Intellectual Property Counter-Essay Contest

[anna balint]

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Fellow Activists:

WIPOUT, an international organisation consisting of academics, artists,
musicians, and other activists, is today (Sept. 4) launching the
Intellectual Property Counter-Essay Contest on its website, 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.

WIPOUTís 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 £1500.00
(approx. $US2100.00).

Unlike submissions to most essay contests, WIPOUTís 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 ìpoint of viewî 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: mailto:contact at wipout.net

The Intellectual Property Counter-Essay Contest www.wipout.net
Tell the world what you think