The Centre for Internet and Society
http://editors.cis-india.org
These are the search results for the query, showing results 1431 to 1445.
34th SCCR: A Summary Report
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/34th-sccr-a-summary-report
<b>The 34th session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) was held from 1st- 5th May 2017 at Geneva, Switzerland. Anubha Sinha attended the session and provides an update on the status of discussions and noteworthy emerging/unsolved debates in the Committee. </b>
<p>Agenda items at this <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=42296">SCCR </a>included 1) Reaching consensus on text of Broadcasting Treaty 2) Discussion on limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives, and educational and research institutions and persons with other disabilities 3) Discussion on artist's resale right 4) Discussion on proposal for analysis of copyright related to the digital environment. The Asia-Pacific group was represented by the Indonesian delegation - a break from Indian leadership. In comparison to previous SCCRs, the Indian delegation was less vocal, especially reflected in negotiations around the Broadcasting treaty.</p>
<h2>Broadcasting Treaty</h2>
<p>The delegations and secretariat (headed by newly appointed Chair, Darren Tang) began discussions in the earnest, keen on presenting a consensus to the UN General Assembly. Two days were spent in hammering out a feeble consensus on <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_34/sccr_34_3.pdf">Consolidated text on Definitions, Object of Protection, Rights to be Granted and Other Issues.</a> This was done entirely in the informals.[<strong>1</strong>] There was a high degree of divergence between positions, so much that the draft text ended up with additional language even on issues that had achieved a certain degree of stability. The most intractable issue emerged to be the definition (and inclusion) of deferred transmission.</p>
<p>Observers were not offered an opportunity to present statements, which was <a class="external-link" href="http://keionline.org/node/2768">alarmingly unfortunate</a>. Delegations are expected to mull over the fresh additions/modifications back home, and will again attempt to streamline the text at the next SCCR (November, 2017).</p>
<h2>Limitations and Exceptions on Libraries and Archives</h2>
<p>The Committee has been trying to come up with a legally binding instrument on this agenda. No draft text exists, only an <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_34/sccr_34_5.pdf">informal chart on limitations and exceptions</a> (prepared by the Chair) was used as a framework for discussions.</p>
<p>While African, Asia-Pacific, GRULAC, China and were keen on constructively moving towards a legally binding treaty, other groups/countries were less so.</p>
<p>The Central Europe and Baltic group (CEBS group) expressed that the agenda was best left for member states to legislate at the domestic level; they were willing to go only as far as "exchanging best practices" at this forum and adopting alternative approaches. Anything but a legally binding instrument, basically. EU, similarly positioned, suggested that the Committee should rather explore how <em>existing </em>limitations and exceptions under international treaties could function efficiently.</p>
<p>Argentina pointed out that issues such as cross-border works could not be addressed by the states themselves. Further, Russia said that existing treaties (Berne Convention, Rome Convention, WIPO Internet treaties) did not allow the introduction of the desired limitations and exceptions; and that it would be useful to merge limitations and exceptions on libraries and archives, and research and educational institutions.</p>
<p>Finally, Chile and Nigeria suggested that the Chair's informal chart could perhaps be adopted by the Committee as a working document, which was not met with much enthusiasm. Most states appreciated Dr. Crews' study and indicated that an update on the work would be useful for the Committee.</p>
<h2>Limitations and Exceptions on Educational and Research Institutions and for Persons with other Disabilities</h2>
<p>Professor Blake Reid and Professor Caroline Ncube and team made a presentation on their scoping study on limitations and exceptions for persons with disabilities (Link <a class="external-link" href="http://keionline.org/node/2773">here</a>). On the issue of limitations and exceptions for educational and research institutions the delegations looked forward to Prof. Daniel Seng's final study (in a future session). Rest of the discussion was split in a similar fashion as the previous session on libraries and archives.</p>
<p>Notably, the Indian delegation supported the discussions on limitations and exceptions with a view to produce an international instrument.</p>
<h2>Artists Resale Right</h2>
<p>The discussion around this agenda is in a preliminary stage and Dr. Graddy (Economist, Brandeis International Business School) presented an overview of the same basis a consultation with experts and stakeholders. Artists resale rights provide an artist with the right to receive a royalty based on the resale of an original work of art. Theoretically, resale rights may hurt market competition as they could potentially prompt buyers and sellers to transact in other countries which do not provision for resale royalties, to avoid bearing the cost. Further, buyers may potentially pay less as they may have to pay up when they sell next - as a result the resale right could hurt younger artists more than the older ones. However, a 2008 study of the UK market after the introduction of this resale right revealed no such adverse effects. Dr. Graddy attributed this to the fact that resale royalties were limited to 2% of the sales price or a ceiling of (~500 eur), and in comparison to the auctioneer's commission (15-20%) were not a major cost in the entire transaction.</p>
<p>This proposal was moved by Senegal and Congo (in a previous session), and has been strongly supported by African nations. Most observers were in support as well. Further, resale rights already exist in the European Union and certain other states. USA was vocal about not endorsing a normative instrument on this topic. </p>
<h2>Discussion on Proposal for Analysis of Copyright related to the Digital Environment</h2>
<p>This proposal, tabled by GRULAC (at a previous session) stressed on the importance of transparency in remuneration for performers in the digital environment. Several delegations commented on the wide breadth of the proposal and suggested it be narrowed down. USA made a distinction between copyright policy, and marketplace issues such as remuneration of artists and performers and bargaining power - making it clear that the SCCR should touch upon the former only. A presentation of a study-in-progress followed. The study will examine the national copyright laws relating to digital technology including limitations and exceptions (passed in the last decade or so), and how they govern intermediaries. The final study will be presented in the next session.</p>
<h2>CIS' Participation</h2>
<p>I made statements on agenda item <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/34th-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-discussion-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives">limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives</a>, and <a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/34th-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-proposal-for-analysis-of-copyright-related-to-the-digital-environment">GRULAC proposal for analysis of copyright related to the digital environment. <br /></a></p>
<p>In addition, I participated in a panel discussion on <a class="external-link" href="http://infojustice.org/sccr34"><strong>Fixing Copyright for Education</strong></a> alongside <strong>Chichi Umesi,</strong> First Secretary, Mission Of Nigeria to the United Nations in Geneva; <strong>Sean Flynn</strong>, PIJIP; <strong>Teresa Nobre</strong>, Communia; and <strong>Delia Browne</strong>,
Creative Commons Australia / Director, National Copyright Unit (Schools
and TAFEs) Australia. The panel covered obstacles to educational
uses of works in Europe and the need for opening up related user rights,
the ongoing Australian copyright reform debate and the recent interpretation by Indian courts of the reproduction exception for educational purposes in
the <a class="external-link" href="https://thewire.in/68151/delhi-hc-ruling-photocopying-du/">DU photocopying case</a> (Link to panel discussion material <a class="external-link" href="http://infojustice.org/sccr34">here</a>).</p>
<h2>Observer Statements:</h2>
<ul><li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/34th-sccr-observer-statements-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives">Observer Statements on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives</a></li><li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/34th-sccr-observer-statements-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-educational-and-research-institutions-and-persons-with-other-disabilities">Observer Statements on Limitations and Exceptions for Educational and Research Institutions <br /></a></li><li><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/34th-sccr-observer-statements-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-educational-and-research-institutions-and-persons-with-other-disabilities">Observer Statements on Proposal for Analysis of Copyright related to the Digital Environment</a></li></ul>
<p> </p>
<p><em><strong>A summary by the Chair is available <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_34/sccr_34_ref_summary_by_the_chair.pdf">here</a>. </strong></em></p>
<p> <strong>[1]</strong> Informals are a different kind of negotiation-setting than the plenary and happen privately
between delegates and the chair. Observers are provided with an audio
feed of the discussion but cannot report anything that is said.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/34th-sccr-a-summary-report'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/34th-sccr-a-summary-report</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaCopyrightAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2017-05-30T13:55:22ZBlog Entry33rd SCCR: Opening Statement by India on behalf of the Asia and the Pacific Group
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/33rd-sccr-opening-statement-by-india-on-behalf-of-the-asia-and-the-pacific-group
<b>Dr. Sumit Seth(Economic Affairs) of the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva delivered the Opening Statement on behalf of the Asia and the Pacific Group at 33rd Session of the of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights on 14th November 2016.</b>
<p><strong></strong><strong> </strong></p>
<p><strong>Mr. Chair,</strong><br />
India has the honor to deliver the Opening Statement on behalf of the
Asia and the Pacific Group in this 33rd Session of the Standing
Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. <br />
Asia & the Pacific Group would like to express its confidence in
your experience and your leadership skills. We are confident that your
hard work and diligence will yield desired results and help this
committee reach a mutual understanding on all outstanding issues. Our
group would also like to thank the WIPO Secretariat for the preparation
of this meeting.</p>
<p><strong>Mr. Chair,</strong><br />
The SCCR is an important committee of WIPO dealing with three issues
of critical importance to member states, namely protection of
broadcasting organizations; limitations and exceptions for libraries
and archives; and limitations and exceptions for educational and
research institutions and for persons with other disabilities.<br />
These three issues are of great importance to our group. Going by the
discussions in this committee since its 27th session, it would not be
wrong to say that we are facing difficulty in finding agreement on how
to continue our work on each of the three important agenda items. We
believe, in order to further our work, we have to refer to the 2012
General Assembly guidance to the SCCR on the work plan on the three
issues.</p>
<p><strong>Mr. Chair,</strong><br />
Our group believes that these issues have not received the equal
level of commitment and understanding proportionate to their importance
based on the differential socio-economic development of the Member
States. <br />
In this spirit of multilateralism, Asia and the Pacific Group
reaffirms its commitment to engage constructively in negotiating a
mutually acceptable outcome on all three issues before the committee.
Our group would like to put on record its support for the proposed
program of work.</p>
<p><strong>Mr. Chair,</strong><br />
Determining whether and how intellectual property rights should apply
with respect to broadcasting is a developmental issue that requires
careful balancing. Members of the group would like to see the
finalization of a balanced treaty on the protection of broadcasting
organizations, based on the mandate of the 2007 WIPO General Assembly
to provide protection on the signal based approach for cablecasting and
broadcasting organizations in the traditional sense.</p>
<p><strong>Mr. Chair,</strong><br />
For our Group, exceptions and limitations are of critical importance.
Application of copyright system should be balanced, it should take
into account commercial interests in copyright and right holders, and
equally important, it should also take into account other competing
interests in copyright, including the public interest in scientific,
cultural, social progress and promoting competition. <br />
Exceptions and limitations have an important role to play in the
attainment of the right to education and the access to knowledge,
actualization of which in many developing countries is hampered due to
lack of access to relevant educational and research material.<br />
However, there is no denying the fact that some divergence on how
exceptions and limitations should be approached exists among member
states.<br />
It is unfortunate that absence of adequate will to discuss and
develop the two exceptions and limitations before this committee has
resulted in a stalemate on the work of this committee.<br />
We hope that all member states shall engage constructively in this
session on these two issues based on previous discussions and new
inputs so that we are able to develop a mature text to discuss and work
on</p>
<p><strong>Mr. Chair,</strong><br />
Asia and the Pacific Group has taken note of the proposal submitted
by the GRULAC in the 31st session to discuss the current digital
environment and copyright interface. Members of my group will make
interventions in their national capacity under this agenda item and will
proactively participate in the discussion on this contemporary topic.</p>
<p><strong>Mr. Chair,</strong><br />
This is the same committee which has given us the Beijing and the
Marrakesh Treaties. My group is optimistic that with the noble
intentions and the right will we can pave the path for the development
of appropriate international instruments on all three issues.<br />
We look forward to productive results and tangible progress in this session<br />
I thank you once again Mr. Chair for the opportunity.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/33rd-sccr-opening-statement-by-india-on-behalf-of-the-asia-and-the-pacific-group'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/33rd-sccr-opening-statement-by-india-on-behalf-of-the-asia-and-the-pacific-group</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2016-11-14T11:04:27ZBlog Entry33rd SCCR: CIS Statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/33rd-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-proposed-treaty-for-the-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations
<b>Anubha Sinha, attending the 33rd Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from 14 November, 2016 to 19 November, 2016, made this statement on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations on behalf of CIS on Day 3, 16 November, 2016. </b>
<p> </p>
<p>Thank you, Mr. Chair.</p>
<p>The Centre for Internet and Society is a civil society
organisation from India. We would like to associate ourselves with the statements made by
KEI and Karisma Foundation.</p>
<p>First, Mr. Chair, on SCCR/33/5 <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=40667&la=EN#docs">Note on the Draft Treaty to Protect
Broadcasting Organizations</a> which is a document presented by the
delegations of Argentina, Colombia and Mexico – which was flagged
off as relevant for <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=40667&la=EN#docshttp://">SCCR/33/3</a>. Mr. Chair, this document is
problematic as it in essence, tries to extend the scope of the treaty
to apply to internet-originated content, and thus by extension
internet transmissions. This manifested in the push for protection of
on-demand material and catch-up services as well in the discussions
over the past two days.</p>
<p>Mr. Chair, I’d like to reeiterate that the mandate of the
General Assembly was confined to broadcasting and cablecasting
organizations in the traditional sense; the definition of
broadcasting, protected by the scope of the Treaty, should as such be
limited to the type of transmission exploited by traditional
broadcasters – as stated by the delegation of Iran.</p>
<p>Further, Mr. Chair where as EU, China, Argentina, Colombia and
Mexico continue to speak of technological advancements to justify
expansion of rights under the treaty, there has still been no
discussion on the inadequacy of existing international legal
instruments to address these technological advancements, to justify
the broadcasters’ ask of an additional layer.</p>
<p>Finally, reiterating the Asia-pacific group, the canvassing of
this treaty should be balanced: it should take into account
commercial interests in copyright and right holders, and equally
important, it should also take into account other competing interests
in copyright, including the public interest in scientific, cultural,
social progress and promoting competition.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/33rd-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-proposed-treaty-for-the-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/33rd-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-proposed-treaty-for-the-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2016-11-16T13:37:41ZBlog Entry33rd SCCR: CIS Statement on the GRULAC Proposal for Analysis of Copyright in the Digital Environment
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/33rd-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-grulac-proposal-for-analysis-of-copyright-in-the-digital-environment
<b>Anubha Sinha, attending the 33rd Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“SCCR”) at Geneva from 14 November, 2016 to 19 November, 2016, made this statement on the GRULAC Proposal for Analysis of Copyright in the Digital Environment on behalf of CIS on Day 5, 18 November, 2016. </b>
<p> </p>
<p>Thank you, Mr.
Chair.</p>
<p>The Centre for
Internet and Society is a non-profit organisation in India that
undertakes research on internet and digital technologies from an
academic and policy perspective.</p>
<p>In an environment of
monopolies controlling the distribution of software and digital
services, which connect users and developers, such a comprehensive
study assumes significant importance.</p>
<p>Such a study/or a
parallel study after the scoping exercise must encompass the methods
in which such digital corporations are enforcing their own IP rules
on creators worldwide, and if there are fair systems in place to
address violations, and restoration of works unfairly taken down from
their platforms. It must be noted that there is a serious lack of
transparency as far as the conduct of such corporations go, and often
actions are taken without appropriate justification/explanation. Back
in India, I have met several creators who have suffered as a result
of such unilateral actions. In this, regard it will be useful to know
how creators in developing countries are impacted by rules enforced
by platforms largely situated in developed countries, which can help
us build a framework for the benefit of all, equally.</p>
<p>I welcome the
proposal.</p>
<p>Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.</p>
<p class="discreet"> </p>
<p class="discreet">Access the proposal <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_31/sccr_31_4.pdfhttp://">here</a>.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/33rd-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-grulac-proposal-for-analysis-of-copyright-in-the-digital-environment'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/33rd-sccr-cis-statement-on-the-grulac-proposal-for-analysis-of-copyright-in-the-digital-environment</a>
</p>
No publishersinhaAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2016-11-18T15:28:21ZBlog Entry30 Books of Odia Author and Historian Jagannath Prasad Das to Come Online on Odia Wikisource
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/discover-bhubaneswar-30-books-of-odia-author-and-historian-jagannath-prasad-das-to-come-online-on-odia-wikisource
<b></b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The article was published in <a class="external-link" href="http://mybhubaneswar.com/jagannath-prasad-das-books-odia-wikisource/">Discover Bhubaneswar, a web portal on Odisha</a> on December 4, 2015.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Odia author and cultural historian Jagannath Prasad Das has recently permitted to re-license under a free license Creative Commons Share-Alike 4.0 or <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0">CC-BY-SA 4.0</a> for 30 volumes of his notable works. The author, popularly known as “J P” or “JP Das” has been honored with Saraswati Samman and Sahitya Academy award for his significant contribution in fiction, historical research of Odisha’s cultural heritage in his books Puri Paintings, Chitra-Pothi and Palm-leaf Miniatures apart from his Odia books “Prathama Purusa” and “Bhabanatha O Anyamane”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“I made a rather late and hesitant entry into the internet and digital world, but it has since become an integral part of my life. My introduction to digital books was through Srujanika’s digitised version of Purnachandra Odia Bhashakosha – all of 95,00 pages in seven volumes — which was impossible to handle on the writing table. That made me think how wonderful it would be to have all Odia books available on the internet that could be easily accessible to every interested reader”, says Das.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“As a beginning I decided to put my own writings on the internet. Many of our young Odia writers are are quite active on the social media. I hope they will take the initiative to get more and more Odia books available on the internet with the help of Odia Wikisource”, he adds.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This contribution opens up a whole new window to his books being accessible to readers for free online. Recently the scanning of the original books were made by the Bhubaneswar based non-profit and science education research organization Srujanika which will now be made available after converting them into text form.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Apart from Dr Das, many other notable individuals like Padma shree Debi Prasanna Pattanayak, Dr Subrat Prusty, Manoj Panda, Bharat Majhi and organisations like Aama Odisha, Manik Biswanath Smrutinyasa have taken the noble step of sharing their works online with free licenses using Odia Wikisource as a platform.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Odia Wikisource, a sister project of the <a href="https://or.wikipedia.org/">Odia Wikipedia</a>, is available online at <a href="http://or.wikisource.org/">or.wikisource.org</a>. There are over 238 books already and all of the books are either under Public Domain or under the above mentioned Creative Commons Share-Alike license which gives the freedom of accessing the works for free, reuse them and even correct if any mistakes found, of course following the guidelines made by the Wikisource community. Currently about 10 Wikisourcers are actively contributing to digitize books of various genre, ranging from science to fiction to even the Odia classics.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">With more authors generously opening up their work online, it feels like they are worried of the books becoming obsolete from the new generation leaving them with no way to learn about their own language and literature. Regional languages like Odia are facing the struggle to selling more books with the growing trend of English-centric education and rat race for jobs. In such a tough situation more popular Odia literary content is certainly going to give a boost to readership and will take the language to more people.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/discover-bhubaneswar-30-books-of-odia-author-and-historian-jagannath-prasad-das-to-come-online-on-odia-wikisource'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/discover-bhubaneswar-30-books-of-odia-author-and-historian-jagannath-prasad-das-to-come-online-on-odia-wikisource</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpennessCIS-A2KOdia WikipediaAccess to Knowledge2016-01-03T11:19:12ZBlog Entry29th Session of the WIPO SCCR: Statement on the Limitations and Exceptions for Education, Teaching, Research Institutions and Persons with Disabilities
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-statement-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-education-teaching-research-institutions-and-persons-with-disabilities
<b>At the 29th session of WIPO's SCCR, the Chair, Martin Moscoso, requested NGOs to send in their statements on limitations and exceptions for education, teaching, research institutions and persons with disabilities in writing, to be placed on the record. Nehaa Chaudhari, on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) sent in this written statement.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As we have always maintained in the past sessions of this Committee, the Centre for Internet and Society strongly believes that everyone, regardless of borders and barriers, either physical, or those created by time, distance and costs should have access to knowledge and education.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">To that end, we strongly support the proposal made by India, earlier, on continuing constructive work in this area. We also welcome the suggestion by the Indian delegation on a synthesis of these issues (facilitated by an expert, through the Chair), so that we can have a constructive discussion on these issues.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Mr. Chair, we are very mindful of the fact that there exists a very real, very demonstrable need for limitations and exceptions for education, teaching and research institutions and also for the benefit of persons with disabilities. There is also an equally crucial need to ensure that these limitations and exceptions are open ended and are appropriate for the digital environment; a conversation we believe that is imperative for Member Nations to take forward, definitely more so than one around granting a 'para-copyright' for organizations that already enjoy a great deal of protection under existing treaties, and are far less vulnerable than beneficiaries of these limitations and exceptions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We thank the United States of America for their document- SCCR/27/8 on the Objectives and Principles for Exceptions and Limitations for Educational, Teaching and Research Institutions. We appreciate the recognition of the copyright system in the dissemination of works of authorship as well as the critical role that it plays in the promotion of educational, teaching and research objectives. We also appreciate the acknowledgement of a balance of rights and exceptions and limitations sustaining the role and activities of educational, teaching and research institutions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">However, we do believe that for a true balance to be achieved between rights and limitations and exceptions, the rights of the users of copyrighted works for the purposes of access to knowledge will have to be treated on par with those of the rights holders themselves. We believe that for this to be possible, measures will have to be taken to ensure international interoperability of limitations and exceptions and international standards suitable to address emerging and present issues of the digital environment will have to be developed. As we have submitted before this Committee earlier, it is our belief that the present international legal framework does not sufficiently address the opportunities presented by these information and communication technologies. Mr. Chair, we reiterate the need for open ended exceptions and limitations in this area, that will facilitate a cross border exchange of books and other learning material.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As a first step towards this end, we urge Member States to collaborate on and engage in substantive discussions building on existing Working Documents presently before this Committee. We look forward to an engaging discussion and providing all our complete support as we move forward on this very important agenda item.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thank you, Mister Chair.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-statement-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-education-teaching-research-institutions-and-persons-with-disabilities'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-statement-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-education-teaching-research-institutions-and-persons-with-disabilities</a>
</p>
No publishernehaaLimitations & ExceptionsAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2014-12-20T13:40:19ZBlog Entry29th Session of the WIPO SCCR: CIS- 2nd (brief) Intervention on the Broadcast Treaty
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-second-brief-intervention-on-broadcast-treaty
<b>On Day 3 (December 10, 2014), the SCCR briefly re-convened at the Plenary. The Chair, Martin Moscoso updated the Committee on the discussions and the developments that had taken place over the course of the past two days in the Informals. The Centre for Internet and Society made a brief pointed intervention on one of the documents being discussed in the Informals.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Note: <i>The documents cannot be made public yet. They were shared with Observers and Member States (even those that did not participate in the Informals) on the condition of maintaining confidentiality</i>.</p>
<hr />
<p>Nehaa Chaudhari on behalf of CIS made the following statement:</p>
<p>Thank you, chair.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">First on the making available these documents, we would like to echo what CCIA and KEI said- we would also like to see the informal papers made public, so that we can have a more informed discussion on these issues.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Second, very briefly, on some of the rights to be granted- in one of the Informal Discussion Papers laid out, in -- in the third column, which are essentially fixation and post fixation rights, just very briefly, that whatever is done in any case after the signal is fixed is already covered by copyright law and we find it frightening and we see little sense in providing two sets of incompatible, and overlapping rights- copyright, that is already existing, and a sort of a para-copyright (that this treaty seeks to create) for the same underlying content.</p>
<p>Thank you, Mr. Chair</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-second-brief-intervention-on-broadcast-treaty'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-second-brief-intervention-on-broadcast-treaty</a>
</p>
No publishernehaaIntellectual Property RightsAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2014-12-12T11:56:14ZBlog Entry29th Session of the WIPO SCCR: CIS Intervention on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-intervention-on-proposed-treaty-for-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations
<b>The Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) made its intervention on the proposed treaty in the ongoing WIPO session on December 9, 2014. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Nehaa Chaudhari on behalf of CIS made the following statement:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b>Thank you, Mister Chair.</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This intervention will be based on the chart detailing the ‘Concepts’ corresponding to the Definitions. We believe that certain elements of these concepts are inconsistent with a broadcast treaty based on a signals based approach; and over the course of the next few minutes, I will briefly discuss these.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><i>First,</i></b><b> </b>Mr. Chair in the first column- on broadcasting or cablecasting organizations (in the traditional sense); where communication of the signal has been listed under scope of responsibility. Mr. Chair, ‘communication’ itself is an element of copyright and is distinct from broadcast rights that are related rights. A signal, Mr. Chair, may be broadcast or transmitted. Accordingly, Mr. Chair under the element of Scope of Responsibility, we are of the opinion that it should read Broadcast or Transmission of the signal and not communication of the signal; and the focus should not be at regulating communication to the public.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><i>Second, </i></b>Mr. Chair, in the second column- on broadcasting and cablecasting transmission- we have three observations. First- under the means of transmission, we believe that transmission over computer networks encompasses IP based transmissions, and should be excluded, in order for the treaty to remain consistent with a signals based approach. Second- on the reception of the broadcast or cablecast transmission, we believe that it should be qualified using the phrase ‘general public’. We are of the opinion that there is a danger that a limited public (say family members) could possibly be covered by the term “public”, but would be excluded from “general public”; which in any case is the targeted audience of a broadcast. Third, Mr. Chair, on whether the transmission would be encrypted or not- which also flows into the third column on the Signal- and whether it is encrypted or not; which then also relates to whether broadcasting organizations will have the right to prevent unauthorized decryption. Mr. Chair, we don’t think that there should be a separate right to prevent unauthorized decryption. Given that signal theft is already a crime, having a specific right to prevent unauthorized decryption might result in an absurdity, where it could even cover decrypting an unauthorized retransmission without authorization from the retransmitter.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This provision might result in an absurdity, where it would cover decrypting an unauthroised retransmission without authorization from the retransmitter, where the retransmission in the first instance was illegal to begin with.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "><b><i>Finally</i></b>, Mr. Chair, on the third column and the meaning of signal- we submit that our preferred definition would be where the definition of a signal is confined, and it understood as an electronically generated carrier transmitting a broadcast or cablecast and NOT one which has the capability of such a transmission, as stated in the third column in your Chart on concepts.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thank you, Mr. Chair.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; "> </p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-intervention-on-proposed-treaty-for-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-29-cis-intervention-on-proposed-treaty-for-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations</a>
</p>
No publishernehaaBroadcast TreatyIntellectual Property RightsAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2014-12-12T11:55:51ZBlog Entry29th Session of the WIPO SCCR: CIS Intervention : Questions to Prof. Kenneth Crews on his Updated Study on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-intervention-questions-to-prof-kenneth-crews-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives
<b>Nehaa Chaudhari on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) on December 11 during one of the sessions in WIPO asked two questions to Prof. Kenneth Crews. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In 2008, WIPO commissioned <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=109192">a study on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives</a>.This was prepared by Prof. Kenneth Crews. On December 10-11, 2014, at SCCR 29, Prof. Crews presented <a class="external-link" href="http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=109192">an updated (2014) version of this study</a> and addressed comments and questions from Member States and Observers.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">CIS Statement:<br /><br />Thank you, Madam Chair.<br /><br />Thank you very much, Professor Crews for your presentation yesterday, and for this comprehensive study on Limitations and Exceptions for Libraries and Archives, very timely, and very important to us, from the perspective of access to knowledge and information.<br /><br />I have two questions:</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">My first question: Did you find, in your examination, that, in terms of/ or on the question of limitations and exceptions, did you find, that there was an equal or equitable treatment of digital resources in comparison to resources available in more traditional formats? And if not, where do you think that lever of change lies to ensure that fair dealing provisions are extended equitably to the digital environment as well?<br /><br />My second question, is on the interoperability of Limitations and Exceptions: Given that copyright is a very national thing, and, as your study has also well established, countries have a whole range of very diverse approaches and practices on Limitations and Exceptions; but also given that we live in an increasingly globalized world, we need a system that is interoperable with respect to the trans-boundary movement of works, with as little friction as possible, both- in the physical as well as in the digital environments. So, what did your examination show us of how interoperable- or not- the range of Limitations and Exceptions actually are?<br /><br />Those are my two questions.<br /><br />Thank you very much.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Response by Prof. Kenneth Crews:</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thank you very much. On the second question, I'm afraid I might mind myself only repeating some of the concepts that have already said about transborder and really about in the statutes anyway, a lack of recognition of transborder. And the transborder concept, so I will add this piece to the conversation, the transborder concept seldom if ever appears in these library exceptions to the extent that we are going to find it in copyright law or some other part of a national law it may very well be over in the import/export kind -- area of the law. But that also goes to the interoperability which think we have answered a few times just this sort -- the lack of exact harmonization and as others have reminded me I have said before that I may not be a fan of exact precise harmonization and indeed it may not be possible or even desirable. But some degree of harmonization can help with that interoperability. Interesting question, you do -- you did raise a new point about digital. We have talked several times in this conversation about use of digital technologies in the exercise of the rights of use under the exception. However what I think you were asking about is the ability to apply the exception to works that are digital in the first place that are what we call born digital and that's a very interesting question. The statutes do not address that. Sometimes you will see a statute that refers to -- that says it applies to all these different kinds of works but not computer software. That tells you somebody was thinking it shouldn't apply to software but somehow software is different and there are problems with that. We know that software has changed and been incorporated in to many different works. But we generally see a statute almost always see a statute that's about books or archival materials or some other kind of work without specifying the technology. So can it apply to an e-book in addition to the paper book? The statutes don't go there. They don't sort that out. So in my common law tradition I look at that and see that as a question for interpretation. In a civil code system I might look at it and see it a little bit more firmly for lack of a better word about what the scope of that word book, for example, really means.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Really good question. And it is one that the statutes have not picked up on.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thank you very much.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-intervention-questions-to-prof-kenneth-crews-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/cis-intervention-questions-to-prof-kenneth-crews-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives</a>
</p>
No publishernehaaIntellectual Property RightsAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2014-12-14T02:56:46ZBlog Entry28th Session of the WIPO SCCR: Report on the Proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-28-proposed-treaty-for-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations
<b>The 28th Session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (“the Committee” / "SCCR") took place in Geneva from June 30, 2014 to July 04, 2014. In this article, Nehaa Chaudhari, who attended this meeting on behalf of CIS, discusses the developments that took place with reference to the proposed Treaty for the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations (“Broadcast Treaty”).</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">At its 28<sup>th</sup> Session, the WIPO SCCR devoted two and a half days to a discussion on the Broadcast Treaty. For the majority of this period informal discussions <b>(“Informals”</b>) were held between member states and there was no plenary. While Non- Government Organizations ( <b>“NGOs”</b>) and those member states who were not participating in the Informals were able to listen to the discussions taking place, we were requested to not report about them in any form whatsoever. Consequently, this article does not mention, cite or discuss the conversations in the Informals in any manner whatsoever, and is confined to deliberations at the plenary sessions.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Preliminary</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Proceedings on Day 1 (June 30, 2014) began with a speech by the Director General of WIPO, Francis Gurry. Commending the “exceptional progress” made by the Committee over the past few years, Mr. Gurry cited the <a href="http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/marrakesh/">Marrakesh</a> and <a href="http://www.wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/beijing/">Beijing</a> Treaties as success stories. In talking about the Broadcast Treaty, Mr. Gurry said that the then ongoing FIFA World Cup, 2014 was “the perfect example” for member states on the economic and social importance of broadcasting. He went on to add that the Broadcast Treaty was the last component of the international legal framework which had not been “updated for the digital environment”. Identifying the challenge as developing a shared understanding of what and how to protect, Mr. Gurry was of the opinion that the Committee would make progress on the development of an instrument that was narrow in scope to combat cross border digital piracy.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In his statement following that of the Director General, the Chairperson, Edgar Martin Moscoso Villacorta (<b>“the Chair”</b>) explained that he had held consultations with the regional coordinators and three other nations from each group on June 27, 2014 to figure out how best to proceed at the upcoming 28<sup>th</sup> Session of the Committee; before opening the floor to Regional Coordinators for their Opening Statements.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Group Opening Statements by Regional Coordinators : Reflections of a North-South Divide</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Opening statements by Regional Coordinators on behalf of their groups reflected sentiments similar to those witnessed at the 26<sup>th</sup> and 27 <sup>th</sup> Sessions of this Committee<a href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">[1]</a>. While there was broad consensus on having a well-balanced work plan that addressed the different issues of broadcasting, limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives as well as limitations and exceptions for education, teaching, research and persons with disabilities, statements also reflected the disagreements between various groups on the maturity (or the lack thereof) of the various items on the agenda, largely along the fault-lines of the classic <i>Global North</i> v. the <i>Global South.</i> For instance, statements by the European Union (<b>“the EU”</b>) and Group B, the group of developed countries emphasised the convening of a diplomatic conference for the Broadcast Treaty, but on the other hand, statements by the groups of developing countries highlighted the importance of limitations and exceptions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Regional Coordinator (presently, Paraguay) for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (<b>“GRULAC”</b>) placed emphasis on a “well balanced work plan which envisages the different issues” but also stated that for their group, “the issue of limitations and exceptions for libraries and archives and educational and research institutions (is) of the utmost importance.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The representative of Bangladesh, in his capacity as the Regional Coordinator of the Asia-Pacific Group said that their group considered all issues to be equally important, notwithstanding the fact that they might enjoy different levels of discussion at the SCCR; and on the issue of protection of broadcasting organizations said that the group was “willing to work constructively” and hoped to continue “meaningful technical discussions in finalization of the scope of the protection of broadcasting organizations and to advance further to a balanced international instrument of rights and responsibility for the broadcasting organizations.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The statement of the Central European and Baltic States (“CEBS”) Group, presently represented by the Czech Republic categorically stated that the CEBS Group was “striving for the successful conclusion of the work regarding the protection of broadcasting organizations with the aim to recommend to the General Assemblies to convene the Diplomatic Conference to take place, as soon as possible, preferably in 2015.” (sic)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Japan, speaking on behalf of Group B, in their statement recognised the “tradition…to allocate more time to discussion on more mature subject matters”, referring to the Broadcast Treaty and, like the CEBS Group, also touched upon the issue of convening a Diplomatic Conference as soon as possible.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The European Union (<b>“the EU”</b>) has perhaps been one of the most vocal proponents of the Broadcast Treaty at past sessions of the Committee, and carried forward this tradition into the 28<sup>th</sup> session as well, labelling negotiations on the Broadcast Treaty “a high priority” for Member States. The EU also echoed the statements made by the CEBS Group as well as Group B on the need to call for a diplomatic conference “as soon as possible.” In order to achieve this, said the EU, there was a need to build a “broad consensus” on the problems that needed to be addressed as well as on the extent of protection envisaged.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Technical Assistance from Broadcasters</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The United States of America placed an emphasis on a treaty that would address challenges posed by new technologies, indicated in their request to the Secretariat to inform the member states about different sizes and types of broadcasters using new technologies by conducting a survey, recognising that a lot had changed over the course of the past 12 years, when a report on this issue was last prepared; a proposal which was supported by the delegation of India as well.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Following these comments by the United States of America (but in an unrelated move), the Chair suggested technical assistance be sought from broadcasters. Surprisingly, he identified three NGOs (in this case associations of broadcasters), namely Asian Broadcasters Union, International Association of Broadcasters and National Association of Broadcasters, who could provide technical assistance if required.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This stance was supported strongly by the delegations of Egypt and the Russian Federation. While it also found support from the Japanese delegation, it also pointed out that a mere presentation might bring about some confusion, and instead thought that it might be a better idea to update the studies commissioned by WIPO in 2002.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Resistance to this proposition was offered by the delegation of Venezuela who questioned the “expertize of these experts to speak to the Member States about such a complicated issue” and “the selection criteria” among others. Exclaiming in surprise at the manner on which this proposal had been accepted, the delegate sough further clarifications on the issue, demanding to know “who these very important people are who are going to come in and help us solve a problem in which we have not been able to solve in 10 years.” (sic.) The concern on the absence of transparency was also echoed by the delegate of Uruguay, who expressed his great “astonishment” at “three technical experts” at the session, saying that it was “most inappropriate” to be informed about the presence of technical experts after regional coordinators had earlier expressed their refusal to have such an exercise. In response, the Chair said that this was a decision that he had taken in response to a request for technical consultations made at the earlier session of the Committee. He went on to add that the Committee could do without the technical assistance if perceived to be unnecessary and the process not transparent.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Scope of Protection: Article 6</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Scope of Protection under the Broadcast Treaty is laid out under Article 6 of Working<a href="http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_28/sccr_28_ref_sccr_27_2_rev.pdf">Document 27/2/Rev.</a> (<b>“Working Document”</b>). <b> </b>This document lays out the text which forms the basis of the negotiations at the SCCR.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Confining the Broadcast Treaty to a <i>signal based approach</i> versus broadening the scope of the treaty to a more technologically neutral <i>rights based approach</i> was the chief point of conflict between the developed and the developing nations, reflect in their statements discussed below.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Opening the proceedings, the United States of America (<b>“the US”/ “USA”</b>) placed complete support on the statement of Group B; but also added that the way forward “to finding consensus” was to “focus on a narrow treaty based on the core need of broadcasters for protection from signal piracy.” The US proceeded to outline its proposal of “a single right to authorise the simultaneous or near simultaneous transmission of signal to the public over any medium.” Highlighting the key advantages to this proposal the US said that its proposal was “modern”, recognizing the importance of “new technologies that are used for engaging in signal piracy and avoids a number of negatives as to which concerns have been expressed in the discussions”. However, the US was also quick to clarify that the “right would be limited to protection for the signal and not to the content contained in fixations of the broadcast” and would also “avoid interference with the rights of the right holders in the content that was broadcast” as well as “avoid any impact on consumers who were engaged in private activities such as home copying”.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">India reiterated its serious concerns regarding webcasting, simulcasting and retransmission over computer networks. Japan, on the other hand, while most other nations chose to reserve their comments for discussions in the Informals alone.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On the third day of this meeting, the Chair presented the progress that had been made over the course of the discussions taking place in the Informals. He said that webcasting had been removed from the scope of application. The concern, said the Chair, was that webcasting was also carried out by other actors- not just broadcasting organizations, and that having different rules for different actors carrying out the same activity would not be “a good message” (sic.)</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Rights of Broadcasters: Article 9</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Rights of Broadcasters under the Broadcast Treaty are laid out under Article 9 of the <a href="http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_28/sccr_28_ref_sccr_27_2_rev.pdf">Working Document</a>.<b> </b>The US said that it “remained convinced” that a narrow scope of rights would make it possible for the SCCR to recommend convening a diplomatic conference. The Russian Federation on the other spoke of the need to take into account the “appearance of new technologies which provide new possibilities, particularly the use, and the unauthorized use of the signal.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">As in the case of the Scope of Application, in the case of Rights of Broadcasters as well, the Chair updated the plenary on the discussions in the Informals. The discussions were informed by two informal documents listing out the rights as well as the scope. While discussing the rights, said the Chair, it was decided to merge simultaneous and near simultaneous retransmission since they were closely related. The rights sought to be granted to the broadcasters include those of fixation, reproduction of fixations, distribution of fixations and performance of the broadcast among others.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In response to the Chair’s invitation for suggestions, the delegate of Sri Lanka suggested that one of the sentences be rephrased as follows: “Transmission or retransmission of the broadcast signal to the public over any medium whether simultaneous, near simultaneous or deferred including on demand transmission on a broadcast signal.” She also added fixation rights should be granted only to that extent of a file being copied for the purpose of transmission, before it has been transmitted. A few other delegations either echoed similar sentiments, or chose to remain silent until the Informals.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Comments by NGOs</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On the third (and the final for the Broadcast Treaty), day of discussions, the Chair opened the floor to interventions, observations and comments by NGOs.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">AIR, representing broadcasting organizations spoke of the “great need” to update the Rome Convention because of the prevalence of piracy, especially transmissions over the internet. The National Association of Broadcasters cited instances of television piracy as examples of the harm to broadcasters and need for such a treaty. The Japanese Commercial Broadcasters Association expressed its support for post fixation rights and said that they were important to broadcasters, “especially the right of making available a fixed broadcast is crucial in order to fight online piracy which we said a number of times before…” (sic.). Also recognising the need to be flexible, the Japanese Commercial Broadcasters expressed their support to the proposal made by the Japanese delegation in making some rights optional.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A different set of concerns was articulated by other NGOs, who were not associations of broadcasters. Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue ( <b>“TACD”</b>) spoke of the possible “collateral damange to public access and culture” and the addition of “new layers of complications barriers and costs added” to access to information and knowledge by consumers. Further, highlighting the irony of the SCCR with the strong push towards a binding Broadcast Treaty “with a wide scope”, the Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue said that this was in “stark contrast on the part of some other Member States to discussing new global norms” to facilitating the role played by libraries and archives. Additionally, TACD also said that there was the danger of “opening up an endless and incomprehensive Pandora box of overlapping rights on content between non creators of broadcasts and the real creators” (sic.), and also expressed grave concern over the negative impact of post fixation rights on the use of news, culture and information by consumers ad users. “In consideration of a new international norm for broadcasters, we must not forget the common food for the free flow of information for citizens,” said TACD. It also said that the focus of the work should not be to satisfy the interests of one special group while ignoring the possible negative unintentional consequences on “normal users”, and asked for a social impact assessment of the Broadcast Treaty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Knowledge Ecology International (<b>“KEI”</b>) in their statement stated that the broadcasters had failed to meet their burden of proving the need for “exclusive rights to fight piracy.” In order for the Committee to make progress, KEI suggested that the focus be on a “narrow treaty based on a single right corresponding to the key need of broadcasting organizations for protection from signal piracy.” KEI also questioned and opposed the extension of broadcasters’ rights to cable television and other services which were not only subscription based, but were also protected under theft of service laws. Further confining the scope of the Broadcast Treaty, KEI suggested that the treaty only deal with over the air broadcasts which were free to the public.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">A powerful statement by CCIA referred to fixed signals as “fiction” and said that the existing model in the Brussels Satellite Convention was adequate to protect piracy of signals. Echoing the sentiments of various other organisations as well (including CIS as discussed below), CCIA stated that while broadcasters had stated that the present approach was not adequate to protect their interests, no reasons had been offered fir the same. In agreement with other nations as well as TACD before it, CCIA also sought information from WIPO on the “real world impact of the obligations” it intended to create.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Also joining the call for impact assessment was the Third World Network (<b>“TWN”</b>). TWN also spoke of restricting the scope of the Broadcast Treaty to the mandate accorded to the SCCR in line with the 2007 General Assembly decision, the need to base discussing on WIPO’s Development Agenda, and the “negative implications on the free flow of information over the Internet and the negative impact on the public domain and access to knowledge.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The Centre for Internet and Society (<b>“CIS”</b>), in agreement with CCIA pointed out that the broadcasters had not discharged their burden of justifying the need for the Broadcast Treaty and why “international instruments including, among others, the TRIPS and the Rome Convention” were insufficient to address the concerns of broadcasters. Joining other organizations including CCIA, TACD and TWN in a call for a further study, CIS requested an impact assessment of the Broadcast Treaty on all stakeholders. Further, CIS pointed out that if the rationale for seeking this protection was the protection of the underlying investment, IP based transmissions should be out of the scope of this treaty, since the investments involved in IP based transmissions and those in broadcasting in a traditional sense were very different. CIS also strongly opposed the inclusion of fixation and post fixation rights since they were inconsistent with a <i>signals based approach</i> and pointed out the irony in protecting a signal for twenty years, when the signal itself lasted milliseconds.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">IFTA, the Independent Film and Television Alliance placed emphasis on the separation of the content and well as the broadcast signal as well maintaining a balance by also safeguarding public interest.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Chair’s Conclusions</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">After five days of deliberations, the 28<sup>th</sup> Session of the SCCR, just like the 27<sup>th</sup> Session, ended with no conclusions being adopted by the Committee, as a result of which the <a href="http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/sccr_28/sccr_28_ref_conclusions.pdf">Chair’s Conclusions</a> were prepared by the Chair, Martin Moscoso.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Clarifying that this item would be maintained on the agenda for the 29<sup>th</sup> Session of the SCCR and that there had been no agreement on recommendations to the WIPO General Assembly, the Chair’s Conclusions state that the Committee conducted discussions on issues relating to “categories of platforms and activities to be included under the object and scope of protection to be granted to broadcasting organizations in the traditional sense, and initiated discussions on definitions.” The Chair’s Conclusions also clarify that “the Secretariat was requested by some Members to provide an update of the 2010 study on “Current Market and Technology Trends in the Broadcasting Sector” (Document SCCR 19/12), focusing on the use of digital technology by cablecasting and broadcasting organizations in the traditional sense whether public or commercial, including in developing countries, with the aim of presenting the results of the study and providing opportunities for technical discussion at the 29th session of the SCCR.”</p>
<div style="text-align: justify; ">
<hr align="left" size="1" width="100%" />
<div id="ftn1">
<p><a href="#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1">[1]</a> <i>See</i> http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/wipo-sccr-consolidated-26-session-consolidated-notes-part-1 (last accessed 17 July, 2014), http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/wipo-sccr-26-session-consolidated-notes-part-2 (last accessed 17 July, 2014) and http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/wipo-sccr-26-session-consolidated-notes-part-3 (last accessed 17 July, 2014) for CIS’ report on the 26<sup>th</sup> Session of the Committee.</p>
<p><i>See</i> http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/wipo-sccr-27-discussions-transcripts (last accessed 17 July, 2014) for transcripts of the discussions at the 27 <sup>th</sup> Session of the Committee.</p>
<p><i>See</i> http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-limitations-and-exceptions-education-training-research-institutions-persons-with-other-disabilities (last accessed 17 July, 2014) and http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-treaty-for-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives (last accessed 17 July, 2014) for CIS’ Statements at the 26<sup>th</sup> Session of the Committee.</p>
<p><i>See</i> http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-27-sccr-on-wipo-proposed-treaty-for-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations (last accessed 17 July, 2014), http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-orphan-works-retracted-withdrawn-works-and-works-out-of-commerce-at-27-sccr-on-limitations-and-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives (last accessed 17 July, 2014) and http://cis-india.org/a2k/blog/cis-statement-on-technological-measures-of-protection-27-sccr-on-limitations-exceptions-for-libraries-and-archives (last accessed 17 July, 2014) for CIS’ Statements at the 27<sup>th</sup> Session of the Committee.</p>
</div>
</div>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-28-proposed-treaty-for-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/wipo-sccr-28-proposed-treaty-for-protection-of-broadcasting-organizations</a>
</p>
No publishernehaaAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2014-08-07T10:44:05ZBlog Entry25th Session of the WIPO SCP: Statement on Future work
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/25th-session-of-the-wipo-scp-statement-on-future-work
<b>Rohini Lakshané, attending the 25th session of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) held in Geneva from December 12, 2016 to December 15, 2016, made this statement on Agenda Item #12, "Future Work".</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thank you, madam Chair.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">On behalf of my organisation, the Centre for Internet and Society, India, I urge future SCPs to include the topics of standards as well as patents in the hardware and software domains. In many developed countries, the mobile phone is the only means of access to the Internet, and in turn, of access to knowledge and information. In a study published this year by CIS, we found that all mobile phone patents in India are owned by non-Indian entities. Like in the case of pharmaceuticals, we believe that a rise in prices should not drive affordable hardware out of the reach of the people. To that effect, I would like to reiterate that the SCP consider including this topic in future meetings.<br /><br />Thank you, madam Chair.</p>
<hr />
<p><a class="external-link" href="http://cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/25-wipo-sccr-agenda.pdf">See the agenda</a></p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/25th-session-of-the-wipo-scp-statement-on-future-work'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/25th-session-of-the-wipo-scp-statement-on-future-work</a>
</p>
No publisherrohiniAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2016-12-16T23:01:40ZBlog Entry25th Session of the WIPO SCP: Statement on Assessment of Inventive Step
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/twenty-fifth-session-of-wipo-scp-statement-on-assessment-of-inventive-step
<b>Statement emailed by Rohini Lakshané on behalf of the Centre for Internet and Society to the Secretariat for the WIPO Standing Committee for the Law of Patents, Twenty Fifth Session, with reference to agenda item 7, "Sharing session on examples and cases relating to assessment of inventive step including, but not limited to, the topics suggested in document SCP/24/3, paragraph 8.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Based on submissions by various stakeholders, the Indian Patent Office released a new set of guidelines for patent examiners to examine Computer Related Inventions or CRIs, in February 2016. The guidelines, inter alia, introduced a new three-step test, which The Centre for Internet and Society, India, had proposed to the IPO in its submissions. The test determines the applicability of section 3(k) of the Indian Patents Act, which excludes as inventions "a mathematical or business method or a computer program per se or algorithms".</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The three-step test places a restriction on the patenting of software. An invention which merely uses or implements a computer programme is not granted patent on the basis of the inventiveness of the computer programme per se. Only if the contribution of the claim lies in both the computer programme as well as hardware, it would be considered for other steps of patentability. All in all, the new guidelines are in compliance with the legislative requirement for patentability of software.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Innovation in electronic hardware as well as in software is cumulative and often involves building upon previous inventions. Various small and medium enterprises in their submissions had requested a strict standard for patentability of software inventions. We hope that the implementation of these guidelines would enable start-ups and small and medium enterprises to innovate without the fear of patent infringement litigation.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Thank you, Madam Chair.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/twenty-fifth-session-of-wipo-scp-statement-on-assessment-of-inventive-step'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/blogs/twenty-fifth-session-of-wipo-scp-statement-on-assessment-of-inventive-step</a>
</p>
No publisherrohiniAccess to KnowledgeWIPO2016-12-16T22:27:03ZBlog Entry19th RCEP Meeting
http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/19th-rcep-meeting
<b>Anubha Sinha participated in the 19th RCEP Meeting organized by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India in Hyderabad between July 17 to July 28, 2017. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">The 19th round of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) meetings and other related meetings were held from 17 to 28 July 2017 in Hyderabad, India. RCEP is a proposed comprehensive regional economic integration agreement amongst the 10-ASEAN countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and its six Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) partners, viz. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Korea and India.<br /><br />During the 19th round, parallel meetings were held by the three main Working Groups on Trade in Goods, Trade in Services and Investment, including their respective Sub-Working Groups. Working Groups in other areas like Intellectual Property, electronic commerce, Legal and Institutional Issues etc. also had their meetings.<br /><br />The Meeting was inaugurated by Ms. Rita Teaotia, Secretary, Department of Commerce, Government of India on 24 July 2017. The Secretary mentioned that it is important that RCEP offers a positive and forward looking alternative in the face of growing protectionism across the world. The Secretary further highlighted that while RCEP is a beacon of hope for free trade, its real success will be measured by its ability to bring prosperity, economic growth, decent living standards, creation of jobs and greater business opportunities for the people of the region, in an equitable manner. The Secretary reiterated the importance of being guided by the Guiding Principles and Objectives for Negotiating the <br />RCEP, for direction and assessing whether we are pursuing the balanced and commercially meaningful ambition it envisages. She mentioned that keeping this larger picture in view, India is constructively engaged in RCEP and hopes that the 19th RCEP Round in Hyderabad would find innovative ways to provide impetus to the negotiations.<br /><br />During the 19th round, a set of key elements for significant outcomes, envisaged to be achieved by the end of 2017, were agreed. The Meeting also highlighted the need to have balanced discussions to progress negotiation across all areas, and to continue to deliver outcomes.<br /><br />During the meeting, all RCEP Participating Countries (RPCs) agreed that a good RCEP agreement has immense potential to deliver on new economic opportunities including job creation that are much needed in today’s world of uncertainty. The Meeting expressed shared commitment to work collectively and in a cooperative manner, to progress the negotiations in an accelerated way, and achieve a modern, comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficial agreement that addresses and balances the aspirations and sensitivities of participating countries.<br /><br />On the sidelines of RCEP, two Stakeholder events – with Business Stakeholders and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), were held to obtain feedback on the expectations and sensitivities of stakeholders from participating Countries. The CSO engagement was held with participation from over 28 international, regional and local CSOs. The RCEP Business Stakeholders’ Consultations were jointly organized by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the East Asia Business Council (EABC).</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/19th-rcep-meeting'>http://editors.cis-india.org/a2k/news/19th-rcep-meeting</a>
</p>
No publisherAdminAccess to Knowledge2017-08-23T00:57:08ZNews Item14 Odia books re-released under Creative Commons license
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/dna-rohini-lakshane-april-26-2014-14-books-re-released-under-creative-commons-license
<b>This blog entry by Subhashish Panigrahi (originally published in Wikimedia Foundation's Blog) was edited and re-published by Rohini Lakshane in DNA on April 26, 2014.</b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Read the article <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dnaindia.com/blogs/post-14-odia-books-re-released-under-creative-commons-license-1982395">published in DNA on April 26, 2014</a>.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odisha">Odisha</a> became a separate state in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidencies_and_provinces_of_British_India">British India</a> on April 1, 1936. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriya_language">Odia</a>, a 2,500 year old language recently gained the status of an Indian classical language. The Odia Wikimedia community celebrated these two occasions on March 29 in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhubaneswar">Bhubaneswar</a> with a gathering of 70 people. Linguists, scholars and journalists discussed the state of the Odia language in the digital era, initiatives for its development and steps that can be taken to increase accessibility to books and other educational resources. 14 copyrighted books have been re-licensed under the Creative Commons license and the digitization project on <a href="https://wikisource.org/wiki/Main_Page/%E0%AC%93%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86">Odia WikiSource</a> was formally initiated by an indigenous educational institute, the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS). Professor Udayanath Sahu from Utkal University, The Odisha Review’s editor Dr. Lenin Mohanty, Odisha Bhaskar’s editor Pradosh Pattnaik, Odia language researcher Subrat Prusty, Dr. Madan Mohan Sahu, Allhadmohini Mohanty, Chairman Manik-Biswanath Smrutinyasa and trust’s secretary Brajamohan Patnaik along with senior members Sarojkanta Choudhury and Shisira Ranjan Dash spoke at the event.</p>
<table class="invisible">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">
<p>Eleven books from Odia writer Dr. Jagannath Mohanty were re-released under Creative Commons Share-Alike (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license by the “Manik-Biswanath Smrutinyasa” trust, a trust founded by Dr. Mohanty for the development of the Odia language. Allhadmohini Mohanty formally gave written permission to Odia Wikimedia to release and digitize these books.</p>
<p>The community will be training students and a group of six faculty members at KISS who will coordinate the digitization of these books.</p>
</td>
<th>
<p><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/O.png" title="Odia Wikipedia Workshop" height="238" width="358" alt="Odia Wikipedia Workshop" class="image-inline" /></p>
<p>Group photo of Odia wikimedians participating in the advanced Wikimedia workshop at KIIT University.</p>
</th>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">“Collaborative efforts and open access to knowledge repositories will enrich our language and culture,” said linguist Padmashree Dr. Debiprasanna Pattanayak as he inagurated the event. Dr. Pattanayak and Odia language researcher Subrat Prusty from the Institute of Odia Studies and Research also re-licensed three books (Two Odia books; “Bhasa O Jatiyata“, “Jati, Jagruti O Pragati” and an English book “Classical Odia”) based on their research on Odia language and cultural influence of the language on other societies under the same license. KISS is going to digitize some of these books and make them available on Odia Wikisource.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">An OpenType Odia Unicode font, “<a href="http://www.odialanguage.com/Odia_fonts.html">Odia OT Jagannatha</a>” designed by Sujata Patel from <a href="http://odialanguage.com">Odialanguage.com</a> was released under the OFL license. This is the first Odia OpenType font that the community actively tested. A new Odia offline input tool called <a href="https://github.com/majnun1337/jquery.ime-Offline-input">“TypeOdia”</a> by Wikipedian <a href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:TWO%5E0">Manoj Sahukar</a> was also released for public distribution. DVDs containing the font, the input tool, Odia language dictionaries, offline Odia Wikipedia in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwix">Kiwix</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odia_Wikipedia_learning_guide.pdf">Wikipedia editing guide</a>, ISCII to Unicode font converter, various free and open source software packages and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28operating_system%29">Ubuntu operating system</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Active Odia Wikipedian and Admin <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:MKar" title="User:MKar">Mrutyunjaya Kar</a> gave the inaugural speech. <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Psubhashish" title="User:Psubhashish">Subhashish Panigrahi</a> from the <a href="http://editors.cis-india.org/">Center for Internet and Society</a> read the annual report and vision of Odia Wikipedia. Chief guest Dr. Debiprasanna Pattanayak discussed about the efforts put forth that brought the Odia language as the sixth Indian classical language. A large majority of Odia publications are not available on the internet and readers are devoid of easy accessibility. He further discussed the process of digitization for preserving valuable books that are out of print and the old palm leaf manuscripts. Professor Udayanath Sahu presented on the process, progress and implementation of machine translation project in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utkal_University">Utkal University.</a></p>
<div><section class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-xs-12 col-md-8"><article class="contentwrap">
<div class="content-story">
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Experienced Wikimedians conducted an advanced Wikipedia workshop on the second day of event at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. It was attended by a majority of the existing Wikimedians from the community including new Wikipedians who signed up for the Odia Wikipedia Education Program at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal. Mrutyunjaya Kar <a href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86:%E0%AC%93%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B6%E0%AC%BE_%E0%AC%A6%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%B8_%E0%AD%A8%E0%AD%A6%E0%AD%A7%E0%AD%AA/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%B8%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%A5%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%A8%E0%AC%BE/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86_%E0%AC%93_%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%9F%E0%AC%BE">presented on WikiData</a> and various tools for linking and accessing information in multiple languages on various Wikimedia projects.</p>
</div>
</article></div>
</div>
</section></div>
<table class="invisible">
<tbody>
<tr>
<th><img src="http://editors.cis-india.org/home-images/AdvancedWikipedia.png" alt="Advanced Wikipedia" class="image-inline" title="Advanced Wikipedia" /></th>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">Experienced Wikimedians conducted an advanced Wikipedia workshop on the second day of event at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar. It was attended by a majority of the existing Wikimedians from the community including new Wikipedians who signed up for the Odia Wikipedia Education Program at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal. Mrutyunjaya Kar <a href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86:%E0%AC%93%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B6%E0%AC%BE_%E0%AC%A6%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%B8_%E0%AD%A8%E0%AD%A6%E0%AD%A7%E0%AD%AA/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%B8%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%A5%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%A8%E0%AC%BE/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86_%E0%AC%93_%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%9F%E0%AC%BE">presented on WikiData</a> and various tools for linking and accessing information in multiple languages on various Wikimedia projects.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Ansuman Giri discussed advanced technical aspects such as the use of various gadgets, proper categorization, how to use subpages, how to auto-list archive pages, customizing <a href="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:WikiLove">WikiLove feature</a>, user rights modification, including how important it is to cite <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:BLP">biographies of living persons</a> with secondary sources, etc. Shitikantha Dash <a href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86:%E0%AC%93%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%B6%E0%AC%BE_%E0%AC%A6%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%B8_%E0%AD%A8%E0%AD%A6%E0%AD%A7%E0%AD%AA/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%B8%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%A5%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%A8%E0%AC%BE/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86%E0%AC%B0%E0%AD%87_%E0%AC%AB%E0%AC%9F%E0%AD%8B%E0%AC%9F%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%8F_%E0%AC%85%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%B2%E0%AD%8B%E0%AC%A1_%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%B0%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AC%E0%AD%87_%3F">discussed copyright and issues regarding uploading images and other media files on Wikimedia Commons</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Dr. Subas Chandra Rout presented on “notability, referencing and creating citations for the notable topics.” Subhashish Panigrahi discussed the <a href="https://or.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AC%89%E0%AC%87%E0%AC%95%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%AA%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%A1%E0%AC%BC%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%86:%E0%AC%AC%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%B0%E0%AD%8D%E0%AC%B7%E0%AC%BF%E0%AC%95_%E0%AC%AF%E0%AD%8B%E0%AC%9C%E0%AC%A8%E0%AC%BE_%28%E0%AC%9C%E0%AD%81%E0%AC%B2%E0%AC%BE%E0%AC%87_%E0%AD%A8%E0%AD%A6%E0%AD%A7%E0%AD%AA_-_%E0%AC%9C%E0%AD%81%E0%AC%A8_%E0%AD%A8%E0%AD%A6%E0%AD%A7%E0%AD%AB%29">work plan for the year</a>, failure of program projects, collective learning and the dos and don’ts of community building.</p>
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr style="text-align: left; ">
<td>“</td>
<td style="text-align: justify; ">We hope that more authors will come forward and re-release their books under CC-BY-SA license. The Odia community is excited to see or.wikisource.org go live. A few Wikipedians are even interested in typing their favorite free licensed books to make them available on Wikisource. I believe it’ll be challenging to train the KISS students to type and proof-read the written texts. In the CISA2K’s <a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/India_Access_To_Knowledge/Draft_Work_plan_July_2014_-_June_2015/Odia_Wikisource_as_OER" title="India Access To Knowledge/Draft Work plan July 2014 - June 2015/Odia Wikisource as OER">draft plan</a>, the goal to have the number of editors seems overestimated. The students need to have some knowledge about Wikimedia and how it works in general before they start working. We hope that the books will be digitized properly and in coming days more users will join us in the process as we will have more free books in Odia Wikisource. I appeal to the Odia people to be a part of the Odia Wikimedia community and make Odia Wikisource a successful project, we need all the time you can devote. :-)</td>
<td style="text-align: right; ">”</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="rquotecite" colspan="3">
<p style="text-align: right; "><a href="https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ansumang" title="User:Ansumang">Ansuman Giri</a>, Odia Wikipedian</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<div id="_mcePaste"></div>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; "><span class="post-meta-key">Copyright notes:</span> <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_group_photo_of_Odia_wikipedians_at_kiit_conference_hall_on_30th_march_2014.jpg">"A group photo of Odia wikipedians at kiit conference hall on 30th march 2014.jpg"</a>, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Odia_wikipedian_mrutyunjaya_kar_and_ansuman_giri_on_30the_march_2014.jpg">"Odia wikipedian mrutyunjaya kar and ansuman giri on 30the march 2014.jpg"</a> by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Jnanaranjan_sahu"> Jnanaranjan Sahu </a>, under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode">CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported</a>, from Wikimedia Commons, <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Release_of_DVD_containing_Odia_font,_open_source_tools_and_Offline_Odia_Wikipedia.jpg">"Release of DVD containing Odia font, open source tools and Offline Odia Wikipedia.jpg"</a> by <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Ahemadullahsk"> Ahemadullah Shaikh </a>, under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode">CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported</a>, from Wikimedia Commons.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/dna-rohini-lakshane-april-26-2014-14-books-re-released-under-creative-commons-license'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/dna-rohini-lakshane-april-26-2014-14-books-re-released-under-creative-commons-license</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2014-05-06T06:26:29ZBlog Entry11th Century Kannada Literature Now on Wikisource
http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/dna-march-30-2014-rohini-lakshane-11th-century-kannada-literature-now-on-wikisource
<b>This blog post by Pavithra Hanchagaiah and Omshivaprakash HI was edited by Rohini Lakshane for DNA. It was first edited by Subhashish Panigrahi, CIS-A2K on the Wikimedia Foundation blog where it was first published. </b>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Click to read the post republished on <a class="external-link" href="http://www.dnaindia.com/blogs/post-11th-century-kannada-literature-now-on-wikisource-1973558">DNA</a> on March 30, 2014. The original posted on <a class="external-link" href="https://blog.wikimedia.org/2014/03/12/11th-century-kannada-literature-to-enrich-wikisource/">Wikimedia Blog</a> can be seen here.</p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: justify; ">In Kannada poetry, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vachana_sahitya" title="en:Vachana sahitya">Vachana Sahitya</a> is a form of rhythmic writing that evolved in the eleventh century and flourished in the twelevth, as a part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingayatism" title="en:Lingayatism">“Lingayatha” movement</a>. More than 259 Vachanakaras (Vachana writers) have compiled over 11,000 vachanas. 21,000 of these verses, which were published in the 15-volume “<a href="http://www.vachanasahitya.gov.in">Samagra Vachana Samputa</a>” by the government of Karnataka have been digitised. Two Wikimedians, along with a Kannada linguist and author O. L. Nagabhushana Swamy, are involved in the Unicode conversions, corrections and writing preface for these verses. The entire work is now available as a standalone project called <a href="http://vachana.sanchaya.net/">“Vachana Sanchaya”</a> and ready to enrich <a href="https://kn.wikisource.org/wiki/%E0%B2%AE%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%96%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF_%E0%B2%AA%E0%B3%81%E0%B2%9F">Kannada Wikisource</a>.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">This project was started a year ago when Kannada Wikimedian <a href="https://kn.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B2%B8%E0%B2%A6%E0%B2%B8%E0%B3%8D%E0%B2%AF:Omshivaprakash">Omshivaprakash</a> was trying to help Professor O.L. Naghabhushana Swamy and Kannada author and publisher Vasudhendra access the vachana (verses) of Vachana Sanchaya. Swamy had trouble using publicly available content on Vachanas since the data was in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII">ASCII</a> standard and searching the text was a huge problem. I (Pavithra Hanchagaiah) started to help gather information about vachanas and document it in Unicode by writing scripts for open source software. Further discussions were made to get thousands of vachanas in the form of a database, so that they could be made easily searchable with an index. This demanded that we build a platform supporting all these activities, which would help the linguistic researchers, students and members of the general public who have an interest in reading and studying Vachana literature. With this idea, Omshivaprakash started designing the model, and his colleague Devaraju started building it. In the meantime I was running various scripts to fix errors in conversion of ASCII text to Unicode, confirming that the data was ready to consume by the modules developed for concordance. We spent weekends and holidays executing this project from home. With the constant feedback and guidance from Mr Swamy and Vasudendra, we learnt how <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordance_%28publishing%29" title="en:Concordance (publishing)">concordance</a> of text is used by researchers and what would make it easier for them to research on Vachana Sahitya. Omshivaprakash worked on the architecture of the platform, decided the infrastructure requirements – free and open source software technologies were used to keep the platform active while managing the entire project. I provided critical hacks for digitization and gave feedback through suggestions.</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Working System</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Currently, the system has around 200,000 unique words in its repository. Vachana Sanchaya is meant for research rather than just a repository of text on the web. While you search the words on our system, you can see who has used the word in all Vachanas. To make the research more readable, we highlight the text searched in each Vachana that would be displayed. To repeat the search for a specific Vachanakara (poet) you just need to click on his name on the graph on the results page. We have used MediaWiki’s jquery-ime input tool architecture that helped us provide a feature to directly enter Kannada text in Unicode for searches. So just type, and get results!</p>
<h3 style="text-align: justify; ">Public Response</h3>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">We are glad to see people accessing vachanas from our Facebook, Twitter and Google+ channels. There have been approximately 500,000 pageviews to our site in the first few months of our platform’s public launch. Interestingly, commonly searched Kannada words like “ಕರ್ಮ”(Karma en:Work/Deed) , “ಸತ್ಯ” (Sathya -en:Truthfulness ) and “ನದಿ” (River) have resulted in quick and easy results.</p>
<h2 style="text-align: justify; ">Plans for the Future</h2>
<p style="text-align: justify; ">Our system is extensible with respect to adding new feature – we have a review desk for researchers to help us with the review of content. Later we will also be adding required references to Vachanas from various research works that have been done around this literature. The content is available to the public through OpenData API and will be distributed as public domain through Wikisource once the review work is complete. This will open up the system for students, developers, researchers and anyone interested in working around building linguistic tools for Kannada and other Indic languages. This system is meant to evolves around other works rather than having to change and re-invent the wheel for more such projects. Vachana Sahitya will further help us to initiate <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language_processing">Natural Language Processing (NLP)</a> projects if more researchers get together to tag the words, glossary etc in the coming days. We can also fulfill the need of various language tools like spelling and grammar checker for users through crowd-sourcing the development. The next projects under the “Kannada Sanchaya” are <i>Sarvagnana Vachanagalu</i> and <i>Dāsa Sanchaya</i> which are in the pipeline with initial phases of work underway. Our idea is to extend this platform from Vyasa to Muddanna and possibly the contemporary literature work available in the public domain.</p>
<p>
For more details visit <a href='http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/dna-march-30-2014-rohini-lakshane-11th-century-kannada-literature-now-on-wikisource'>http://editors.cis-india.org/openness/blog-old/dna-march-30-2014-rohini-lakshane-11th-century-kannada-literature-now-on-wikisource</a>
</p>
No publishersubhaOpennessWikipediaAccess to KnowledgeWikimedia2014-04-06T05:01:14ZBlog Entry