Kampen om kunskap: Vem bestämmer vad kunskap är och vem äger den? : En textanalys av WIPOs Development Agenda och Draft Treaty on Access to Knowledge

Sammanfattning: Uppsala universitet The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate, through text analysis, the role of copyright in development, with particular interest of how the concepts knowledge and access to knowledge are used in Access to Knowledge Draft Treaty and WIPO Development Agenda. The definition of the concept knowledge, as it is used in copyright, is based in a Western historical and philosophical context and therefore excludes knowledge created in another type of society. The consequences of this exclusion have effects on development. Further it is stated that knowledge according to the global copyright scheme will be reduced to a commodity, which will have consequences not only in societies in the global South. The difficulties in achieving access to knowledge in the global copyright regime are investigated. The flexibilities contained in the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement are limited in scope and difficult to maintain. Exclusion from access to knowledge affects development and deepens inequalities both within countries and globally.