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FSFE Becomes WIPO Observer

Posted by timothy on from the which-is-not-a-newspaper dept.

wikinerd writes "FSFE, the European branch of Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation announced that it was granted observer status in WIPO, the international organisation which influences nationwide copyright laws."

5 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. Patents too! by compudj · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not only does the WIPO influences copyright laws, but it does also affect the patents, which is exactly the point that the GPL v3 plans to take care of.

    It's good to have an organism like the FSF being recognised in the, how critical, field of intellectual property!

  2. OSS meets top dogs by bathmann · · Score: 5, Informative
    Being awarded the observer's status is quite an achievement. Check out the list of the 165 other observers: click me.

    FSFE will be among the likes of CISAC, IFPI, ISO, UNESCO, WHO, etc. FSFE better shows it's up to the task and comes up with clever arguments why OSS is the way to go (or at least a way to go).

  3. Re:the dark side of all this by hunterx11 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Although it's not unlikely that they would be kept out of the loop, observers can have a very large influence on the UN. Much of the action taken by the body in session is little more than a formality. The majority of resolutions pass by consensus, which means that the vast majority of UN work occurs outside the UN in caucusing to reach consensus. It is here that the FSFE could leave its mark. Although it is perhaps a bit offtopic, last weekend I attended a Model UN where several observers such as the Holy See were able to have a noticeable influence.

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    English is easier said than done.
  4. FSF's message is not "OSS". by jbn-o · · Score: 4, Informative

    I agree with you that what the FSF has achieved here is remarkable. However, the FSF doesn't argue for "OSS". They argue for free software. Perhaps that is why they are called the "Free Software Foundation Europe". When the FSF started in the US, "open source" did not exist. The start of the open source movement was over a decade away and the OSI's founders chose to stand for different values, most notably pushing aside software freedom so they could more easily speak to their primary audience: business.

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    Digital Citizen
  5. It helps by villoks · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well,

    the more civil society organizations, the better. the reason - every organization has typically one chance to speak and currently right holders dominate these sessions because of the excess number of their participating organizations.

    FSFE is actually a bit late here, EFF and CSC are already full members and EDRI, IP Justice and the Union for the Public Domain have been observers for a while.