Access to knowledge movement
Access to Knowledge ( A2K ) (English access to knowledge ) is a movement that attempts to confront existing copyright guidelines social and economic needs and requirements and bring them into harmony.
The main objective of the project is - according to its name - free of charge to allow everyone access to knowledge. Thus one hopes to develop creative and innovative influence on culture and society. A new paradigm is to bring as the creation and management of knowledge resources again in line, so everyone benefits. Among the restrictions on access to knowledge suffering especially the inhabitants of developing countries, as many people can not afford there prices for essential goods such as books or medicine. Here are knowledge assets - to be just copied and passed through their property - a basic distinction of physical goods, to a greater promotion of development opportunities are supported. An approximation of the differences between rich and poor is in no other area is so critical, but also full of chances as the access to knowledge. Under freedom of knowledge to understand media scholars and education leaders the right to free access to information. They refer to the free access to knowledge as a fundamental right and a prerequisite for a democratic society. Proponents of freedom of knowledge called, inter alia, the sociologist Max Weber, who believes that from a political perspective, a knowledge advantage is always also a power advantage. Thus more likely to have the chance to realize the approximation of the differences between rich and poor self- aware poorer populations through equal access to knowledge.
Access to Knowledge wants a balanced system of intellectual property provide that protects both the rights of the authors and the consumer. The worldwide movement is driven by a merger of various non-profit organizations, businesses, individuals, governments, the so-called developing countries ( the Global South ), libraries, teachers and trainers and the Free / Libre / Open Source Software ( FLOSS ) community.
The work of A2K includes, among other things, the creation of awareness and education about the important role of access to knowledge in today's societies, improving access in the poorer countries, and the promotion of the understanding of copyright regulations and intellectual property rights and the resulting impact on society.
A2K Agreement
2004 the idea of a global A2K Agreement was primarily developed, which was funded by NGOs, some academies and governments. In August of the same year Brazil and Argentina beat such an agreement, as part of a larger proposal to the catalog Wipo. 2005 Discussions were held on this draft treaty that led to a first draft contract in May 2005. This agreement was not pursued, since an agreement with the industrialized countries is sought and a fully formulated in advance treaty could reduce the chances of an agreement.
Other treaties are recognized by A2K and should not be explicitly repealed. A2K is this merely complement and attention for the moment neglected already create existing regulations. Here, the Agreement also refers to earlier regulations such as the Florence Agreement of 1950. The way how the individual countries to implement legally A2K them is even reserved. An extended implementation that goes beyond the design is welcomed here explicitly promoted.
The covered topics include an exemption for copyright protected content, as well as a revision of patent law, including the definition of what patents can be applied. Furthermore, a new handling Knowledge Commons / Public Domain will be presented; as the state-funded knowledge accessible to everyone and public domain should be. The design promotes the use of open standards and provides the basis for technology transfer to developing countries. Finally, several other issues are addressed briefly - here the current version of the Agreement is not complete, however, so that large parts have not yet been worked out.
A2K conference
Since 2006, every April will be held for several days lasting A2K Conference. Your goal is to develop concrete proposals and timetables for the implementation of A2K. There, the project propulsive heads from industrialized and developing countries and NGOs meet.
Swell
Working knowledge and intellectual property of the competence group economy of the Federation of German Scientists ( www.vdw -ev.de ), coordination Frank Schmiedchen