Global movement for IP reform grows

A growing number of groups and individuals worldwide, including CIPPIC, are calling on WIPO to adopt a "development agenda" that takes into account the needs of all nations and people. The Declaration on the Future of WIPO calls for "a moratorium on new treaties and harmonization of standards that expand and strengthen monopolies and further restrict access to knowledge. For generations WIPO has responded primarily to the narrow concerns of powerful publishers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, plant breeders and other commercial interests.... WIPO needs to enable its members to understand the real economic and social consequences of excessive intellectual property protections, and the importance of striking a balance between the public domain and competition on the one hand, and the realm of property rights on the other." See also: Prof. James Boyle's "A Manifesto on WIPO and the Future of Intellectual Property"