The Emergence of the A2K Movement: Reminiscences and Reflections of a Developing-Country Delegate

This chapter, is part of an edited volume, Access to Knowledge in the Age of Intellectual Property (Zone Press, 2010). It examines the formation of the Access to Knoweldge movement from the viewpoint of a Geneva based negotiator of a developing country. It aims to be a contribution to the narrative of the genesis of this movement in which many different actors, in particular academics and civil society activists, were also actively involved. The chapter focuses on developments and initiatives that took place in Geneva based international fora and organizations, such as WIPO, and which played an important structuring role in the emergence of Access to Knowledge as a movement and in the framing of Access to Knowledge as a concept.