Geneva, 16th September 2003 committed by civil society Working Group: Patents, Copyright and Trademarks 1. The title of the section should read: 2) Free Access to Knowledge – Extending the Global Knowlegde Commons New article 20C should be added: NEW 20C. Human knowledge is the heritage and property of humankind and the reservoir from which new knowledge is created. Free and unhampered access to knowledge resources in all forms of media for present and future generations should be a core means of reducing global inequality and the digital divide. The new challenge is to maintain and extend the commonwealth of global knowledge as a precondition to foster intellectual creativity, sustainable development and human rights. 2. Article 21-22 are strongly supported, but we prefer the term open source to be replaced by: Free and Open Source Software 3. Article 23 is supported and to be enriched by this new language: NEW 23A. Access to information and knowledge as well as free communication are necessary prerequisites for personal development, for political participation and for the development of humanity as a whole. Freedom of information makes political decisions transparent, helps reduce corruption and improves the management of information in public administrations. Everyone has the right to have unhampered, unfiltered access to publicly available resources and to documents of public institutions without manipulation or control. Keeping administrative activities secret must always require legitimisation by law and should be kept within a tight legal framework. Information in private hands should also be accessible in case of a special public interest. 4. 11C is supported and to be integrated with 23B using the following wording: NEW 23B. Since science has a central role in the production of new knowledge, universal and equitable access to scientific knowledge, as well as equal opportunities for everyone for the creation and sharing of scientific knowledge, are crucial. Any research, especially that funded by public bodies, should enrich the public domain. This must be ensured by the promotion of efficient models for self-publication, open content contributions and other altenative models for the production, publication and sharing of scientific knowledge and the use of non-proprietary formats. 5. 24 A is supported. 6. NEW 40C is to be replaced: 40C. Human knowledge is the heritage and property of all humankind and the reservoir from which new knowledge is created. The primary goal of patents, copyright and trademarks, and other legal and technical monopolies on knowledge granted by society, must be to ensure maximum use of this knowledge and to encourage creativity as widely as possible within society. International agreements and treaties, and national policies concerning creation, sharing and trade of intellectual goods and cultural creations should be alligneds according to thos principle.