Intellectual Property Counter Essay Contest

["W. E. Perry" <wperry@fiduciary.com>]

The following announcement might be of interest to readers of this list:




4 September 2001

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Fellow Activists:

WIPOUT, an international organisation consisting of academics, artists,
musicians, and other activists, is launching the Intellectual Property
Counter Essay Contest on its website, http://www.wipout.net

The multi-lingual essay contest has been organised in response to the
World
Intellectual Property Organisation's (WIPO's) own competition announced
earlier this year. The counter contest is intended to challenge the
over-protection of intellectual property (IP) which is doing much damage
to
education, health care, the environment, and economic security for
millions
around the world.

Entrants are being asked to address the same topic that WIPO has posed:
WHAT
DOES INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MEAN TO YOU IN YOUR DAILY LIFE? We expect the

counter contest essays to be rather more critical than those that WIPO
is
soliciting.

The website also has a space for shorter 'Point of View' pieces on the
same
topic for those who have something to say, but do not want to write an
essay.

WIPOUT's contest will continue from 4 September until 15 March 2002. The

winning essays will be chosen by an international panel of judges and
the
results  announced on 26 April 2002, the same day that WIPO announces
the
winners of its contest. WIPOUT's prize fund currently totals 1500 pounds

(approx. $US2100.00).

Unlike submissions to most essay contests, WIPOUT's essays will be
immediately posted on the website and accessible to all readers, not
just
the judges. And although WIPOUT is hosting a 'contest', we see the
competitive aspect of the contest secondary to the purpose of enabling a

public and critical debate on the over-protection of IP.

More than 40 groups and individuals from 10 countries have, to date,
announced their support for WIPOUT. (A complete list can be viewed at
www.wipout.net) High- profile endorsers include Noam Chomsky, The
Treatment
Action Campaign of South Africa, the Gene Campaign of India, British
barrister Michael Mansfield, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation and
the Center for the Public Domain in the US.

WIPOUT sees the contest as a way of building on recent high-profile
issues
such as the South African anti-HIV drugs case, the growing protests
against
the TRIPS agreement and the WTO, the Napster saga (and increasing
resentment
against the high price of CDs), the arrest and charging of Dmitry
Skylarov,
and public concern about GM crops and the patenting of human genes and
plants.

The essays can be submitted to WIPOUT in English, French, German, and
Spanish. A selection of initial essays, submitted for judging purposes
or
for the shorter non-judged "point of view" section of the website, has
already been posted on the website.

Details of the WIPO contest can be found at:
    http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/alert/2001/ma03rev.htm

So what can you do?

First, go and check our website, www.wipout.net, and look at the
contributions already posted. Then if you want to become a part of the
contest and join in the campaign against the over-protection of
intellectual property, you can:

1) Most obviously, write an essay or a 'Point of View' and submit it to
   WIPOUT. It will then be posted on our website.
2) Become an official endorser of the competition.
3) Make a contribution to our prize fund.
4) If you run a website, put a link to WIPOUT on your site (a .jpg
button
   can be provided). We are happy to put a reciprocal link on our site.
5) If your group or organisation publishes a newsletter/magazine,
mention
   our launch. We have a launch essay we can supply for you.
6) Download the Wipout poster and put it up in your workplace,
university,
   school,  or local shop.
7) Spread the word. Tell others who may be interested by forwarding them

   this email. There are a lot of people in the world who are extremely
   unhappy with the effects of the excessive protection of IP. Give them

   the chance to say what they think

Finally, keep checking www.wipout.net in coming weeks to read the new
submissions. It shows there are others who share your views and want to
do
something.

Our email address is: contact@wipout.net

Alan Story
Kent Law School
University of Kent
Canterbury Kent U.K  CT2 7NS.
a.c.story@ukc.ac.uk
44 (0)1227 823316