It was disheartening to leave #sccr39 knowing that 15y of work to #fixcopyright are at risk coz @WIPO Sec spent the year pushing one-sided views on #copyright, turning the #CRLEConf on exceptions into CMOs panels, trying to control experts, and focusing the agenda on licenses. 1/
NGOs and the delegates from the Global South at the #sccr39 are shocked at what happened at the events on #copyright exceptions organized by @WIPO this year: 3 regionals and 1 int’l conference. Here is what happened. 2/
At the 1st @WIPO regional in Singapore Member States concluded that public interest activities needed int'l solutions to #fixcopyright. The Nairobi & Santo Domingo regionals were then heavily lobbied and controlled to avoid reaching similar conclusions. #sccr39 3/
Both the African and LATAM seminars were preceded by @WIPO meetings with delegates on #copyright strategies. More than 15 orgs of copyright owners took part and were given panels to speak about #licensingworks. Only a couple of NGOs were invited, and only to listen. #sccr39 4/
After being lobbied for 2 days by #copyright owners, the delegates arrived to the seminars on exceptions with the perception that @WIPO prioritized licenses over exceptions and that CMOs had more authority than NGOs, since the latter had no panels to share their views. #sccr39 5/
The level of confusion was high @WIPO seminar in Nairobi. At some point in the discussions someone even dare saying that #copyright exceptions would perpetuate #Colonialism, since would give rich countries free access to works by African authors. Ouch! #fixcopyright #sccr39 6/
Fyi, rich countries can already use works by African authors to which they have access to, because they have #copyright exceptions. It’s the Africans who can’t fairly use the works produced in any country, including theirs, because they lack exceptions. #fixcopyright #sccr39 7/
It is #copyright #Colonialism, but in the sense that poor countries are obliged to give exclusive rights and no one advises that exceptions are also important! Schools in poor countries have to pay for fairly using materials, when their peers in rich countries don't. #sccr39 8/
Then last weekend at the #CRLEConf on #copyright exceptions for education, research, libraries, museums and archives, what we saw was a despotic choice of panelists that would advance the solutions the @WIPO DDG considers to be the best: licenses by CMOs. #sccr39 10/
E.g. the #CRLEConf panel on #copyright exceptions for education and research had 8 copyright owners (incl. Pearson, Elsevier and many CMOs), 1 licensing consultant and - after much effort from us - 2 academics, 1 teacher and 1 researcher. Hilarious! #fixcopyright #sccr39 11/
NGOs had 2 min at #sccr39 to talk about the agenda on #copyright exceptions, and were not given the opportunity to comment the @WIPO reports on what happened at these events, and explain why these events did not (could never) lead to any conclusion on how to #fixcopyright. 12/
But of course the #EU and #US leveraged on these one-sided unstructured opportunely confusing events organized by @WIPO to conclude at #sccr39 that the Global South shares the Global North views that no int’l instruments are needed to deal with fair uses of #copyright works. /13.
