Imagine if… the cure to the AIDS virus was patented on discovery.

This is the third and final e-poster in our ‘Imagine if…’ campaign, with a very real warning of how the patenting process has tangible, life-or-death consequences in Africa. We ask you to upload the new e-poster to your blog or social networking profiles, as a way to drive home the importance of the patent issue, and the role that FTISA plays, and will continue to play, in reforming patent policy, legislation and practice in South Africa.

A big thank you to Pria Chetty who provided the inspiration for this poster; along with those who contributed their slogans to this campaign over the last month.  Also kudos to Infiltrate Media who interpreted the slogans to produced these stunning images.

To all those who have confirmed their attendance at the event – this is a final reminder for the AGM tomorrow, which starts at 2.00pm until 7.30pm at the University of the Witwatersrand, Administrative Block, Room CB8. This is going to be a highly interactive event, so be ready to contribute, contribute, contribute! A detailed programme for the afternoon is available here.

And to those who cannot attend the event, we are planning on live blogging the proceedings, so join us on the homepage of this website (http://ftisa.org.za) from 2pm for a blow-by-blow account of the AGM.

Imagine if there was no secret science. According to Derek, secret science is “where the output of research is only made accessible to a few elite people or locked up through patents, which are designed to withhold disclosure and creates a monopoly.” He explains this in the context of the number of scientific research papers that are published per year: Did you know that the United States publishes 690 scientific research papers per million people per year, compared to Africa’s 8.2 per million people per year? This is a worrying difference, one that Keats believes can be mended by lowering the barriers to innovation through the use of ‘open science’ i.e. free and open source software and open knowledge, which act as catalysts to stimulate innovation, and thus the growth of publicly funded scientific research. Closed science, on the other hand, signifies a very clear ‘No Entry’, creating barriers to entry and prohibiting innovation built “on the shoulders of giants.”

So does the stat above get you riled up, get your blood boiling and your eyes popping? Well, there are three things you can do:

Do some DEEP BREATHING exercises. This will increase the amount of oxygen in your body and make you feel relaxed, calm and serene.

SHARE this poster on your website, blog, social networking or IM profile, write a blog entry about it and get people to participate in the Imagine If… campaign to spread the word about this issue.

JOIN US at the AGM and play an active role in shaping the future of this organization and its activities. The event will be held on Wednesday, 27 January 2010 from 2.00pm until around 7.30pm at the University of the Witwatersrand, Administrative Block, Room CB8. Please RSVP to ftisa@africancommons.org should you wish to attend.  There will be remote participation so let us know if you wish to participate via Skype.