Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 12:39:04 +0530 From: Subbiah Arunachalam Recently there was a few postings (eGovIndia list) on the appointment of Mr sam Pitroda as the Head of a new Knowledge Commission with Prof. P M Bhargava as his deputy. Here is some news of interest. Arun MSSRf, Chennai ------- More on the Access to Knowledge (a2k) treaty Michael Geist, We can help bridge the digital divide, Toronto Star, April 25, 2005. Excerpt: 'Earlier this month, the World Intellectual Property Organization hosted groundbreaking discussions in Geneva. The U.N. agency, which for years has been associated with ever-increasing intellectual property protections for the developed world, held talks about initiating a new intellectual property development agenda that holds the potential to shift some of its focus to the needs of the developing world. Although the precise issues to be addressed within the agenda are yet to be determined, a key element is the creation of an Access to Knowledge Treaty. It could include provisions on access to medicines and globally funded research, open access to scholarly research, as well as exceptions to patent and copyright laws that serve the interests of the developing world.'