[Fwd: Joint Library PR on WIPO Declaration]

[Sam Trosow <strosow@uwo.ca>]

Here is a press release from the American Association of Law Libraries,
the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries,
and the Special Library Association endorsing the Geneva Declaration on
the Future of the World Intellectual Property Association.  You can view
the declaration along with background information and add your name to the
statement at:

<http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/genevadeclaration.html>

Samuel Trosow
University of Western Ontario
Chair, AALL Copyright Committee
______________________

PRESS RELEASE
September 27, 2004

Four major U.S. library associations today endorsed the Geneva Declaration
on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Together,
the American Association of Law Libraries, the American Library
Association, the Association of Research Libraries and the Special
Libraries Association represent the views of over 90,000 librarians and
millions of library users throughout the United States and abroad.

The Geneva Declaration calls for the development of a new agenda for the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that recognizes the
importance of intellectual property for the future of humanity while
stressing the importance of balance in the laws and policies governing
such intellectual property. WIPO must move beyond its original agenda of
simply protecting intellectual property to develop a new agenda that
promotes both international development and establishes new approaches to
supporting innovation and creativity.

In recent years, our library organizations have been concerned about a
number of trends that have combined to limit access to knowledge.  These
include, among others:

" the lengthening of the copyright term which substantially delays works
from entering the public domain;

" the development of legal protections for technological protection
devices without consideration of whether the circumvention of such a
measure would be done for a lawful purpose; and,

" the efforts to develop new protections for databases containing facts
and other public domain material.

Our organizations believe that these recent efforts to expand intellectual
property rights have gone too far and must be brought back into balance.
The development of a new agenda will give WIPO the opportunity to take a
leadership role in re-crafting the necessary balance. In doing so, we urge
WIPO to affirmatively seek to balance the rights of creators with the
rights of users. This may call for the rollback of recent expanded
protections or the development of new user rights to counterbalance them.
We also urge WIPO to deal creatively with the issues raised by digital
technology to provide appropriate levels of protection while also
supporting the rights of users to effectively use the new technologies.

We believe that as WIPO seeks to develop its new agenda, it should:

" 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.

The development of digital technology has created a fundamental challenge
to the copyright system. The creation of a new agenda is an opportunity
for WIPO to move beyond a protectionist approach to craft balanced
solutions to todays issues. Our organizations look forward to working
with WIPO and the international library community to develop an agenda
that will both promote the protection of intellectual property and, at the
same time, encourage access to knowledge and international growth and
development.

***************

The American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) is a nonprofit
educational organization with over 5000 members nationwide who respond to
the legal information needs of legislators, judges and other public
officials, corporations and small businesses, law professors and students,
attorneys, and members of the general public. AALLs mission is to promote
and enhance the value of law libraries, to foster law librarianship and to
provide leadership and advocacy in the field of legal information and
information policy.
Contact: Robert L. Oakley (202-662-9160)

The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit educational 
organization of over 64,000 librarians, library trustees, and other 
friends of libraries dedicated to improving library services and 
promoting the public interest in a free and open information society.
Contact: Lynne Bradley (202-628-8410)

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of
123 research libraries in North America. ARL programs and services promote
equitable access to and effective use of recorded knowledge in support of
teaching, research, scholarship, and community service.
Contact: Prue Adler (202-296-2296)

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) The Special Libraries Association
(SLA) is a nonprofit global organization for innovative information
professionals and their strategic partners. SLA serves more than 12,000
members in 83 countries in the information profession, including
corporate, academic and government information specialists. SLA promotes
and strengthens its members through learning, advocacy, and networking
initiatives.
Contact: Doug Newcomb (703-647-4923)