At the annual World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly over the past week, exhibitions have highlighted colourful and innovative ideas from around the world. It also includes an exhibition of historical documents from the WIPO archives.
The WIPO General Assembly is taking place from 5-14 October.
During the week, in the hallways of WIPO, there has been an exhibit of a range of treaty ratification documents from various national governments. WIPO is the keeper and manager of many intellectual property treaties.
A treaty must be signed by one of three individuals representing a nation: head of state, head of the government, or the minister of foreign affairs or a person with full powers to do so (and the full powers have to be signed by one of the same three authorities), according to WIPO sources.
In the case of a ratification or accession instrument, such as the ones on display in the exhibit, it has to bear the signature of one of the three authorities.
A list of the treaties currently on exhibit (by groupings) is as follows:
- India : Madrid Protocol (Accession to Madrid)
- Algeria : Berne Convention
- Argentina : Locarno Agreement (President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner)
- Australia : Paris Convention + WIPO Convention
- Brazil : PCT
- China : Budapest Treaty
- Denmark : WIPO Convention
- Spain : Madrid Protocol (King Juan Carlos I)
- Estonia : WCT
- USA : Berne Convention (President Ronald Reagan)
-
WIPO treaty exhibition France : Berne Convention (President Georges Pompidou)
- Georgia : Budapest Treaty
- Ghana : PCT (President Jerry Rawlings)
- Hungary : Budapest Treaty
- Iran : Paris Convention
- Japan : PCT (Emperor Hirohito)
- Kenya : Paris Convention (Stockholm Act)
- Mexico : Budapest Treaty
- Norway : Paris Convention (King Olav V)
- Poland : Paris Convention (Lech Walesa)
- Qatar : WIPO Convention
- United Kingdom : Paris Convention / Revision (Prime Minister Major)
- Holy See : Berne Convention (Pope Paul VI)
- Switzerland : WIPO Convention
- Thailand : Berne Convention
- Russia : Singapore Treaty (Medvedev)
- USSR : PCT (Brezhnev)
- Vietnam : UPOV
- Yugoslavia
Exhibitions
During the Assembly, there were a number of celebrations and exhibitions by different governments. These included:
Thailand, Czech Republic, Spain, India, Slovenia, Georgia, and South Korea
Thailand held an exhibition entitled, “Royal Creativity for All,” including displays, food, the opening reception, music and information about the nation’s intellectual property.
The Czech Republic held “120 Years of Škoda Auto: Simply Clever Since 1895,” which included several automobiles on display in the WIPO building.
India put on a large-scale event in the plenary hall that including highlight of programs such as WIPO’s Accessible Books Coalition and touting India’s economic growth. It included a musical performance, food, and weeklong exhibition on “Make in India: An Exhibition of Geographical Indications.” It made a gift to WIPO of a Taj Mahal (pictured).
Slovenia held an inauguration for its exhibition entitled, “Silent Revolutions – Contemporary Design in Slovenia.”
Georgia held an inauguration event for its exhibit entitled, “Georgian Heritage.”
South Korea held a seminar on “The First 10 Years of Funds-in-Trust, Republic of Korea (Copyright), at WIPO.”
Another event, as summarised by a participant, was the opening of the exhibition to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Spanish Fund-in-Trust at WIPO for Cooperation with Iberoamerican countries.
One of the priorities of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office has been the relationship with Latin America in the field of industrial property.
The Spanish Fund-in-Trust was established at WIPO 10 years ago with this priority in mind and with a view to maintaining the rich tradition of multilateral cooperation.
The basic aim of this fund is to promote the use of Industrial Property Rights for the benefit of countries in Iberoamerica with special focus on SMEs.
The activities of the Fund-in-Trust were developed according to guidelines established in the cooperation frameworks of both the Kingdom of Spain and the United Nations. These guidelines were designed to reflect the specific needs of Ibero American countries and gave priority to capacity-building in the Region in order to achieve sustainable development.
Image Credits: WIPO