Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Countries develop intellectual property systems in different ways, and a recent conference at the World Intellectual Property Organization delved into some thoughts about, and examples of, how this is done.
KAMPALA -- The Republic of Uganda is in the process of signing the Swakopmund Protocol on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions of Folklore, and the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
World Intellectual Property Organization committee members last week agreed some new development projects and advanced discussions on the agency’s development dimension, including technical assistance, technology transfer and ties to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But negotiators could not complete a near-breakthrough on compromise measures to sharpen WIPO technical assistance through new guidelines, seminars, measurement tools, coordination, and tighter rules on selection of consultants.
Technical assistance provided by the World Intellectual Property Organization and the United Nations agency's technology transfer-related activities were discussed at length by WIPO member governments this week. At press time on the final day of a weeklong meeting, an updated proposal by Spain appeared to be bringing members nearer consensus on the way forward on WIPO technical assistance.
A longstanding inquiry about alleged misconduct at the top of the World Intellectual Property Organization may be moving toward resolution one way or the other.
The role of intellectual property in economic, social and cultural development is at the heart of an international conference organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization this week. Today, a diverse range of speakers gave their views on the relationship between IP and innovation and creativity, with some describing in specific examples how IP helped their developing economies. Many speakers insisted on the need for developing countries to have policy space to define an IP system best suited to their development needs.
A two-day international conference on intellectual property and development opened today at the World Intellectual Property Organization with calls from speakers for the IP system to be applied by nations in ways appropriate to their economies, even if it means allowing copying - just as the biggest IP-holding nations did when they were developing years ago. The theme was set by the opening keynote speaker, South African Trade Minister Rob Davies.
The World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) meets next week with a focus on how universities and research institutions can best derive value from their discoveries. Also on the agenda are proposed projects and several documents mapping WIPO development-related activities, such as South-South cooperation. And the action kicks off this week with a wide-ranging conference on IP and development at WIPO.
Genius, brilliant, generous, wholehearted, warm, kind, funny, original, musician, art lover, brave, restless, these are few of the most suitable and recurrent attributes of Denis Borges Barbosa, who passed away on Saturday, April 2nd. Leading IP professor, researcher and attorney in Brazil, he was also the key international face of Brazilian IP, write Allan Rocha de Souza and Cláudia Chamas.
The Council of Europe, the 47-member intergovernmental group based in Strasbourg, France, this week adopted an internet governance strategy for the next four years, putting particular emphasis on human rights and democracy online. The strategy includes a series of steps and actions.