community, such as the Treaty on A2K and Technology draft.
This document discusses the limitations and exceptions that exist within intellectual property rights, examining in particular the acts permitted by international treaties and conventions that do not constitute a crime or violation against intellectual property rights.
A2K Treaty
* provide access to a broad scope of information on discussions regarding an Treaty on Access to Knowledge (A2K) and Technology, and
* have as reference discussions on A2K in order to create appropriate incentives for the adoption of an A2K Treaty as a model for intellectual property rights in Brazil.
WIPO Development Agenda:
Follow, participate in, and publicize discussions before the WIPO, a specialized agency of the United Nations, to make intellectual property rights more flexible in order to reach a greater balance between public and private interests.
Chile’s Proposal at WIPO:
Follow, participate in, and publicize discussions concerning Chile’s proposal before WIPO’s Committee on Copyrights and Related Rights, so that WIPO takes into account limitations and exceptions to copyrights for the benefit of
* libraries,
* the mental/physical disabled,
* access to educational, scientific, and research materials. This initiative from Chile can be supported not only by the Brazilian government, but also by consumers, NGOs, and civil society.
Studies
What are the limitations and exceptions to copyrights?
* as foreseen by International and regional Treaties and Conventions
o Berne Convention of 1967 (revision of Stockholm) and its Appendix
o WTO/TRIPs 1995 (including the WTO three step test Panel)
o UN/WIPO/WCT 1996
o 2001 UNESCO Convention on Intellectual Property
o FTAA
* as foreseen by some foreign countries’ legislations
o as foreseen by the Brazilian national scope
o Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988
o Brazilian Copyright law of 1998 (and the former law of 1973)
Political and Law Proposals
* implement as much as possible in Brazil’s national legal system, through proposal of a project law, limitations and exceptions to copyrights foreseen and guaranteed by international treaties and conventions
* can judges expand their interpretations?
* what is the most appropriate system to allow for the copying of books and/or entire articles for academic purposes?
Main Researchers
Pedro Paranagua
Professor of Law at Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, where he teaches at the Graduate and Post-Graduate Schools. Prof. Paranagua coordinates FGV’s A2K (Access to Knowledge) Programme, serves as Project Leader at the Centre for Technology and Society of Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, and is Manager of the distance learning law courses at FGV-Online.
He is a lecturer in intellectual property at FGV’s post-graduate department in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Prof. Paranagua is a lecturer at the Masters degree at the Brazilian Industrial Property National Institute (INPI). He is also visiting professor at Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ), and State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).
Prof. Paranagua earned his LL.M. (merit) in Intellectual Property at the University of London, Queen Mary, UK, with scholarships from the Alban Programme of the European Commission; from Queen Mary, University of London, and from the Institute of International Education (IIE) jointly with the Ford Foundation.
Prof. Paranagua also represents FGV School of Law in Rio de Janeiro at the United Nation’s World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO, in Geneva, and is legal consultant for the Brazilian Ministry of Culture.
He is mentor and former academic coordinator of the intellectual property specialisation course at FGV School of Law in Sao Paulo. Prior to joining academia, he led for one year an intellectual property study group at a Brazilian NGO, focusing on patents and access to medicines, having closely worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), and eventually with the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Prior to that, he has worked for three years at the intellectual property law firm Gusmao e Labrunie, in Sao Paulo.
Prof. Paranagua has written "The Development Agenda for WIPO: another stillbirth? A battle between access to knowledge and enclosure” (2005) (LL.M. dissertation); the chapter “Software Livre como Alternativa de Desenvolvimento e de Negocio: em busca da soberania nacional” in Propriedade Intelectual: Estudos em homenagem a Professora Maristela Basso (Jurua/2005), and the chapter “Patenteabilidade de Metodos de Fazer Negocio Implementados por Software” in Aspectos Polemicos da Propriedade Intelectual (Lumen Juris/2004), besides various articles in periodicals, papers etc.. He has also been invited to speak in several conferences in Brazil and abroad.
Prof. Paranagua’s main focus of research is: intellectual property (IP) and sustainable development; the relationship between new technologies and IP; new business and licensing models, such as Creative Commons, GNU/GPL free software licenses; the influence of private-interest and public-interest NGOs on the IP policy-making; international IP policy-making within the WTO / TRIPs Agreement and UN’s WIPO; political history, justification and objectives of IP rights; IP and consumer rights; patents and access to medicines, and access to knowledge in general.
Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza
Researcher in the A2K program and adjunct coordinator for the Center for Technology and Society at Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV) School of Law in Rio de Janeiro. Mr. Pereira de Souza is professor of law at FGV Law School and a lecturer in FGV’s continuing education and specialization departments. He also lectures in the graduate and post-graduate departments at Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio) School of Law in Rio de Janeiro, and at the Law School of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). He is a member of the Copyright and Entertainment Law Commission of the Rio de Janeiro Bar Association (OAB-RJ), and earned his Masters in Law from Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), where he is currently a LL.D. candidate. He is co-author of the books Comentarios a Lei de Imprensa (Forense/2004), and Codigo Civil Interpretado Conforme a Constituicao da Republica (Renovar/2004).
Sergio Branco
Researcher for the A2K program and project leader at the Center for Technology and Society at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas School of Law in Rio de Janeiro. Mr. Branco holds a Masters in Law from Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ), and is a LL.D. candidate at the same University.
He is a specialist in intellectual property at Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio). He is also a former chief-attorney of the Brazilian National Institute of Information Technology - ITI, in Bras�;;;;;lia, and former coordinator of analysis and development for the post-graduate department at FGV DIREITO RIO.
Mr. Branco is legal consultant for the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, and has worked for more than five years at the law firm Barbosa, M�;;;;;ssnich & Arag�;;;;;o and holds a LL.B. from Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ).
Roberta Zaluski
Law intern for the A2K program. She is current a graduate law student at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).
Ms. Zaluski’s foreign experience includes a six-month Graduate Law course at Paris II (Assas Pantheon), France, in addition to another six-month experience in Boston, USA.
Paula Martini
Colaborator and co-editor of the A2K Programe. MBA in Culture Management at Candido Mendes University, and B.A. in Social Communications (journalism) at Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio). Has undertaken Media Practices and Social Knowledge & Perspectives at Middlesex University in London, UK. Has experience in communications aimed at cultural production.
|
Revisioning iCommons
In 2005, iCommons was established as an outgrowth of Creative Commons with an objective to ‘advance the wider dissemination of non-commercial sharing of scientific, creative and other intellectual works by the general public’. Creative Commons was the sole member, guarantor and sponsor of the charity, providing organisational and financial support.
Today, iCommons has a small,... more
|
send
printer-friendly version
