Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Thursday, October 23, 2008

On intergovernmental organizations' copyright

William New, World Customs Organization Publications Copyright Policy Questioned, Intellectual Property Watch, October 21, 2008.

In an unusual policy for an international organisation, the World Customs Organization imposes copyright over every document its bodies produce, even agendas, which means that no document can be reproduced without the organisation’s express consent.

But now some member governments are questioning this practice, which they say was intended only for the organisation to protect the rights in publications made for sale or containing proprietary information, and is now blocking access to information about the organisation’s work. ...

In order to access documents, passwords are needed, according to a source. But it is unclear why a copyright is used to protect negotiating documents used by elected governments, when the documents are not expected to be offered for sale or any other apparent disadvantage to the organisation’s secretariat. ...