Global Innovation Commons receives pre-Copenhagen coverage; European Patent Office official minimizes violation of patent law

Date:  Thu, 2009-11-05

Global Innovation Commons receives pre–Copenhagen coverage; European Patent Office official minimizes violation of patent law

November 5, 2009 – Brussels, Belgium –– Innovation policy will be the fulcrum for many climate negotiations at United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen. Negotiators seek to extend existing intellectual property practices to vital issues including climate change technologies. M·CAM has provided the world’s most comprehensive interactive archive of climate change technologies which have been opaque to the global market for decades – being brought to international visibility in the Global Innovation Commons (http://www.globalinnovationcommons.org). In a deployment partnership with the World Bank and International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) infoDev, M–CAM has made available over $2 trillion of both revenue generating and research and development technologies for public, open-source, use.

In today’s cover article in Der Spiegel – Patent Lies: Who Says Saving the Planet Has to Cost a Fortune – M·CAM’s work on innovation ethics is highlighted. In addition, a now retired senior officer of the European Patent Office acknowledges, on the record, that the illegal practice of redundant patent filings is merely a “detail.” “Sometimes patents are not worth what they claim they are in terms of innovation,” Gerard Giroud, the recently retired international affairs director of the European Patent Office, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. “But it seems to me a detail. Patent offices should grant patents to encourage investment in a particular type of technology – because that investment is what will save the planet.”

For the complete article, please download:http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,628606,00.html

PUBPAT News: Court Upholds Right Of Scientists And Patients To Challenge Gene Patents

Date:  Mon, 2009-11-02

PUBPAT New: Court Upholds Right Of Scientists And Patients To Challenge Gene Patents

November 2, 2009 – New York –&#8211 A federal district court ruled today that patients and scientists can challenge patents on human genes in court, allowing a lawsuit challenging patents on two human genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer to move forward.

The lawsuit was filed by the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) and the American Civil Liberties Union. The groups charge that the patents are illegal and restrict both scientific research and patients’ access to medical care, and that patents on human genes violate the First Amendment and patent law because genes are “products of nature.”

“We hope this challenge is the beginning of the end to patents on genes, which limit scientific research, learning and the free flow of information,” said Chris Hansen, a staff attorney with the ACLU First Amendment Working Group. “No one should be able to patent a part of the human body.”

The lawsuit, Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, et al., was originally filed on May 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of breast cancer and women’s health groups, individual women, geneticists and scientific associations representing approximately 150,000 researchers, pathologists and laboratory professionals. The lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as well as Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah Research Foundation, which hold the patents on the BRCA genes. The defendants asked the court to dismiss the case but today’s ruling allows the lawsuit to proceed.

Because the PUBPAT/ACLU lawsuit challenges the whole notion of gene patenting, its outcome could have far-reaching effects beyond the patents on the BRCA genes. Approximately 20 percent of all human genes are patented, including genes associated with Alzheimer’s disease, muscular dystrophy, colon cancer, asthma and many other illnesses.

The court noted the significance of this case. The court’s opinion stated, “The widespread use of gene sequence information as the foundation for biomedical research means that resolution of these issues will have far–reaching implications, not only for gene–based health care and the health of millions of women facing the specter of breast cancer, but also for the future course of biomedical research… The novel circumstances presented by this action against the USPTO, the absence of any remedy provided in the Patent Act, and the important constitutional rights the Plaintiffs seek to vindicate establish subject matter jurisdiction over the Plaintiffs’ claim against the USPTO.”

“We look forward to proving in court that human gene patents should never have been granted in the first place,” said Daniel B. Ravicher, Executive Director of PUBPAT. “Companies should not able to own the rights to a piece of the human genome. Specific tests or drugs can be patented, but not genes themselves.”

The specific patents PUBPAT and the ACLU are challenging are on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Mutations along the BRCA1 and 2 genes are responsible for most cases of hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. Many women with a history of breast and ovarian cancer in their families opt to undergo genetic testing to determine if they have the mutations on their BRCA genes that put them at increased risk for these diseases. This information is critical in helping these women decide on a plan of treatment or prevention, including increased surveillance or preventive mastectomies or ovary removal.

The patents granted to Myriad give the company the exclusive right to perform diagnostic tests on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes and to prevent any researcher from even looking at the genes without first getting permission from Myriad. Myriad’s monopoly on the BRCA genes makes it impossible for women to access alternate tests or get a second opinion about their results and allows Myriad to charge a high rate for their tests.

“The patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2 restrict women’s access to genetic testing and interfere with their medical care,” said Sandra Park, staff attorney with the ACLU Women’s Rights Project. “We hope that at the conclusion of this lawsuit, the court declares the patents unconstitutional and invalid.”

Several major organizations, including the American Medical Association, the March of Dimes and the American Society for Human Genetics, filed friend–of–the–court briefs in support of the challenge to the patents on the BRCA genes.

More information about the case, including a video of why we’re fighting to liberate the breast cancer genes, plaintiff and supporter statements and a copy of the court’s decision denying the motions to dismiss the case, can be found online at http://www.pubpat.org/brca.

M·CAMs Global Innovation Commons Debuts in Brazil, Launches in India, and Opens Doors in China

Date:  Thu, 2009-10-29

M·CAM’s Global Innovation Commons Debuts in Brazil, Launches in India, and Opens Doors in China

Florianopolis, Brazil; Delhi, India; Zheng Zhou, China. In it’s worldwide launch of the Global Innovation Commons initiative, M·CAM’s commitment to the development of equitable innovation engagement for the world was highlighted today. At the World Bank and IFC’s infoDev Global Forum in Florianopolis Brazil, M·CAM’s Executive Chairman, Dr. David Martin, officially unveiled and demonstrated the world’s first Global Innovation Commons on Clean/Green Energy and Water Technologies. Highlighting “open source” and freedom-to-operate technologies in the area of Hybrid Vehicles, Dr. Martin showed the most marginalized and middle income countries over 15,000 patents which have been filed in the industrialized countries but which have either been unprotected in the Most Marginalized States, not maintained and abandoned, or expired. Using this information, countries and their entrepreneurial ventures can immediately understand, create and market products to address critical technology needs without fear of patent infringement in the unprotected markets. At the inaugural unveiling of the Global Innovation Commons, the first password was given to Dr. H.K. Mittal of India’s Department of Science and Technology in honor of his contribution to inspiring M·CAM’s creation of this platform. To complete the global unveiling, M·CAM’s Open Innovation Engineer Megan DeLuccia introduced the Global Innovation Commons at a combined State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China, Beijing East Linden, and Ministry of Science and Technology conference in Zheng Zhou China. For more information, please visit:

http://infodev.org/en/Article.427.html andhttp://www.globalinnovationcommons.org

To view Dr. David Martin’s speech, please click below:

To link to Megan Deluccia’s speeches, please click links below:

M·CAM Open Innovation Engineer Megan DeLuccia Addresses 5th International Seminar on Enterprise Intellectual Property Strategy in Zheng Zhou, People’s Republic of China

Date:  Thu, 2009-10-29

M·CAM Open Innovation Engineer Megan DeLuccia Addresses 5th International Seminar on Enterprise Intellectual Property Strategy in Zheng Zhou, People’s Republic of China

October 29, 2009 – Zheng Zhou –– People’s Republic of China. Megan DeLuccia will be giving two addresses at the 5th International Seminar on Enterprise Intellectual Property Strategy sponsored by long–time M·CAM business partner Beijing East Linden and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China. Her speeches will focus on the changing dynamic of the intellectual property system in light of global development. She will address topics including the effective use of open source and Global Innovation Commons intellectual property information, the changing landscape of financial transactions involving intellectual property, and intangible asset insurance. Specific details will be shared regarding Innovation Trade Credit Offset programs, Sovereign Technology Credit Obligations, and transactional Representation and Warranty indemnity programs.

To link to Beijing East Linden, please click HERE

To link to Megan Deluccia’s speeches, please click links below:

M·CAM Executive Chairman delivers Plenary Address at Third infoDev Global Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Brazil

Date:  Tue, 2009-10-27

M·CAM Executive Chairman delivers Plenary Address at Third infoDev Global Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Brazil

October 27, 2009 – Florianopolis, Brazil –– Dr. David Martin joins The Honorable Luiz Henrique da Sliveira, Governor of Santa Catarina State, Brazil in the opening Plenary Address at the combined XIX Brazilian National Seminar on Science Parks and Business Incubation and the Third infoDev Global Forum on Innovation and Entrepreneurship assembly. This event, jointly sponsored by infoDev, World Bank, International Finance Corporation, Brazil’s Ministry of Science and Technology, SEBRAE, and ANPROTEC, convenes over 1,000 senior finance, economics, and business development leaders in a dialogue about effective enablement of innovation in the global market.

Dr. Martin’s address will focus on the re–alignment of innovation resources for the creation of ethical finance and market opportunities. Highlighting the need to deploy significant unused and underdeveloped innovations from around the world drawn from the Global Innovation Commons, awareness will be broadened on unique tools for development which enable unprecedented market engagement and enterprise acceleration.

Also at this event, M·CAM will officially unveil its Inaugural Global Innovation Commons which is being launched in a deployment partnership with infoDev. This is a compilation of hundreds of thousands of innovations which are available in the public domain due to patent expiration, abandonment, disallowance, or applicant failure to seek protection within global markets. In the fields of water, carbon–alternative energy, food and agriculture, and public health, the Global Innovation Commons serves as an immediate asset for any development or procurement effort on the planet. Using this Open Source Innovation Commons, entrepreneurs and policy makers can experience freedom to commercialize technologies which have been restricted from market access by abuses of the patent system.

In the Global Innovation Commons, all innovation artifacts (patents, research publications, government or industry sponsored research reports, and technology procurement records) have been assembled and reviewed for their legal standing in every country on Earth. These innovation artifacts have been compiled so that jurisdictions of enforcement are easily assessed to avoid any infringement in any jurisdiction. This enables a business or government to know what can be developed for domestic use only, for limited export, or for general export. Wherever possible, using abandoned patents, global freedom-to-commercialize positions are identified for unrestricted commercial use and deployment.

Each innovation artifact, together with its jurisdiction(s) of enforcement is displayed so that the user can identify the innovator, owner of record, and any other pertinent information about the innovation. Using the Global Innovation Commons, one can immediately identify both zones for commercial development and use and those zones where active patent enforcement may blockade an Open–Source derived product or service. In the image below, one can see that the country highlighted in red (the United States) is the only jurisdiction where this patent is protected. This means that all other countries are free to use the information contained in this patent with the exception of creating an infringement in the United States.

To link to Conference, please click HERE

To link to Global Innovation Commons, please click HERE

To link to Dr. David Martin’s speech, please click HERE

M·CAM Papua New Guinea Interns Lecture at UVA Engineering School

Date:  Tue, 2009-10-13

M·CAM Papua New Guinea Interns Lecture at UVA Engineering School

October 13, 2009 –– M·CAM summer interns Caitlin Boyd and Katie Martin presented the Heritable Innovation Trust framework and experience to two classes at the University of Virginia’s Engineering school today. Presenting the legal and experiential framework for Heritable Innovation Trusts, their presentation included student engagement in actual case work on integrated Heritable Innovation in global market strategies. Their presentations included lectures to two classes: Useful Knowledge and its Role in the Local and Global Community; and, Development on the Ground. For more information about the UVA international development engineering program, please visit: HERE

David Martin Presents New Funding Models at 2009 Automotive Summit – Slides Updated

Date:  Fri, 2009-10-09

David Martin Presents New Funding Models at 2009 Automotive Summit – Slides Updated

October 9, 2009 –– M·CAM Executive Chairman Dr. David Martin will be addressing the 2009 Automotive Summit “Sustainability, Opportunity, and Inclusion” at Detroit’s Motor City Hotel. Growing out of M·CAM’s unprecedented work on developing economic strategies to address the U.S. automotive industry suppliers’ capital access challenges, this presentation will highlight M·CAM’s Innovation Optimization finance models. In a time when considerable volatility exists throughout the U.S. manufacturing sectors, leveraging innovation and structuring innovation optimized credit solutions is frequently ignored. With its commitment to innovating in times of extreme challenge and aligned with its commitment to assist those who are frequently overlooked, this presentation – sponsored by the RainbowPUSH Coalition – will be targeted towards minority and women owned enterprises throughout the automotive industry.

For more information, please click HERE

Full Presentation

M·CAM’s David Martin named to Climate Prosperity Alliance Executive Board

Date:  Fri, 2009-10-02

M·CAM’s David Martin named to Climate Prosperity Alliance Executive Board

October 2, 2009 –– Dr. David Martin has been asked to serve on the Executive Board of the Climate Prosperity initiative coordinated by the Global Urban Development organization. The Global Climate Prosperity Agreement –– “The One Trillion Dollar Deal” –– can become the worldwide game–changer that will demonstrate the positive path forward for human civilization in the 21st century, namely the peaceful transition from the current globally unsustainable economy to an advanced technology–driven and environmentally sustainable industrialized society. Key private sector executives are organizing this completely voluntary, market–oriented, public–private investment and development strategy whereby corporations, financial institutions, insurance companies, pension funds, equity investment funds, and others will commit to invest one trillion dollars in developing countries over the next decade to build a new and modern infrastructure based entirely on renewable energy and clean technologies, including plug–in electric vehicles and “smart” and “super” electric grids. These investments and related projects will be supplemented and enhanced by additional funds, tax incentives, and regulatory policy support from governments, along with funds that will come from international donor agencies, official development assistance, and private philanthropy. The United Nations and World Bank, including various UN agencies and regional development banks, can play a key role in enabling these investments to succeed.

The Global Climate Prosperity Agreement will help achieve the Millennium Development Goals in developing countries, by raising living standards and promoting sustainable economic and employment growth and sustainable business and community development through innovation, efficiency, and conservation in the use and reuse of all natural and human resources. It will benefit developing and developed nations alike, generating a dynamic upward cycle of sustainable economic prosperity, job creation, and income growth worldwide, while simultaneously reducing greenhouse gas emissions, through increased production and distribution of renewable energy and clean technologies that optimize overall resource efficiency. Under Climate Prosperity, economic livelihoods and well–being, quality of life, public health and safety, and peace and security, will improve for billions of people in every place throughout the world. It will revive the global economy from its current market recession, stimulate massive long–term employment and income growth, and protect the economy and environment from resource supply shortages, catastrophic climate change, and other major threats and challenges.

For more information, HERE

When Green Meets Gold – Green Economy Pension Paradox

Date:  Mon, 2009-09-28

When Green Meets Gold – Green Economy Pension Paradox

September 28, 2009 – David Martin PhD., Executive Chairman of M·CAM Inc (www.m-cam.com) – the international leader in innovation finance and trade–returns to ZOOM’D for a further riveting look at the relationship between the world’s growing green economy and the current global system of finance in a show entitled “When Green Meets Gold.” David reveals realities of the financial system to be aware of, describes the underbelly of inertia and barriers that complicate responses to climate change, and points to a view of positive movement that showcases potential, not gloom and doom. The global financial crises may have a silver lining–offering opportunities not before seen at scale and around which engaged leadership across society can be mobilized. This ZOOM’D segment initiates explicit emphasis on visions for a desirable future–which extend beyond the polarities, doomsday clamor, and fear that pervades much of the dialogue going on within this era of extraordinary change.

To Listen to the show, please click HERE

M·CAM Financial Risk Modeling Highlighted in Futurist Publication

Date:  Tue, 2009-09-08

M·CAM Financial Risk Modeling Highlighted in Futurist Publication

The Futurist – September–October 2009. A New End, A New Beginning by John L. Petersen.

Excerpt:

“Predicting the future is a fool’s errand. It is fraught with so much complexity and uncertainty that the best one can do with integrity is to array potential alternatives – scenarios – across the horizon, and then try to think about what might be done if one of those alternative worlds materializes.

Scenario planning has certainly been an effective discipline, helping many organizations to imagine potentialities that probably otherwise wouldn’t have shown up in their field of view. But as I facilitate organizations going through these exercises, the little, nagging voice in the back of my head is not asking, “What is the array of possible futures?” Rather, it is always wondering, “What is the future really going to be?” We want concreteness. We want predictions.

My colleague David Martin outlined the financial dominoes that were going to fall in a talk at The Arlington Institute in July 2006. Implicit in his treatise is the collapse of the U.S. and global financial systems, but again, it’s one thing to hear such views and quite another to really believe them.”

For the complete article, click HERE

Dr. Martin Gives Inaugural Address to PSG Tech E-360 Forum

Date:  Tue, 2009-09-08

Dr. Martin Gives Inaugural Address to PSG Tech E–360 Forum

Coimbatore, India – September 8, 2009 –– Dr. David Martin will give the Inaugural address to the PSG Tech national entrepreneur’s forum on September 12, 2009. This two day conference brings together student entrepreneurs from across India to discuss how to engage in constructive, value accretive ventures which build both economic and social opportunities for the country and the world. Established in 1951 buy the PSG & Sons Charities Trust, PSG Tech is one of India’s leading entrepreneurship institutions of higher learning. Based in Coimbatore, this college enrolls approximately 25,000 students in over 40 disciplines.

For more information, please visit HERE

M·CAM’s Long-standing Client Sells 100,000th Product

Date:  Wed, 2009-09-02

M·CAM’s Long–standing Client Sells 100,000th Product

Soluble Systems Celebrates Sales Milestone

NEWPORT NEWS, Virginia – September 2, 2009 –– On August 18th, Soluble Systems, LLC crossed a major milestone by selling its 100,000th TheraGauze™ dressing. In just its second year of sales, the biotech start–up company’s sales continue to grow as TheraGauze™ becomes available in more wound care centers, veterans medical centers and hospitals across the country.

“We are very proud to accomplish this important sales goal,” said Allan Staley, President and Co–Founder of Soluble Systems LLC. “Since its inception, this company’s mission has been to enhance healing in order to save limbs and lives, and it is rewarding to know that 100,000 TheraGauze™ dressings have been used to help heal more than 5,000 patients in pursuit of that mission.”

Complete Press Release

M·CAM Opens the Flow of Open Source Innovation with the India Water Project Global Technology Assessment™

Date:  Fri, 2009-08-21

M·CAM Opens the Flow of Open Source Innovation with the India Water Project Global Technology Assessment™

Charlottesville, Virginia – August 21, 2009 –– The world’s first open source Innovation Commons program on water technology and innovation has been launched today. An estimated 1.6 million children die each year from lack of water. Over 2.5 billion people do not have access to potable water. And all of these statistics have been unchanged while tens of thousands of innovations on water have been patented – many never put to use…until today.

M·CAM has released the world’s first Innovation Commons for Water under the India Water Project Global Technology Assessment. This project, targeting India, is in direct response to the Government of India’s leadership in making clean water a national priority and mandating that its agencies and ministries resolve the challenges facing India with all haste. M·CAM wants to assist in this life–saving endeavor. This free platform allows users from around the world to tap into the creativity of thousands of innovators who have developed solutions for the world’s water challenges but have been unable to take them to scale. Now, everyone will have equal access to Open Source innovations and know–how derived from the most creative minds around the world.

Water is life. Like many other decisions taken by humanity during its evolution, many companies and individuals have sought and received patents covering one or more processes involved with the extraction and capture, transmission, purification, testing, distribution and end use of water. The Water for the World Global Technology Assessment™, or GTA, provides a compendium of thousands of innovations in water related technologies. This Water GTA discloses innovations which are in the public domain in much, if not all, of the world. Either by expiration, abandonment (meaning that maintenance fees have not been paid) or failure to file in certain jurisdictions, the innovations disclosed herein belong to the world.

The information in this GTA is compiled from over 15,000 companies, research institutions and individuals in over 120 countries. In their protection, the world was precluded from their use and now, they can be recycled for the benefit of all humanity. Billions of dollars of research and development are represented in this GTA and special interest groups, entrepreneurs, NGOs and governments should insist that, before any precious resources are spent on R&D or procurement of water solutions, a review of the open source is mandatory so as not to waste precious time and resources on replicating what is already done and now is free.

For more information, please visit: http://water.m-cam.com

For questions or media inquiries, please send an e-mail to info@m-cam.com

David Martin Opens 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Business Incubation in Coimbatore, India

Date:  Thu, 2009-08-06

David Martin Opens 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Business Incubation in Coimbatore, India

Coimbatore, India – August 6, 2009 –– Today, M·CAM Executive Chairman Dr. David Martin opens the 4th Asia Pacific Conference on Business Incubation sponsored by the World Bank’s infoDev and the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India. Dr. Martin’s keynote address covers three themes around the opportunities presented to entrepreneurs who seek to find responses to the current global economic situation. In his address, he focuses on:

Innovation Literacy – insuring that innovators and the private sector are adequately informed of the paradigms of promoting innovation;

Global Innovative Output – insuring that the focus on innovation is on customers, clients, and procurement rather than on abusive investment capital; and,

Innovation Recycling – the ability to use latent, abandoned, or repurposed innovation that has been ignored or buried in incumbent economies to fuel new enterprise options in the rest of the world.

Models of transformative engagement (in contrast to ill–conceived frameworks from the WTO and OECD promoted programs) are presented including the Heritable Innovation Trust scheme, the Peace Trade program and other forms of ethical engagement.

M·CAM’s Open Source Environmental Innovation Commons Introduced at 2020 Climate Leadership Conference in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Date:  Wed, 2009-08-05

M·CAM’s Open Source Environmental Innovation Commons Introduced at 2020 Climate Leadership Conference in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

August 5, 2009 – Belo Horizonte, Brazil –– Growing out of the work that was done for the Green EFA presentation to the EU Parliament last years, M·CAM has profiled over 30,000 innovations from over 122 countries which are open source solutions for the challenges facing the global climate dynamics. Derived from expired, abandoned, or inadequately protected patents and other innovation disclosures, M·CAM has been working with a number of groups through its Innovation Literacy division to disseminate information that is vital to the environmental campaign. As part of the State of the World Forum and the Global Transition Initiative, Dr. Martin introduced this program to the 2020 Climate Leadership Conference in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and will be continuing to support a collaborative, open source program to insure that solutions to climate challenges are made available to interested parties around the world. For more information, please click HERE

M·CAM Discusses Heritable Innovation Trust with Australia’s Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commission in Sydney.

Date:  Wed, 2009-08-05

M·CAM Discusses Heritable Innovation Trust with Australia’s Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commission in Sydney.

Sydney, Australia – August 5, 2009 –– M·CAM’s Executive Chairman, Dr. David E. Martin sat down with PITIC’s Chris Brimble for an interview discussing the recently released Heritable Innovation Trust. PITIC and M·CAM are both deeply committed to finding new models of engagement between the Pacific Island nations and the global marketplace and continue to explore ways of jointly pursuing these objectives.

Complete Interview

M·CAM Supported Research at U.C. Berkeley Presented at National Bureau of Economic Research meeting in Cambridge.

Date:  Wed, 2009-07-22

M·CAM Supported Research at U.C. Berkeley Presented at National Bureau of Economic Research meeting in Cambridge.

University of California, Berkeley; Charlottesville, Virginia – July 22, 2009 –– UC Berkeley economists Zhen Lei and Brian Wright have published a seminal paper examining the issue of patent quality supported, in part, by a research collaboration with M·CAM. Why Weak Patents? Rational Ignorance or Pro–”Customer” Tilt? is an examination of both human and machine metrics of patent quality showing profound discrepancies in patent issuing between the United States, Europe, and machine intelligence criteria. “Our study suggests that the rules and procedures of the USPTO have forced examiners to grant many of these weak applications,” they conclude.

M·CAM Delivers World’s First Heritable Innovation Trust to Government and Communities in Papua New Guinea

Date:  Wed, 2009-07-22

M·CAM Delivers World’s First Heritable Innovation Trust to Government and Communities in Papua New Guinea

July 22, 2009 – Rabaul, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea and Charlottesville, Virginia –– Offering the first alternative framework to the World Trade Organization’s long–delayed efforts to promote and protect indigenous and heritable knowledge, M·CAM will release the world’s first Heritable Innovation Trust to the community elders and elected officials in East New Britain today. While the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat (PIFS) nations are debating accession to and implementation of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreements which provide no statutory protection for any local knowledge, the Heritable Innovation Trust framework is now deployed and will be stewarded by the communities in East New Britain.

The Heritable Innovation Trust framework was written by M·CAM in consultation with communities around the world with specific input from local experts in Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, and Papua New Guinea. It was published in the International Bar Association’s journal Convergence (Heritable Knowledge Framework and the Development of Communal Innovation Trusts: An Ethical Framework for Development, Stewardship, and Trade.” Volume 5, Number 1,). Twenty three pieces of Heritable Knowledge are chronicled in the first Heritable Innovation Trust document covering items including organic food and beverage containers, construction materials and processes and organic remedies.

Please download the full Trust Document by clicking on the the link below.

M·CAM Expands Inquiry of New Guinea Gold Financial Reporting and Local Landowner Rights

Date:  Thu, 2009-06-18

M·CAM Expands Inquiry of New Guinea Gold (TXS–V: NGG) Financial Reporting and Local Landowner Rights

June 18, 2009 – Kokopo, East New Britain; Charlottesville, Virginia –– The National has reported on the most recent press conference held in which M·CAM distributed a series of financial statements and reports issued by New Guinea Gold Corporation regarding the Sinivit ‘Wild Dog’ gold mining operation. In the wake of increasing scrutiny, New Guinea Gold refuted earlier press reports about financial conditions published in the PNG Post Courier thereby calling into question the completeness or accuracy of their shareholder disclosures. M·CAM has taken an increased interest in evaluating the financial disclosures in a number of mining operations around the world to assess whether corporate public disclosures match other public sources of information.

The following is a brief summary from the article in The National.

ENB concern for “wild dog” welcomed

By EVAH BANIGE

AN international environmental consultant has welcomed the East New Britain provincial government”s response to a report he presented last month regarding the impact of mining operations at the Wild Dog mine in Sinivit.

Dr David Martin said he was happy that the government had now taken steps to respond to his presentation and showed concern over the matter. However, Dr Martin clarified that the reports he presented were not from his company or landowners, but were reports published by New Guinea Gold for their shareholders that had also been placed on the company”s corporate website for verification.

For a complete view of the article HERE

David Martin Interviewed on VoiceAmerica Business with John D. Schmidt Regarding US and Global Financial Market Challenges and Opportunities

Date:  Mon, 2009-06-15

David Martin Interviewed on VoiceAmerica Business with John D. Schmidt Regarding US and Global Financial Market Challenges and Opportunities

June 15, 2009 – Charlottesville, VA –&#8211 Recognizing Financial and Dollar Realities. This show takes a sobering look at the financial crises and elements of the path forward that must be considered and anticipated, including implications on personal and societal wealth. It explores in particular the US situation and the dollar, and its relationship to major global players and the global economic and financial system at large. David’s deep base of experience and knowledge of complexities of the financial world will help establish an unbiased view of reality, and further contribute to painting a big picture of the whole that ZOOM’D is helping to clarify in the early segments of the series. In this interview, David discusses the role of innovation outsourcing, debt–based over consumption, untested economic assumptions and a variety of issues. He then offers explicit recommendations for individuals and policymakers with respect to dealing with a more integral, humane global market of the future. To hear the one hour show or download to MP3 or iPod, click HERE