Washington Declaration on IP and the Public Interest
Posted by Cheryl Foong, 8 September 2011
The Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest, August 25-27, 2011, convened over 180 experts from 32 countries and six continents to help re-articulate the public interest dimension in intellectual property law and policy.
The Washington Declaration on IP and the Public Interest records the conclusions from the Congress and is now open for endorsements and comments at http://infojustice.org/washington-declaration.
The declaration begins with two overarching points:
- International intellectual property policy affects a broad range of interests within society, not just those of rights holders. Thus, intellectual property policy making should be conducted through mechanisms of transparency and openness that encourage broad public participation. New rules should be made within the existing forums responsible for intellectual property policy, where both developed and developing countries have full representation, and where the texts of and forums for considering proposals are open. All new international intellectual property standards must be subject to democratic checks and balances, including domestic legislative approval and opportunities for judicial review.
- Markets alone cannot be relied upon to achieve a just allocation of information goods — that is, one that promotes the full range of human values at stake in intellectual property systems. This is clear, for example, from recent experiences in the areas of public health and education, where intellectual property has complicated progress toward meeting these basic public needs.
Informed by these two broad points, the Congress adopts a series of specific recommendations for action:
- Putting Intellectual Property in Its Place
- Valuing Openness and the Public Domain
- Strengthening Limitations and Exceptions
- Setting Public Interest Priorities for Patent Reform
- Supporting Cultural Creativity
- Checking Enforcement Excesses
- Implementing Development Agendas
- Requiring Evidence-based Policy Making