Nine point ecommerce agenda mapped out at WIPO summit

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has detailed a nine point 'Digital Agenda' following its Geneva summit last week.

According to Dr Kamil Idris, director general of WIPO, the agenda maps out the best course for moving commerce onto the Internet, whilst safeguarding intellectual property rights.

Key points on WIPO's list include the need to address the digital economy in developing countries, creating a global information structure and society. Establishing the liability of Internet service providers (ISPs) and online service providers (OSPs) in cases of copyright infringement and putting into plan a legal framework for domain name disputes.

The organisation claims that a global intellectual property license should be created for use on the Internet - to help reduce the amount of disputes and legal cases. It is investigating the use of a third party - such as WIPO itself - to provide certification services for Web sites which comply with regulations.

But Jonathan Steel, chairman of the Bathwick Group, believes the organisation faces an uphill task. "It's a good thing to want to do," he said, "but I wouldn't look for it this side of 2005."

Steel argues that despite WIPO's good intentions, the slow pace of government will leave them stranded as commercial organisations find their own self-regulatory way around the problems. "As in many other technology areas, government and non-governmental organisations risk becoming redundant and the market will move around them."

The organisation is lobbying national governments to sign its two Internet treaties - the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty - before December 2001.
The papers are designed to promote basic standards of protection for copyright and the organisation needs 30 countries to sign up before they can be brought into force. Last week the US became the latest country to ratify the standards - see http://www.silicon.com/a32770 .