Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

WORKSHOP on

Open Standards:


Workshop Date: Thursday, 2 November 2006

Workshop Time: 9:30-11:00 am

Venue: Divani Apollon Palace & Spa (Aphrodite Hall)

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This IGF workshop will present the relationship between the “openness” of ICT standards, economic and social development, and government policy making, with a focus on procurement policies. The discussion will help governments to better understand the inherent tension between intellectual property rights (IPR) holders in ICT standards and the public.

The “Open Standards” workshop will use the example of the OpenDocument Format standard to highlight the positive impact open ICT standards can have on information access. See related “When Standards are Political – the Open Document Format (ODF)” by James Love in the Huffington Post.

The workshop will share the thoughts and experiences of the participants, who represent a broad range of multi-stakeholders:

Government:

  • Republic of South Africa: Natalie Sunker, Deputy Director, Intellectual Property, Policy & Legislation, Department of Trade and Industry
  • Brazil: Rogerio Santanna, Secretary of Information Technology, Ministry of Planning and Budget
  • Egypt’s Library of Alexandria: Prof. Magdy Nagi, Head of ICT Sector, Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Civil Society Organizations:

  • Consumer Project on Technology: Jamie Love
  • Yale Information Society Project: Eddan Katz
  • IP Justice: Robin Gross

Intergovernmental Organization:

  • South Centre, Innovation, Access to Knowledge and Intellectual Property Programme (IAIPP)

Standards Organization

  • W3C: Daniel Dardailler, Associate Chair for Europe

Industry:

  • Sun Microsystems: Susy Struble, Government Policy