And We Quote...
in cra-briefings36 · May 01, 2006
We are writers. By this we mean we write our feelings, imagination, thoughts and scholarship in various forms and publish them. It is our natural social and civil right to see that our writing be it poetry or fiction, drama or film script, research or criticism, or the translation of works written by other writers of the world reach the public in a free and unhampered manner. It is not within the capacity of any person or organization to create obstacles for the publication of these works, under whatever pretext these may be.
— The 1994 Declaration by 134 Iranian Writers
Alliance Activities
in cra-briefings36 · May 01, 2006
Alliance co-chairs Susan Crean and Michel Beauchemin attended the combined Chalmers Conference and annual policy conference of the Canadian Conference of the Arts held in Ottawa in early March. An unexpected contribution came from David Stewart-Patterson, executive vice-president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) who made a presentation calling on Canada to follow Ireland’s lead and a abolish taxes on creativity. In a paper published in February entitled, From Bronze to Gold: A Blueprint for Canadian Leadership in a Transforming World, the CCCE makes a series of recommendations “necessary to secure Canada’s success as a country” and then advances five proposals for action which it admits are bold and controversial. The first of these “five creative leaps” is the proposal to abolish taxes on creativity. “To ensure that Canada is a haven for creative minds,” the CCCE suggests that inventors, artists and writers be exempt from income tax on their earnings from intellectual property. The paper points to the phenomenal success of the Irish economy since 1969 when the exemption on revenues from copyright and patents was first introduced. In its 2006 budget, however, Ireland put a cap on the exemption, restricting it to the first €250,000 earned. However, the paper notes, this is about ten times the modest proposal of $30,000 exemption on copyright income advanced by the CCA a few years ago. (Quebec adopted a similar provision in 1995.) Questions from the floor indicated that the business council sees the exemption benefiting corporations as well as individual creators. Many of its members, including pharmaceutical companies would benefit, although * was unable to say how much of their revenues would be ascribed to IP income. For more details see: www.ceocouncil.ca.
Updates
in cra-briefings36 · May 01, 2006
What’s New At WIPO
WIPO is preparing for two major meetings that are of interest to the creative community. From April 24-28 the Intergovernmental Committee on Traditional Knowledge will be holding its 9th session which will review the revised draft report of the 8th session. In early May the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights will be meeting. The primary focus of this meeting with be the Draft Basic Proposal for the WIPO treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations. Many international parties are watching for the results of deliberations related to the non-mandatory inclusion of webcasting at this stage of treaty discussion. For the text of the draft proposal see www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=9943.