New book: The Laws of Disruption

http://www.amazon.com/Laws-Disruption-Harnessing-Business-Digital/dp/0465018645/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257194340&sr=8-1

Patens don't help drug development for poor countries

Investments in Pharmaceuticals Before and After TRIPS by Margaret Kyle, Anita McGahan - #15468 (HE ITI PR)

Abstract:

We examine the relationship between patent protection for pharmaceuticals and investment in development of new drugs. Patent protection has increased around the world as a consequence of the TRIPS Agreement, which specifies minimum levels of intellectual property protection for members of the World Trade Organization. It is generally argued that patents are critical for pharmaceutical research efforts, and so greater patent protection in developing and least-developed countries might result in greater effort by pharmaceutical firms to develop drugs that are especially needed in those countries. Since patents also have the potential to reduce access to treatments through higher prices, it is imperative to assess whether the benefits of increased incentives have materialized in research on diseases that particularly affect the poor. We find that patent protection is associated with increases in research and development (R and D) effort when adopted in high income countries. However, the introduction of patents in developing countries has not been followed by greater investment. Particularly for diseases that primarily affect the poorest countries, our results suggest that alternative mechanisms for inducing R and D may be more appropriate than patents.

http://papers.nber.org/papers/W15468

Access to medicine in developing countries

Silke Trommer, researcher for the Centre of Excellence in Global Governance Research at the University of Helsinski, Finland, in a separate panel about access to medicines in developing and least-developing countries warned against provisions in free trade agreements.

In several agreements, she said, the scope of patent protection is extended by patenting the new use of an old product, for example, in what is called evergreening of existing patents.

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/10/11/wto-forum-bypassing-international-agreements-may-hamper-medicines-access/

Open Source in Biology

Interesting development here:

This kind of collaborative is needed, Friend contends, because biologists are starting to see how vast networks of genes get perturbed in complex diseases like cancer, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. All of this data is too complex for any individual, or team of scientists—even at a place as wealthy as Merck—to fully grasp.

http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2009/10/06/sage-bionetworks-biologys-open-source-spark-snags-major-donation-from-quintiles/

Ubuntu partnering with Intel and IBM

on moblin 2.1 and a special OS with Lotus for Africa.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10359700-92.html

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/172531/intel_ports_linux_netbook_os_to_desktops.html

Interesting statistics

The record companies or film industry SAY they can't survive in a free internet, but there is someone who can that, and that is...

http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/internet-pornography-statistics.html

Harvard about what we need to know about ICT for development.

Canada's International Development Research Center and Harvard's Berkman Center are convening a conversation today and tomorrow at Harvard on the future of information and communication technology and development (ICT4D).

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/09/24/harvard-forum-what-do-we-need-to-know/

New Irex e-readers coming

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6698624.html

Google Sidewiki

Google Sidewiki is doing the same thing that has been available in Plos journals for a while, the possibility to annotate parts or the whole webpage.

I think it can be very useful.

www.google.com/sidewiki

Zotero 2.07.1 is out, Dataverse Network 2.0 is out

www.zotero.org www.thedata.org

The case for books. Robert Darnton

Darnton has a pretty good case for books IMHO, here is som excerpt from PublicAffairsbooks

This is a book about books, an unashamed apology for the printed word, past, present, and future. It is also an argument about the place of books in the digital environment that has now become a fundamental fact of life for millions of human beings. Far from deploring electronic modes of communication, I want to explore the possibilities of aligning them with the power that Johannes Gutenberg unleashed more than five centuries ago. What common ground exists between old books and e-books? What mutual advantages link libraries with the Internet? Those questions may sound empty in the abstract, but they take concrete form in decisions made every day by players in the communication industry—webmasters, computer engineers, financiers, lawyers, publishers, librarians, and a great many ordinary readers.

Whatever the future may be, it will be digital. The present is a time of transition, when printed and digital modes of communication coexist and new technology soon becomes obsolete. Already we are witnessing the disappearance of familiar objects: the typewriter, now consigned to antique shops; the postcard, a curiosity; the handwritten letter, beyond the capacity of most young people, who cannot write in cursive script; the daily newspaper, extinct in many cities; the local bookshop, replaced by chains, which themselves are threatened by Internet distributors like Amazon. And the library? It can look like the most archaic institution of all. Yet its past bodes well for its future, because libraries were never warehouses of books. They have always been and always will be centers of learning. Their central position in the world of learning makes them ideally suited to mediate between the printed and the digital modes of communication. Books, too, can accommodate both modes. Whether printed on paper or stored in servers, they embody knowledge, and their authority derives from a great deal more than the technology that went into them.

HARDCOVER
ISBN 978-1586488260
Pub date: 10/27/09
Price: $23.95/30.50 Canada
5 1/2 x 8 1/4
240 pages
Carton Quantity: 40
History, Literature
Selling Territory: W
Rights:

Tips to "developed countries" for copyright reforms

Very good advice to the richest country in the world as well for developing countries IMHO.

Tips for Developing Countries when reviewing Copyright Laws
Denise Nicholson


International intellectual property agreements allow limitations and exceptions to be adopted in national copyright laws. Here are some tips for developing countries when reviewing their copyright laws:-

*
Adopt a maximalist approach – include as many limitations and exceptions as already in copyright regimes around the world – keep door open for new exceptions as technology changes.
*
Try to separate exceptions for entertainment from exceptions for education and libraries in your copyright law.
*
Ensure adequate exceptions for libraries, archives and museums (including provisions for accessing and providing information; digitization; preservation, digital curation (including migration to new technologies as they change).
*
Ensure adequate exceptions for people with sensory-disabilities (e.g. blind, visually-impaired, print- handicapped, blind/deaf, deaf, dyslexic, reading & learning disabilities, etc.)
*
Ensure adequate exceptions for classroom teaching, as well as distance and open learning, literacy training, adult basic education, non-commercial staff training and sharing of information amongst colleagues for research, discussion and information purposes.
*
Do not include protection for non-original databases. (It had little or no positive impact for rightsholders in the EU and created problems for users)". Original databases are protected by copyright like any original work.
*
Keep or reduce the copyright term to the lifetime of the author plus 50 years in terms of the minimum requirements of international IP agreements – Longer terms do not benefit net importers of intellectual property.
*
Do not include anti-circumvention clauses, unless there are clear, balanced exceptions to enable access to information.
*
Do not include public lending/educational lending rights (countries are not obliged to in terms of any international agreements). To date, no developing country has adopted a lending right. IFLA and eIFL do not promote public lending rights for developing countries. See IFLA Position Paper on the Public Lending Right and its Background Paper on the Public Lending Right.
*
Consult the eIFL-IP Draft Law on Copyright Including Model Exceptions and Limitations for Libraries and Consumers . Also see commentary on this draft law.
*
Adopt the best provisions from WIPO Studies on -

Limitations & Exceptions for the Visually-Impaired;

Limitations & Exceptions of Copyright & Related Rights in the Digital Environment

Copyright Limitations & Exceptions for Education – final report due at end of 2009

*
Promote Open Access, Open Source Software & Open Licensing (e.g. Creative Commons, etc.)
*
Create and populate Open Access Institutional Repositories/Research Archives to showcase African research.
*
Encourage authors not to sign over all their rights to publishers – encourage them to retain rights to enable them to place their works in open access institutional repositories, on personal blogs or to include in teaching materials. Encourage them to make use of an Author’s Addendum.
*
Seek expert and free assistance and advice from Access to Knowledge (A2K) organizations/projects/initiatives when reviewing copyright laws, e.g. Electronic Information for Libraries; African Copyright & Access to Knowledge Project (ACA2K); Commonwealth of Learning; IFLA Committee for Copyright and Other Legal Matters (CLM) and Consumers International.

Also consult the following publications (free to download):-

eIFL Handbook on Copyright & Related Issues

and

“Introducing Copyright – a plain language guide to copyright"
(Commonwealth of Learning).

*
Consult the resources on ACA2K website, Wits Copyright Portal and Commonwealth of Learning's Copyright Resources.
*
Lobby your Government officials who attend WIPO meetings in Geneva to call for users’ rights to be enshrined in a balanced international framework. If they are supporting the WIPO Development Agenda in Geneva, why are they not implementing better and more balanced copyright laws at home?

http://www.aca2k.org/index.php?option=com_idoblog&task=viewpost&id=229&Itemid=73&lang=en

Google target Apps.gov

Open data had their www.data.gov and now they have launched the www.apps.gov

Very impressing, and now Google want to provide 300 000 000 American citizen government service on separate servers.

This is something that I really believe in. Nobody can do it as cheap and stable as Google.

check it out on: www.apps.gov

Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI)

Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI) is NSF’s bold five-year initiative to create revolutionary science and engineering research outcomes made possible by innovations and advances in computational thinking. Computational thinking is defined comprehensively to encompass computational concepts, methods, models, algorithms, and tools. Applied in challenging science and engineering research and education contexts, computational thinking promises a profound impact on the Nation’s ability to generate and apply new knowledge. Collectively, CDI research outcomes are expected to produce paradigm shifts in our understanding of a wide range of science and engineering phenomena and socio-technical innovations that create new wealth and enhance the national quality of life.

Read more about this important development here:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=503163