The
definition of intellectual property will be broadened
in the future, Craig Mundie, Chief Technical
Officer of Microsoft Corporation, told delegates
Thursday at the Second International Conference
on Electronic Commerce and Intellectual Property.
The conference, attended by more than 500 delagates,
is being held in Geneva and runs from September
19 to 21.
He
said that in the future, the notion of intellectual
property will extend to anything created by an individual
and the creators will have full control of their rights
and that software programs will allow users the option
to manage their own intellectual property rights. Mundie
spoke to delegates through a satellite uplink as he
was unable to attend the conference due to the flight
restrictions following the recent terrorist attacks
on the United States.
The second day of the three-day conference,
organized by the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO), hosted speakers
from Asia, Europe and North America.
Representatives from industry, government
and the general public are gathered to
discuss intellectual property rights
in the digital age.
Patrick
O'Brien, General Manager of i-DNS talked
about international domain
names. His company, that is based in
Singapore and California, has developed
a software that enables scripts other
than the Roman script to be used in domain
names. Currently domain names can only
be in Roman script, which inhibit the
thousands of new Web sites in different
languages posted on the Internet every
day. He said that people should be able
to "go ahead and experiment."
This idea is facing resistance from
the Internet Architecture Board who advise
more research on the topic. It argues
that specific protocols and international
agreements relating to domain names should
be established before Internet users
are allowed to experiment with the new
technology.
The Assistant Director General of WIPO,
Francis Gurry, spoke about the misuse
of identifiers other than trademarks
such as domain names, personal names,
geographical identifiers and International
Nonproprietary Names (INN). He explained
that INN are important because they help
patients identify medicines regardless
of language used.
Pharmaceutical companies can use INN
to give drugs generic names that will
be known world-over regardless of the
language of manufactures. Identifiers
are being misused by people who are not
connected to the organization, names
or geographical regions. In conclusion,
he called for the international community
to take action and said that the laws
in place are not adequate in dealing
with the digital age.
The delegates also heard from a judge.
Marie-Francoise Marais, Chamber President
of the Paris Court of Appeal said the
speed of the Internet was an asset to
law enforcement. According to her, even
though there are many disputes, they
can resolved faster than national law
suites.
On September 22, the last day of the
conference, delegates will hear from
speakers from Africa and Latin America
that will provide a much-needed perspective
on intellectual property rights in the
developing world.
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