18 November 2004
Mrs. Rita Hayes, WIPO Deputy-Director General
Dear Mrs. Hayes:
We welcome WIPO's recent efforts at greater transparency and support for civil society participation at these important meetings. It is therefore with regret that we have to inform you of difficulties we have experienced during this 12th Session of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. We write to you to request your assistance to avoid a repetition of these unfortunate events.
Both yesterday and again today, written statements provided by IP Justice and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which were placed on the table designated for floor papers, were stolen within minutes of being deposited on the table. Additionally yesterday documents provided by the Union for the Public Domain were also missing shortly after being placed on the table.
This morning, many of these documents were recovered from the trash can in the first floor men's restroom. Another set of IP Justice statements as well as copies of the alternative NGO Proposal for a Broadcasting Treaty were recovered from behind a desk on the ground floor. These documents provided by IP Justice, EFF, and the Union for the Public Domain were critical of the Broadcasting Treaty. The papers drafted by the broadcasting industry, urging the treaty's adoption, however, remain undisturbed on the table for floor papers.
Delegates' receipt of written statements provided by civil society are doubly crucial because of the limited time that has been allocated for interventions for civil society during this meeting. The briefing papers' disappearance causes us particular difficulty given WIPO's new procedure to no longer photo-copy NGO floor papers for the delegates. In order for us to get replacements, we would have to get on a bus and travel back into town to make more copies for the delegates, who have invited us to submit advice on these issues.
Currently, we have placed a representative from civil society near the table for floor papers to "guard" these written statements. But clearly this in not an acceptable situation for NGOs or WIPO. We request that you take adequate and effective measures to protect the materials placed on the floor paper table, regardless of the views expressed in those statements. Thank you for your attention to these matters.
Very truly,
Robin Gross
IP Justice
robin@ipjustice.org
Cory Doctorow
Electronic Frontier Foundation
cory@eff.org
David Tannenbaum
Shyamkrishna Balganesh
Union for the Public Domain
davidt@public-domain.org
cc: US Delegation, SCCR Chair
