Apologies for cross posting but the attached may be of interest.

Judy Atkinson
Operations Manager - Library and Information Services
Royal College of Nursing
20 Cavendish Square
London
W1G 0RN
Direct Line: 020 7647 3856
Fax: 020 7647 3420
Web site: http://www.rcn.org.uk



-----Original Message-----
From: Barbara Stratton [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 30 September 2004 17:20
To: Peter Wienand (MCG) (E-mail); Naomi Korn (MCG) (E-mail); Amanda McKenzie
(LACA) (E-mail); Andrew Braid (LACA) (E-mail); Bill Trythall (LACA)
(E-mail); Charles Oppenheim (LACA) (E-mail); Chris Hamilton (LACA) (E-mail);
Denis Heathcote (LACA) (E-mail); Emanuella Giavarra (E-mail); Frank Harris
(E-mail); Gertrud Erbach (LACA) (E-mail); Graham Cornish (LACA) (E-mail);
Jackie Fishleigh (LACA) (E-mail); John Crampton (LACA) (E-mail); Judy
Atkinson (LACA) (E-mail); Naomi Korn (MCG) (E-mail); Paul Pedley (LACA)
(E-mail); Pauline Shirley (LACA) (E-mail); Philip Plumb (LACA) (E-mail);
Richard Chesser (LACA) (E-mail); Ruth Hellen (LACA) (E-mail); Sandy Norman
(E-mail); Stephanie Silvester (LACA) (E-mail); Tamara Eisenschitz (LACA)
(E-mail); Tim Padfield (LACA) (E-mail); Toby Bainton (LACA) (E-mail)
Subject: FW: IFLA Position on Geneva Declaration on the Future of WIPO <fwd>


Dear All

I am forwarding a message from Winston Tabb, Chair of IFLA' s Copyright and
Other legal Matters Committee (CLM) (see below).
The Geneva Declaration on the Future of WIPO was formally released in Geneva
yesterday September 29 at 2pm in the Palais des Nations coincident with the
opening of the WIPO General Assembly. This is a very important declaration
calling for WIPO to change its largely pro-rightsholder approach and seek to
properly balance user as well as rightsholder interests in copyright. IFLA
was the third signatory of the Declaration behind Consumers International
and Medecins sans Frontieres. IFLA CLM issued a position statement, The IFLA
Position on the Geneva Declaration on the Future of Wipo, upon signing
setting out where it stands
http://www.ifla.org/III/clm/CLM-GenevaDeclaration2004.html.
You will find the Geneva Declaration at http://www.futureofwipo.org/ Other
people and organisations can sign this declaration online. And there is
already a long list of distinguished signatories.  To sign the declaration,
send an email to [log in to unmask], including your support for
the declaration, and how you would like to be identified.
Please do publicise this within your own professional networks and media and
encourage your professional organisations to sign the Declaration as soon as
possible.

Barbara

Barbara Stratton
Senior Adviser, Copyright at CILIP and Secretary to LACA
E-mail: [log in to unmask]  Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0624 (direct)

CILIP, 7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E 7AE
Tel: +44 (0)20 7255 0500 Fax: +44 (0)20 7255 0501 Textphone: +44 (0)20 7255
0505
General e-mail: [log in to unmask]  Web: www.cilip.org.uk  LACA Web Site:
www.cilip.org.uk/laca


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date:   Wed, 29 Sep 2004 11:06:48 -0400
From:   Winston Tabb <[log in to unmask]>
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        IFLA Position on Geneva Declaration on the Future of WIPO

In recent weeks IFLA, through its Committee on Copyright and Other Legal
Matters, IFLA has been actively engaged with a large number of organizations
and individuals in preparing a Declaration on the Future of WIPO.  This
Declaration is being published today in Geneva timed to coincide with the
opening of the WIPO General Assembly.
Our collective concern is that WIPO has thus far inadequately protected and
promoted the balance between users and owners of information that is
fundamental for fair and effective intellectual property regimes. IFLA's
position paper highlights adverse ways in which libraries and our users have
been particularly affected by the direction that WIPO and its member states
have taken in the past 30 years.  We urge you to familiarize yourself with
this statement, and to use it to inform your own governments about changes
we want them to help us make in the future directions of WIPO.
http://www.ifla.org/III/clm/CLM-GenevaDeclaration2004.html
The Declaration (in English, French and Spanish) and list of charter
signatories can be found at http://www.futureofwipo.org


Winston Tabb
Dean of University Libraries and Sheridan Director
Johns Hopkins University
3400 N. charles St., MSEL
Baltimore, MD  21218
410-516-8328
410-516-5080 (fax)