[DMCA-Activists] WIPO Dev Agenda Outcome

[Seth Johnson]

> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/003512.php#003512
> http://www.fsfe.org/Members/gerloff/blog
> http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/a2k/2005-April/000251.html

---

> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/003512.php#003512

Blogging WIPO: Final Resolution
April 14, 2005

We won big this week. First, there is a genuinely substantive
policy discussion going on within WIPO about its obligations to
be more than an IP-factory and instead explore its capacity as a
positive force for the social and economic development of its
member states. Not only was the majority of the meeting spent
discussing the excellent Friends of Development proposal, but the
good guys secured two more meetings to focus on reforming WIPO,
defeating those who wanted to limit the process to a single
additional meeting. Second, WIPO agreed to open the next two
events to the 17 non-accredited non-government organizations
(NGOs) that fought hard to attend this first meeting.

The Chair's summary of the proceedings and the next steps in the
process have been reproduced for your convenience after the jump.
WIPO has now ended its first Inter-Sessional Intergovernmental
Meeting (IIM) on the Development Agenda. The next meeting will be
June 20-22, where delegates will consider comments on the
proposals from the 14 Friends of Development, the US, the UK,
Mexico, and any other proposals put forward. The third meeting
will be some time in July. That meeting will finalize the report
to the WIPO General Assembly.

Chair's Summary and Final Resolution from the Inter-Sessional
Intergovernmental Meeting on a Development Agenda for WIPO

First Session, Geneva, April 11-13, 2005

As finally adopted, April 13, 2005, 9:06 P.M.

1. The WIPO General Assembly, in its Thirty-First (15th
Extraordinary) Session held at Geneva, from September 27 to
October 5, 2004, decided to convene inter-sessional
intergovernmental meetings to examine the proposals contained in
document WO/GA/31/11 (Proposal by Argentina and Brazil for the
Establishment of a Development Agenda for WIPO), as well as
additional proposals of Member States. The first session of the
Inter-Sessional Intergovernmental Meeting (IIM) on a Development
Agenda for WIPO was held from April 11 to 13, 2005.

2. 99 Member States, 16 Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)
and 41 Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) participated in the
session.

3. The IIM decided to admit, on an ad hoc basis, 17
non-accredited NGOs, as per the attached list, without
implications as to their status for future WIPO meetings.

4. The IIM unanimously elected Ambassador Rigoberto Gauto
Vielman, Permanent Representative of Paraguay, as Chair, and
Ambassador Dimiter Tzantchev, Permanent Representative of
Bulgaria, as Vice-Chair.

5. The IIM adopted the draft agenda as proposed in document
IIM/1/1 Prov. with the addition of Item 7 - Adoption of the
Report.

6. The IIM discussed a proposal by Argentina and Brazil
(co-sponsored by Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Egypt, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania
and Venezuela) relating to the Establishment of a Development
Agenda for WIPO (documents WO/GA/31/11 and WO/GA/31/14), a
proposal by Brazil on behalf of the "Group of Friends of
Development" relating to a Proposal to Establish a Development
Agenda for WIPO: An Elaboration of Issues Raised in Document
WO/GA/31/11 (document IIM/1/4), a proposal by the United States
of America for the Establishment of a Partnership Program in WIPO
(document IIM/1/2), a proposal by Mexico on Intellectual Property
and Development (document IIM//1/3), and observations by the
United Kingdom relating to IP and Development (document IIM/1/5).

7. Given the need for indepth examination of the proposals, it
was considered that more time would be required by Member States
to examine them. The IIM decided to continue discussions and
consideration of the proposals at the next session of the IIM,
which would take place from June 20 to 22, and that a third
session of three days would be held in July 2005 on dates which
would be communicated by the Secretariat to the Member States as
soon as possible. Member States may submit in writing to the
Secretariat additional proposals on the establishment on a
development agenda for consideration at the next session of the
IIM. To facilitate discussions at that next session, the Chairman
invited those Member States, which had made or would be making
proposals, to submit them in operational and actionable language
to the Secretariat, in writing.

8. The IIM noted that the Draft Report of the first session would
contain all the interventions made during the current session and
also the Chairman's summary. This Draft Report will be prepared
by the Secretariat and communicated to the Permanent Missions of
the Member States. The Draft Report would also be made available,
in electronic form and on the WIPO website, to the Member States,
IGOs and NGOs by April 25, 2005. Comments on the Draft Report
should be communicated in writing to the Secretariat by May 4,
2005. The revised Draft Report would then be made available by
May 11, 2005, and would be considered for adoption at the
beginning of the said next session of the IIM.

List of NGOs Not Accredited to WIPO That Have Requested
Participation in the WIPO IIM of April 11-13, 2005:

1. Institute of International Trade Law and Development - IDCID
(Brazil)
2. Institute for Policy Innovation (USA)
3. Independent Film and Television Alliance (London)
4. International Policy Network - IPN (London)
5. Union for the Public Domain (USA)
6. Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility [sic - should
be CPSR-Peru]
7. IP Justice, (USA)
8. IP-Working Group, European Digital Rights (EDRI) [sic
Initiative]
9. Royal Society for the Encouragements of Arts, Manufactures and
Commerce (UK)
10. Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL)
11. International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development
(ICTSD)
12. German Chamber of Patent Attorneys
13. Access to Learning Materials in Southern Africa Consumer
Institute of South Africa
14. Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
15. Consumers International TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue
(TACD) Secretariat (London)
16. Third World Network (Geneva)
17. LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, (Johannesburg,
South Africa)

Posted by at 10:42 AM

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> http://www.fsfe.org/Members/gerloff/blog/archive/2005/04/14/next_steps_for_wipo_development_agenda

After long deliberations behind closed doors, the delegates
finally came up with a solution: There will be two more meetings
like the one just finished, lasting three days each. The first
one will take place on June 20 to 22; the second one in July,
with the exact dates to be determined asap by the Secretariat.
The Paraguayan representative, Chairman of this meeting, will
probably chair the meeting in June as well.

The African group demands that of each meeting, draft reports be
prepared and made available within 10 days. Nigeria, Egypt,
Botswana join in on the request.

Pakistan: calls for a "clustering" of the ideas of the proposals
for the next meetings, to make discussion more efficient.

Brazil calls this meeting "an important first round of
statements", where the viewpoints of countries have become clear.
In future meetings, the discussion should be organised around
focal topics, as Pakistan suggested.

Jamie Love of CPTechasks for a clarification of the accreditation
status in the next two meetings for those NGOs that were
accredited ad hoc. The promise of being accredited again is
especially important for underfunded NGOs that can't afford to
buy plane tickets and pay for visa if they're not sure they can
participate. In this last-minute thriller, Italy proposes an
according amendment to the final text of the draft report
summary. Egypt joins in, and many delegations raise their flags.
The proposal is approved, which means that the ad-hoc NGOs are
in.

The process of a change at WIPO has started and is rolling. Now
the question is which direction it will take, and at which speed.

A personal note: I will be leaving Geneva tomorrow, to resume the
regular office work in Hamburg. I hope to live through such an
interesting and challenging time again soon. Thanks for reading
my blog.

Please note that the views I express here are purely my own. This
site is my private refuge; here, I am not speaking on behalf of
the Free Software Foundation Europe. If you want to learn about
their position on anything, please go to www.fsfeurope.org.

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> http://www.fsfe.org/Members/gerloff/blog/archive/2005/04/15/back_in_hamburg_more_reading_for_you

Back in Hamburg, and tired. Luckily, the issues I had to deal
with today were relatively straightforward, compared to the
extremely complex situation in Geneva. My recovery from a
diplomacy overdose was also greatly helped by half a thursday
spent relaxing at the sunny shore of Lake Geneva.

Georg Greve is still in Geneva, attending another WIPO meeting:
That of the Permanent Committee on Cooperation for Development
Related to Intellectual Property (PCIPD). (They do have catchy
names, don't they?) As the word "Development" in the committee
name implies, the discussions begun during the Intersessional
Intergovernmental Meeting carried on to some degree. Georg
delivered a statement of the FSFE, demanding not only the
proprietary, but also the Free Software model should be promoted,
and that all WIPO activities should be fully available with Free
Software. The statement highlights Free Software's essential role
for development and growth
(http://fsfeurope.org/projects/wipo/statement-20050415.en.html).

In case you're still not over the last meeting from Monday to
Wednesday, I have some links for you. IP Watch brings you a
comprehensive overview over what happened
(http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=44&res=1024_ff&print=0).
I tip my hat to the Electronic Frontier Foundation people, who
have been working hard to summarize almost all (!) statements
delivered during the meeting. Their posts can be found here
(http://www.eff.org/deeplinks). The WIPO story also made it onto
heise.de, one of Germany's most important tech/society news
sites, yesterday
(http://www.heise.de/pda/newsticker/m58583.html).

Most PINGO statements (as mentioned before: "Public Interest
NGOs"
[http://www.fsfe.org/Members/gerloff/blog/archive/2005/04/13/food_for_thought_the_term_intellectual_property_is_misleading])
are by now to be found on A2K mailing list archives
(http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/a2k/2005-April/). There,
you will also encounter India's statement, which in my opinion is
the shortest and punchiest summary of the issues raised by the
Friends of Development group
(http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/a2k/2005-April/000241.html).

Want to know more? Looking for something beyond the minutiae of
the WIPO process, I was pointed to IPRsonline.org. Many people
will already know this resource site for "IP" issues. Those who
do not might want to pay it a visit.

More on the immediately practical side of things, today I would
like to point out to you a site that many Free Software users may
have yearned for, without knowing it already existed. The
FSF/UNESCO Free Software Dictionary is an excellent overview of
Free Software packages, ordered by what they're used for. Very
usable, and extremely useful. Whoever set this up deserves more
respect than she or he is getting (http://directory.fsf.org/).

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-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [A2k] Final decision at WIPO Dev agenda mtg
Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2005 20:34:19 +0800
From: "Martin Khor" <address@hidden>
To: "ip health listserver" <address@hidden>,
<address@hidden>

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]


------------------------------------------------------

SUNS #5781 Friday 15 April 2005


Please see below a SUNS report on the final outcome of the WIPO
Development Agenda meeting.

regards
Martin Khor
TWN


south-north development monitor SUNS [Email Edition]

twentyfifth year  5781  friday  15  april  2005

contents

Development: WIPO to hold two more Development Agenda meetings by
July (Martin Khor, Geneva)

------------------------------------------------------

Development: WIPO to hold two more Development Agenda meetings by
July

Geneva, 14 Apr (Martin Khor) -- The World Intellectual Property
Organisation (WIPO) will hold two more meetings, in June and
July, to further discuss proposals for a Development Agenda for
WIPO and prepare a report to the General Assembly on future work
on this issue.

This was the main decision made on Wednesday night, at the end of
the first inter-sessional intergovernmental meeting (IIM) on a
Development Agenda for WIPO, held here on 11-13 April.

The decision was contained in a Summary of the Chair that had
been negotiated by the WIPO member states.  The next meeting will
be on 20-22 June and the third meeting at an unspecified date in
July.

An earlier draft by the Chairman Ambassador Rigoberto Gauto
Vielman of Paraguay stated that there would be just one more
session of the IIM (on 20-24 June) before the General Assembly. 
This was supported by developed countries.

However, many developing countries, led by Egypt, Argentina,
Brazil (for the 14-member Group of Friends of Development, or
FOD) and India, said that one meeting would not be enough to
examine the existing proposals and discuss new ones, as well as
prepare the report for the 2005 General Assembly.  That report is
to be finalised by July, according to a decision by the last
General Assembly of September/October 2004.

After lengthy informal discussions in a small room, it was agreed
that two meetings would be held, and a new draft was produced and
adopted after 9.00 pm on Wednesday.

The main operational paragraph of the Chair's Summary states:
"Given the need for in-depth examination of the proposals, it was
considered that more time would be required by Member States to
examine them.  The IIM decided to continue discussions and
consideration of the proposals at the next session of the IIM,
which would take place from June 20 to 22, and that a third
session of three days would be held in July 2005 on dates which
would be communicated by the Secretariat to the Member States as
soon as possible.

"Member States may submit in writing to the Secretariat
additional proposals on the establishment of a development agenda
for consideration at the next session of the IIM.  To facilitate
discussions at that next session, the Chairman invited those
Member States, which had made or would be making proposals, to
submit them in operational and actionable language to the
Secretariat in writing."

The Summary also said that the draft Report of the current
meeting (containing interventions and the Chair's summary) would
be made available by the Secretariat by 25 April.  Comments
should be made by 4 May and the revised report made available by
11 May, and would be considered for adoption at the next IIM
session.

The Summary left open the question as to which party would
prepare the final report of the IIM process for submission to the
General Assembly.  It is expected to contain substantive points
regarding the proposed Development Agenda, and recommendations on
how to take the process further.

Italy (speaking for Group B comprising developed countries)
proposed that an earlier draft Summary be amended to clarify that
the Chair would produce a draft report to the General Assembly
that sets out a future work plan.   However, this was opposed by
Brazil and Argentina which stated that the report to the General
Assembly (which was not merely a factual report) should be drawn
up by member states and not the Chair.  The final draft of the
Summary does not refer to who would draw up the report.

Behind the lengthy discussions on the number of meetings and the
drafting of the final report were differences of views on how to
take the Development Agenda initiative further.  The developing
countries backing the initiative want more time set aside for
discussion so that some conclusions can be made on the substance
of the Development Agenda, and an operational plan to implement
it can be made.

They felt that the holding of two more IIM meetings would be
better for maintaining the momentum created at the last General
Assembly and the current IIM meeting. The developing-country
proponents want a comprehensive Development Agenda plan, which
includes changing WIPO's mandate and governance structure (to
make it more member-driven and inclusive), infusing development
principles in its norm-setting (or treaty-making) activities,
changing the way technical assistance is carried out, and
introducing methods or rules to achieve technology transfer.

The developed countries, on the other hand, appeared less keen to
give more time to the IIM process.  During the meeting, they
strongly indicated that the Development Agenda could be dealt
with by WIPO's permanent committee on cooperation for development
(PCIPD), which deals mainly with technical assistance.  This fits
with their approach, that strengthening the development dimension
in WIPO could best be equated with more and better technical
assistance.

Developing country diplomats also prefer that the crucial report
to the General Assembly be drafted in an inclusive and
transparent manner, by the member states, instead of it being the
work of the Chairman.  "We have had not so good experiences at
the WTO with Chairman's texts," said one diplomat who covers both
WTO and WIPO.   "It is hard for our views to be reflected in this
kind of process, when everyone has to negotiate with the
Chairman. It is more participatory and transparent when member
states draft the report themselves."

For much of the morning and early afternoon of the final day,
many non-governmental organizations and industry groups made
presentations. Earlier, some intergovernmental organizations and
international agencies also made statements.

Ambassador Marwa Kisiri, head of the ACP (African, Carribean and
Pacific) Group's Geneva office, said the ACP secretariat fully
supports the call for a strengthened role for WIPO for
articulating and implementing a development agenda.  The ACP
secretariat applauded delegations that submitted proposals or
spoke up in favour of a wide-ranging Development Agenda in WIPO,
in particular the detailed proposals of the Group of Friends of
Development.  He noted that most members of that Group come from
the ACP Group.

He added that the ACP countries continue to suffer socio-economic
underdevelopment, and they require appropriate integration in the
global economic framework.  In the context of IPRs and WIPO, it
is crucial that this appropriate integration recognizes the need
for IP standards and norms that are suitable for and not contrary
to development needs.

Such a balanced approach would require that ACP and other
developing countries receive assistance on the full and
appropriate use of their rights to flexibilities and the
retention of policy space for their development strategies and
objectives.  This should be reflected in technical assistance
programmes, said Ambassador Kisiri. He added that WIPO can
improve its work by responding to the needs and demands of
recipient countries, including through building their capacity on
how to make use of development-oriented flexibilities such as in
patents and health issues.

Kisiri said that as a member of the UN family, WIPO should now as
a matter of priority take on the proposals to fully integrate and
strengthen development in all its activities.  Citing the MDGs
and the WTO decisions on TRIPS and Public Health, he said that
WIPO cannot afford to stand aside from the global consensus as
this would be tantamount to operating in a vacuum, and to be
absent from the UN development consensus.

The World Health Organisation, welcoming the timely and important
initiative by the WIPO, gave its views on IPRs and public health.
Since 1999, successive resolutions of the World Health Assembly
have requested WHO to ensure that its medicines strategy
addresses the important issue of impact of international trade
agreements on public health and access to medicines.

The World Health Assembly in May 2003 expressed "concerns about
the current patent protection system, especially as regards
access to medicines in developing countries", and urged Member
States to adapt "national legislation in order to use to the full
the flexibilities contained in the Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)".  Another WHA
resolution in May 2004 also urged Member States to "encourage
that bilateral trade agreements take into account the
flexibilities contained in the WTO TRIPS Agreement and recognized
by the Doha Ministerial Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and
Public Health".

The WHO added that two activities were important to contribute to
the implementation of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public
Health to achieve the objective of access to medicines for all.  
First is the need for accurate and up-to-date information on
patent status of medicines since in many countries, there is
considerable uncertainty regarding the existence of patents on
particular medicines. Thus, measures should be taken to require
or encourage disclosure of patents on medicines. This task may be
initially undertaken by regional or multilateral organizations or
patent offices, where there may be insufficient capacity at the
national level.

Second is the need for encouraging a public health perspective
into the patent system. This includes such issues as the
development of guidelines on patentability of medicines; for
example, on matters such as the patentability of new and second
uses, dosages and combinations.  Such guidelines should be
developed by patent examiners in conjunction with public health
experts. Developing countries may adapt such guidelines so as to
make them appropriate to their specific needs.

UNCTAD said it recognized the importance of assessing the
development implications of IPRs.  It then presented details of
its work on IPRs and development, including helping developing
countries to understand the development implications of TRIPS,
facilitating their informed participation in IPR related
negotiations and highlighting the flexibilities in TRIPS and
other IPR treaties.

Other issues dealt with by UNCTAD included IPRs and domestic
innovation development, open source software and protection of
traditional knowledge. UNCTAD followed with interest the WIPO
activities and offered to provide technical advice on the
development implications of IPRs and their relation with trade
and technology transfer.

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