Category Development

Friction Arises Over WIPO Development Agenda Coordination

Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization this week are working through details of projects related to boosting the UN agency’s development orientation. But simultaneous closed, informal meetings on a mechanism for coordinating WIPO Development Agenda activities have proven more difficult, as developed countries try to contain the spread of the development committee’s influence – and work through their own differences, according to sources.

WIPO Works On Its Development Agenda Implementation This Week

Members of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization this week are in discussions on how to ensure that WIPO activities are development-oriented. A particular focus will be the implementation of a Development Agenda coordination mechanism approved at the last session in May. Also new on the table this week is an agenda item on development-related issues and a proposal for a new project on cooperation between developing countries.

حكاية لقارئ من ضعاف البصر

بكل احترام يسعدني أن أضع تجربتي الشخصية , بين يدي كل من يهمه أن يطلع عليه متمنين أن تكون إفهاما متواضعا لأجل الوصول إلى اتفاقية دولية تيسر الاطلاع على المعرفة لذوي الاحتياجات الخاصة.
د/ محمد محسن النجار يكتب تجربته

A Tale Of A Visually Impaired Reader

I'd like to introduce myself and put my personal experience in the hands of all concerned parties and people, hoping that this will help to give a better comprehension (explain) about the situation of blind people and to help reach an international treaty that will facilitate access to knowledge for people with visual impairments, writes law professor Mohammed Mohsin Abrahim El Nagaar of Alexandria University.

WIPO Copyright Committee Tackles Visually Impaired Access, Other Exceptions

The World Intellectual Property Organization Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) is meeting this week in an attempt to advance proposals to improve global access to copyrighted works, following a disappointing summer meeting that ended without agreement. This week’s meeting also includes renewed discussions of proposed treaties on broadcasters’ rights and rights over audiovisual performances.

Compromise UN Protocol Treaty Against Biopiracy Adopted In Japan

With a standing ovation in the early hours of the morning of Saturday, in Nagoya, Japan, an international instrument aimed at preventing misappropriation of genetic resources was adopted by members of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. The protocol is also intended to ensure that benefits accrued from the use of those genetic resources are shared equitably with the provider country.

Ministers Arrive To Help Reach Outcome At UN Convention On Biodiversity

As ministers arrived in Nagoya, Japan, for the high-level segment of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity today, negotiators kept trying to reach consensus on remaining agenda items, such as a strategic plan, or an international legal instrument to prevent biopiracy and ensure the fair and equitable sharing of benefits accrued from the use of genetic resources.

Biodiversity Benefit-Sharing Treaty Negotiators Tackle New Text As Clock Ticks

Another grace period has been given to negotiators trying feverishly to find agreement this week in Nagoya, Japan on an international instrument protecting countries against unlawful appropriation of their genetic resources and ensuring the fair sharing of benefits arising from the use of those resources. The delegates are to present their text Wednesday to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity meeting so that it can be approved by ministers.

Change Coming To Quiet UN Plant Variety Protection Agency?

Two new civil society observers were admitted last week to the Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) though whether that represents a cultural shift for the organisation or simply a procedure that has now been followed depends on who you ask. Meanwhile, a new vice secretary general prepared to take over for the first time in nearly 10 years.