[ecrea] Inaugural Global Congress on Public Interest Intellectual Property Law (August 25-27, 2011)

*Global Congress on Public Interest Intellectual Property Law
*
*Call for Applications to Participate
_http://infojustice.org/public-events/global-congress
_*August 25-27, 2011
American University Washington College of Law
4801 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington DC, 20016

Registration is now open to participate in one of the most important 
meetings on international intellectual property law and policy of the 
year. _http://infojustice.org/registration
_
HOSTS AND SPONSORS

American University Washington College of Law (WCL) will host the 
inaugural Global Congress on Public Interest Intellectual Property 
August 25-27, 2011. The Global Congress will be co-hosted by WCL's 
Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, Fundação 
Getulio Vargas's Center for Technology and Society (Brazil), the 
American Assembly at Columbia University and the International Centre 
for Trade and Sustainable Development (Geneva). Sponsors include Google 
Inc., the Institute for Global and International Studies at George 
Washington University, Seattle University School of Law and the American 
University International Law Review (the sponsoring journal for 
symposium publications). Other sponsors are currently being solicited.

BACKGROUND

The global intellectual property landscape has witnessed important 
changes in recent years. Most notably, the public interest dimension of 
intellectual property has emerged as a paramount concern. Though there 
seems to be now a fairly broad agreement on the need for a more balanced 
intellectual property system which effectively promotes innovation, 
views diverge on how to best achieve it.

At the same time, an international intellectual property enforcement 
agenda has been actively pursued, particularly during the past decade, 
with possible far reaching effects on the existing balance between 
public interest and private rights. This agenda is coming under 
increasing scrutiny from a wide range of actors and stakeholders 
including public interest advocates and independent researchers. 
Evidence based research such as the recently released Media Piracy in 
Emerging Economies report (_http://piracy.ssrc.org/the-report/_) are 
contributing to a better understanding of the complexities surrounding 
piracy and enforcement and point to the need to apprehend them in their 
broader societal context  beyond narrow legal approaches.

Against this background, the Global Congress on Public Interest 
Intellectual Property will serve as a site for the sharing of research, 
ideas and policy proposals for how international intellectual property 
law and policy should be constructed to better protect the full range of 
global public interest concerns.

The goal of the meeting is to foster a broad dialogue concerning policy 
options and action oriented proposals in support of the formation of 
positive agendas for public interest intellectual property law on the 
global stage.

Topics to be discussed at the meeting will include open access to data 
and research, access to educational materials, open internet, the role 
of libraries in the digital age, development and intellectual property, 
new thinking on penalties and enforcement,  limitations and exceptions, 
open business models, facilitating public participation in global 
intellectual property policy making, expanding and protecting the public 
domain, promoting research and development and the role of publicly 
funded research, and access to its products, use of competition law and 
other policy mechanisms from in relation to possible abuses of 
intellectual property rights and lessons from national and international 
experiences and efforts in reforming intellectual property law.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

*August 25, 2pm-6pm
*
Keynote Addresses: Framing the Current Moment

Keynote addresses will be open to the public (registration required) and 
webcast live. The addresses will be followed by a gala welcoming 
reception open to all registered participants.

*August 26, 9am-6pm
*
Public Interest Intellectual Property Workshops: Building the Knowledge Base

The second day of the meeting will be limited to workshop participants 
based on completed applications for participation. To facilitate active 
deliberation, participation for this day will be strictly limited to 
presenters, workshop chairs and expert discussants.

The day will feature discussion of works-in-progress papers and other 
presentations on the themes of promoting new thinking on international 
public interest intellectual property and mapping a range of best 
practices and policy options to ensure that national and international 
intellectual property systems protect and serve a broad range of public 
interest objectives. In addition to contributions analyzing options from 
within intellectual property doctrine, contributions will be sought from 
parallel fields such as competition law, consumer protection law, price 
control regimes, etc. Tentative workshop topics include:

   * Open Access to Research
   * Education
   * Open Internet
   * Libraries
   * Penalties and Enforcement
   * Limitations and Exceptions
   * The Development Agenda
   * Open Business Models
   * Promoting Public Participation
   * Use of Competition and Other Consumer Protection Policies
   * Promoting Research and Development/ The Role of Publicly Funded
     Research
   * Public Domain
   * Lessons from National and International Reform Experiences
   * Global Intellectual Property Architecture, the Public Interest and
     Development


These topics are tentative. Applications for participation may propose a 
workshop topic they would like to sponsor during the meeting.

*August 26, 7-10pm
*
Dinner cruise on the Potomac river.

*August 27, 10am-1pm
*
Thematic Workshops: Exploring Institutional Levels

Morning discussions will explore strategies and opportunities for 
promoting positive agendas at the major institutional levels of policy 
deliberation: private ordering; national policy; bilateral, regional and 
plurilateral agreements; multilateral norm setting.

*August 27, 1-4pm
*
Roundtable Discussion

Congress delegates will be invited to deliberate over policy proposals 
and action plans that chart a positive future for international 
intellectual property law.

*August 27, 4pm
*
Closing Remarks

*August 27, 5pm
*
Reception

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

Participation in the Global Congress is being recruited from scholars, 
policy advocates, public officials, IGO representatives, media, 
technology companies and other stakeholders from across the globe, with 
a particular emphasis on representatives from developing countries.

TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIPS

Through the generous support of financial sponsors of the Congress, a 
limited number of partial and full travel scholarships will be available 
for selected participants. As funding is limited, travel scholarships 
will be awarded with preferences for applicants who lack sufficient 
institutional funding to otherwise participate and with preferences for 
applicants from developing countries and those who raise contributing 
funds from other sources. In general, participation for U.S. academics 
in full time teaching positions will be limited to the provision of 
hotel accommodation and the provision of all meals and costs at the event.

PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITIES

Finalized papers will be considered for publication in the PIJIP digital 
commons working paper series 
(_http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/_) in the fall of 2011 
as well as for a symposium issue of the American University 
International Law Review to be published in the Spring of 2012 (final 
papers due to journal in early February 2012).

DEADLINES

Priority applications to participate in Congress workshops and to be 
considered for travel funding are due *June 6, 2011.
*
The final date for applications to participate in Congress workshops 
request travel funding will be *July 1, 2011. *Applications after July 1 
to receive travel assistance will be considered only under exceptional 
circumstances.

General registration to attend the keynote presentations on August 26 
will be due by *August 10, 2011.
*
APPLICATION SITE

All applications will be accepted via an online form available at 
_http://infojustice.org/registration_.

Questions and inquiries can be addressed to _sflynn@wcl.american.edu_ 
and _mpalmedo@wcl.american.edu_.