Green Party to vote on Intellectual Property
08 September 2005
The Green Party will vote tomorrow on proposed amendments to Intellectual Property Rights law. The handling of intellectual property law has significant implications for the freedom of information both in the UK and in the developing world.
Matt Wootton, Green Party External Communications Co-ordinator commented:
"Our world policy on Intellectual Property is deeply biased in favour of powerful and unaccountable rights-holders - who aren't required to bear the people in mind. In the UK, excessive Intellectual Property Rights prevent access to and dissemination of vast areas of knowledge.
"Ninety-five percent of the works in copyright aren't available commercially in any form. Even worse, in the context of drug patents it means that, for instance, the majority of people with Aids in developing countries die prematurely because they can't afford the drugs they need. Branded diet pills are more profitable, so that's what gets the funding. The proposed amendments aim to ensure that what rightfully belongs to the people is brought into the public domain."
Proposed amendments would abolish Crown Copyright, a protection for most material originated by ministers and civil servants, and promote the Creative Commons, which offers a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors and artists. The Party would require Open Access publishing for publicly-funded academies. Alternative compensation schemes, providing money to research the world's most pressing health problems, would also be promoted.
Matt continued, "As a Party committed to social justice, we believe that intellectual resources are to be shared by everyone, not just big business and lobbyists with the right connections to big business. It is this belief which compels us to act."
ENDS
