Union for the Public Domain

• Copyright and Neighboring Rights
  • NII Copyright
  • Copyright Extention.
  • UPD's Page on WIPO (The World Intellectual Property Organization)
    • The December 1996 Diplomatic Conference of WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organization)
  • Database "Extraction Rights" There is a controversial effort underway to create a radical new intellectual property right for facts and other public domain matterials.
• Trademarks
• Patents
• Special Issues
  • Article 2B of the Uniform Commercial Code
  • Access to Government Information
    • Access to Legal Information

Who We Are

We are just getting off the ground, and we need your help! Union for the Public Domain (UPD) is a non-profit citizens group. Our mission is to protect and enhance the public domain in matters concerning intellectual property. This is the current steering committee . UPD is a membership organization, acting as an independent voice on intellectual property issues.

How to Join

At present, we have three Internet lists. One is called UPD-DISCUSS, for unmoderated discussions of UPD issues. The second is called UPD-ANNOUNCE, which is like a newsletter, for occassional alerts or notices about things like UPD elections or changes in by-laws. The third is called DB-ACTION, which is an unmoderated discussion list devoted exclusively to discussion of the database "extaction rights" issue.

To subscribe to these mailing lists, send a note to LISTPROC@ESSENTIAL.ORG with messages like

• sub UPD-DISCUSS Jane Doe
• sub UPD-ANNOUNCE Jane Doe
• sub DB-ACTION Jane Doe

Of course, substitute your own name!

You can read the archives of these discussions at:

• http://www.essential.org/listproc/upd-discuss .
• http://www.essential.org/listproc/upd-announce .
• http://www.essential.org/listproc/db-action .

Early discussions about UPD are found at: http://www.essential.org/listproc/cpt-ip .