Andy Pratt was in Geneva last week (5 – 7 October) as a member of a group developing a set of guidelines for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) in order to assess the economic, social and cultural impacts of copyright in the cultural and creative industries. The guidelines will be have the eventual form of a manual that will advise nation states on how to evaluate the full range of impacts of copyright in the cultural and creative industries.
The issue has arisen as part of a long running debate about who benefits from copyright controls, and the balance of economic interests versus public interests; especial concern has been expressed by countries in the developing world, but the issues affect all nations and peoples.
