Intellectual property experts gathered in Washington DC for a conference hosted by the TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue

As a new Administration has just taken office in Washington, and the
European Union renews its institutions in a few months, what should
the political agenda be for intellectual property?

This was the subject of discussion during a two day conference hosted
by the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) on the 12th & 13th
January 2009 in Washington, DC:

Patents, Copyrights and Knowledge
Governance: The Next Four Years.

A wide range of crucial issues, such as the future of patents on
medicines, consumer access to digitized content, "access to knowledge"
(A2K), the protection of the public domain and software standards,
were addressed by high-level specialists from both sides of the
Atlantic: law and economics Professors, including two Nobel Prizes –
Joseph Stiglitz and Eric Maskin – and Bernt Hugenholtz, but also NGOs,
among which TACD members (Knowledge Ecology International, EFF, Public
Knowledge, Health Action International) and industry people, among
whom William Patry from Google and Richard Wilder from Microsoft,
played the game of an open discussion (check the program here).

The globalisation of the challenges faced by consumers and rights
holders have made intellectual property policy one of the main
features of global trade policy, and stimulated both international and
domestic debates about how best to promote innovation and access to
knowledge, including "knowledge embedded" goods such as medicine,
software, agriculture, inventions that address climate change,
scholarly research, databases, films or recorded music.

Both the United States and the European Union are facing demands to
modify policies on patents, copyrights and other forms of intellectual
property protection, coming from different perspectives. There are
high profile right-owner lobbying efforts directed at higher standards
and tougher enforcement of intellectual property rights, and growing
interest among consumer groups, academics and many innovative
businesses to protect the public domain and retain or even expand user
rights. There is also much interest in exploring newer approaches to
the support of creative and inventive communities, that do not rely on
notions of exclusive rights.

With the organisation of this event, the TransAtlantic Consumer
Dialogue has been calling for policy recommendations from the
speakers, to be addressed to the US and EU governments (read the
recommendations here).

Find out more on the TACD IP blog.