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BACKGROUND GUIDE (.pdf) Hello. The name is Akshay Patil and yes, it is true, I will be chairing the World Intellectual Property Organization here at BosMUN 2002. I am currently a sophomore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, double majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. I've been doing MUN for a good 5 years; including 4 solid years of intense MUNing in high school. I "hail" from Southern California where I went to Palos Verdes Peninsula H.S. When I'm not doing MUN, I write for The Tech (MIT's newspaper) and do problem sets (not necessarily in that order). WIPO is more than a really cool acronym; it is basically the committee to be in when it comes to dealing with international disputes concerning intellectual property and the technical frontier. WIPO administers treaties concerning international patenting and trademarks. Since it's inception, WIPO has made great strides in unifying the standards of intellectual property and easing the process of receiving patent/trademark protection on an international scale. One of the topics we will discuss in committee is the patenting of biotechnological inventions. In other words we will be asking the question: "What should be patentable?" Should it be possible to patent an entire organism? A naturally occurring chemical? An organism's DNA? If the committee is able to reach an accord on biotechnology patenting, how should such a patenting system be implemented? What should and should not be stored in data banks? How should these data banks be distributed and administered? These are all questions that need to be answered as soon as possible to deal with the explosion of bio-engineering around us. The other topic for discussion is that of software with illegal uses. The main question behind this topic is "Are computer programs free speech?" WIPO has ruled that computer programs merit the same copyright protection as literary works, but does this is not the same. Should the author of a virus be protected from prosecution if he does not, in any way, release the virus on the general public? What IS a virus? Is it text or is it a tool? What is the status of programs that "rip" information off of DVDs and other encrypted media? Are the creators of such algorithms violating the law or merely practicing free speech? Topic Papers should discuss the history of the topic, United Nations/WIPO involvement, your country's policy, and some possible solutions. Committee will be run pretty much however the Secretariat tells me to run it. So check conference standards on papers and committee procedures. One annoying thing about WIPO (for me at least) is that unlike most of the United Nations, it's fast and effective. When issues arise, WIPO solves it and it's members actually follow the resolution. For this reason, our little simulation runs the grave risk of having our issues resolved before we have a chance to discuss them. For this reason, there is an additional clause to the given topics. If one goes obsolete, then I will do my best to disperse this information and try to find a new topic for committee. Keep up to date with developments and please feel free to email me at patil@mit.edu. I have what often passes as a website , as conference time grows closer I will hopefully have the presence of mind to start posting information relevant to committee.
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