Middle East Librarians Association

Background: The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is the international organization “dedicated to helping to ensure that the rights of creators and owners of intellectual property are protected worldwide” (from WIPO website)

The Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organization is a response to a proposal adopted by WIPO entitled "Proposal for the Establishment of a Development Agenda for WIPO" (also known as “Item 12” in WIPO’s literature). The overall framework is constructed in this Declaration.

Recent action: On September 27, 2004, the American Association of Law Libraries, the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries and the Special Libraries Association issued a statement in support of the Declaration, and suggested WIPO, as part of any new development agenda:

promote the development of a robust and expanding public domain, allowing new works to enter the public domain following a fair and reasonable period of exploitation by the original creator; and, establish accepted limits on the rights of copyright owners that permit reasonable uses for legitimate purposes. (from the Association of Research Libraries website)

From a library perspective, the main concern is the current impact of copyright issues on the development of digital library resources. The request from these library associations of WIPO is to develop a new agenda that will address issues
and enact global legislation that will enable better access to information and resources that are to be considered “public domain”.

Full information and documentation concerning the Geneva Declaration can be found at the Consumer Project on Technology website.

The World Intellectual Property Organization website should be consulted for current information.