[DMCA-Activists] A Lot on WIPO's Plate This Week

[Seth Johnson]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Press Release 391: WIPO Assemblies Open
   Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 19:50:18 +0200 (CEST)
   From: address@hidden
Organization: WIPO
To: address@hidden


Press Release 391

Geneva, September 27, 2004



WIPO ASSEMBLIES OPEN

The meetings of the Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO), which bring  together WIPO’s 181 member
states will be held in Geneva from September 27 to October 5,
2004, to take  stock of progress in the Organization’s work and
discuss future policy directions. 

Opening the meeting, the Chairman of the WIPO General Assembly,
Ambassador Bernard Kessedjian  (Permanent Representative of
France to the United Nations in Geneva), asked delegates to
observe a few  moments of silence in memory of Dr. Arpad Bogsch,
former Director General of WIPO (1973 to 1997),  who passed away
on September 19, 2004. Ambassador Kesedjian remarked that Dr.
Bogsch had left an  "indelible mark on the Organization".

Ambassador Kessedjian said the Assemblies is a significant time
in the work of the Organization as it  allowed member states to
take stock of the Organization’s work over the previous year and
to take  decisions on future work. He called upon delegates to
display inventiveness and openness in dealing with  the various
subjects that were before them. He highlighted the importance of
intellectual property as a tool  for progress and sustainable
development and its relevance to all people. "Intellectual
property does not  only concern a few people - it is a concern
for all. It is a powerful engine of growth and progress." He
said  that intellectual property is an integral part of
sustainable development and "its benefits must be equally 
shared."

WIPO Director General, Dr. Kamil Idris, thanked member states for
their continued support and gave an  overview of the achievements
of the Organization over the past year. He pointed to the
widespread legal  and technical assistance offered by the
Organization to developing and least developed countries and 
economies in transition. He referred to a range of technological
enhancements to WIPO’s international  filing and registration
systems, and, in particular, to the simplification of the Patent
Cooperation Treaty  (PCT) and a revised patent system accessible
to all. "This is a prerequisite for the promotion of innovation 
and inventiveness and for making the patent system accessible to
all," he said. 

The Director General outlined WIPO’s work in the area of
norm-setting and codification of international  intellectual
property law. He said this activity complements the
Organization’s work in supporting  developing countries in the
use of the intellectual property system. Dr. Idris said that
"WIPO must continue  to be sensitive to other issues of global
concern including a balance between intellectual property rights 
holders and the public at large and that in this regard we are in
close cooperation with several  inter-governmental organizations
and non-governmental organizations." The Director General said
he  looked forward to hearing the views of the member states
throughout the Assemblies, calling upon them to  undertake
constructive discussions in a spirit of cooperation. The Director
General’s remarks were  followed by individual presentations by
top WIPO officials who reported on specific progress in their 
respective areas.

In addition, an exhibition, featuring the work of some 100
children from the Heilongjiang Province of  China, will also be
inaugurated on the sidelines of the annual assemblies in the
presence of a number of the  child artists. The centerpiece of
the exhibit "Creativity by Children -A Chinese Experience," is an
original  60 meter scroll which aligns some 100 paintings by the
children. All the paintings depict a theme relating to 
intellectual property.

The scroll was completed in April 2001, to mark the first World
Intellectual Property Day. The idea was  launched by the
intellectual property office of the Heilongjiang Province, which
asked children from ages  ranging from five to fifteen years to
paint pictures that depicted respect for the sciences and touched
on  themes of innovation, invention and progress.

Highlights of the Assemblies Agenda (in proposed order of
discussion):

    Member states will review the status of consultations on
outstanding issues relating to the protection of  audiovisual
performances and decide on future action on this question.
(Please see Update 227/2004  & PR 367/2003)

    The WIPO General Assembly will consider approving the
convening, at an appropriate time, of a  Diplomatic Conference on
the protection of broadcasting organizations to update
international  intellectual property standards for broadcasting
in the information age. The process of updating the IP  rights of
broadcasters, currently provided by the 1961 Rome Convention on
the Protection of  Performers, Producers of Phonograms and
Broadcasting Organizations, began in earnest in 1997. A  growing
signal piracy problem in many parts of the world, including
piracy of digitized pre-broadcast  signals, has made this need
more acute. (Please see WIPO/PR/2004/386).

    WIPO member states will consider a recommendation to approve
the convening of a Diplomatic  Conference for the Adoption of a
Revised Trademark Law Treaty in the first half of 2006. This
would  update the existing Trademark Law Treaty (TLT) bringing it
in line with the technological advances in  telecommunications
and would create an institutional framework allowing the
adaptation of certain  administrative details regulated under the
treaty. The revision of the TLT envisages the inclusion of 
provisions on electronic filing of trademark applications and
associated communications, provisions  concerning the recording
of trademark licenses, relief measures when certain time limits
have been  missed, and the establishment of an assembly of the
contracting parties. 

    The General Assembly will also review the work of the WIPO
Advisory Committee on Enforcement  (ACE). The ACE was set up by
WIPO member states in 2002 as a forum for discussion of
enforcement  matters with a mandate to provide technical
assistance and coordination, cooperation and the exchange  of
information on questions of enforcement. (Please see Update
227/2004)

    The General Assembly will consider a progress report
(document WO/GA/31/5) on the work of the  WIPO Intergovernmental
Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources,
Traditional  Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). In 2003, the Assembly
granted a fresh mandate for the IGC: this  continued the key role
of this body in working on these issues, but required the
Committee to focus on  the international dimension and to
accelerate its work. It raised the possibility of an
international  instrument in this area, and excluded no outcome.
The Assembly also requested an interim report on  the IGC’s work
for its session in 2004. The IGC met in March this year, and
decided to progress  towards a set of concrete outcomes, in the
form of provisions on the protection of traditional  knowledge
(TK) and expressions of folklore/ traditional cultural
expressions. These provisions could  express a shared
international perspective on the objectives and the core
principles of protection, with  the goal of safeguarding the
interests expressed by traditional and indigenous communities.
The report  to the Assemblies provides an update on this work,
and related activities, including cooperation with  other UN
agencies in this field, with civil society and with
representatives of indigenous and local  communities. The IGC
next meets in November, when it will consider draft texts for
these outcomes.

    The Assembly will also consider the relationship between the
patent system and legal regimes  governing access to genetic
resources and equitably sharing benefits from the use of these
resources. A  number of countries have called for various changes
to patent law standards to require patent  applicants to declare
where they obtained genetic resources or TK used in a claimed
invention. This is  an issue that has been raised in several WIPO
forums, as well as other international organizations. It is  also
the subject of a detailed technical study developed under the
aegis of the IGC (WIPO publication  786(E)). The Technical Study
was prepared at the invitation of the Conference of Parties (COP)
of the  Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In expressing
appreciation for the Study at its last  meeting, the CBD COP
invited WIPO to examine further questions on disclosure
requirements relevant  to genetic resources and TK, and to
address these issues where appropriate. The CBD COP also 
signaled that it would provide further feedback to WIPO once this
additional material had been  received from WIPO. This
partnership between the two bodies, also recently articulated in
a  cooperation agreement, is intended to promote the CBD
objectives of conservation, sustainable use  and equitable
benefit sharing. Since this issue is under consideration in a
number of WIPO fora, the  General Assembly has been requested to
provide guidance on how WIPO’s response to the invitation  should
be undertaken (document WO/GA/31/8). WIPO and the United Nations
Environment Program  (UNEP) will also shortly release an in-depth
study, jointly commissioned, on the role of intellectual 
property in benefit-sharing under the CBD. 

    Member states will also discuss the future work plan of the
Standing Committee on the Law of Patents  as regards the draft
Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT) on the basis of a proposal
by the United  States of America and Japan to limit the scope of
the SPLT to an initial package of priority items  relating to
prior-art issues and to defer discussion of other issues of
substantive patent law pending  resolution of the initial package
of issues. The so-called "first package" of provisions covers 
definition of prior art, grace period, novelty, and
non-obviousness/inventive step. The draft SPLT  covers a range of
basic legal principles that govern the grant and validity of
patents in different  countries, such as the criteria for
assessing whether an invention is novel and involves an
inventive  step, whether it is industrially applicable (or has
utility) and whether it is sufficiently described in the  patent
application concerned, and how patent claims should be drafted
and interpreted. It aims to  simplify, streamline and achieve
greater convergence among national and regional patent laws and 
practices to the benefit of all stakeholders in the patent
system.

    The Assembly of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) will
consider progress made in the reform of  the PCT and PCT
automation projects and will consider a proposal from the
secretariat to readjust the  PCT international filing fee upward
by 12%. ThePCT which seeks to ensure a more user-friendly,
cost-effective and efficient  system, continues to enjoy growth
in its use by companies and individuals seeking international
patent protection. The PCT is an international patent  filing
system that facilitates the process of obtaining patent
protection in up to 124 countries.

    Delegates will review one of the major programs of WIPO,
namely the assistance the Organization provides to developing
countries in order for each  country to use its national
intellectual property system to achieve national development
goals particularly aimed at creating employment, facilitating 
world trade and stimulating wealth creation. This program is very
much in line with the United Nations Millennium Goals designed to
create an  environment conducive to development and elimination
of poverty.

Today, developing countries are increasingly using intellectual
property as a strategic tool for economic growth and are
requesting WIPO's help in deriving  value from their intellectual
property systems, especially in the area of protecting and
leveraging their creative assets. In response to this the Program
and  Budget for 2004/2005 specifically states WIPO's goal of
supporting developing and least developed countries (LDCs) in
their initiatives to maximize the use and  effectiveness of IP as
a tool for economic, social and cultural development.

    The WIPO General Assembly will also consider a proposal from
Argentina and Brazil relating to the establishment of a new
development agenda for  WIPO including amendment of the WIPO
Convention (1967) to ensure that the development dimension of
WIPO’s work is enshrined in the  Organization’s work program. 

    The WIPO General Assembly will be briefed on the status of
recommendations approved by member states in 2002 to amend the
Uniform Domain Name  Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) to provide
protection for country names and for the names and acronyms of
intergovernmental organizations (IGOs).  These recommendations
are currently being considered by the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). WIPO's Arbitration  and
Mediation Center is the leading provider of services for the
resolution of disputes arising from the abusive registration of
Internet domain names.  (Please see PR/2003/363)

For further information, please contact the Media Relations and
Public Affairs Section at WIPO: 


Tel: (+41 22) - 338 81 61 or 338 95 47
Fax: (+41 22) - 338 88 10
Email: address@hidden

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