Original news and analysis on international IP policy
How to handle work between meetings on creating a "legal instrument" caused a stalemate in informal negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organization traditional knowledge committee this evening. Unable to reach agreement on the composition and activities of the group, delegates have put the negotiations on hold and will reconvene informally tomorrow (Friday) morning.
The Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore (IGC) at the World Intellectual Property Organization began its first meeting under a newly-minted mandate yesterday, though it seems matters of procedure may again take up much of the space for discussions, according to several delegates.
Aspects of a legally-binding international agreement on access and benefit-sharing under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity may harm business interests and also fail to reach its objectives of protecting and preserving biodiversity, said members of a panel of industry representatives in Geneva yesterday. Some also expressed doubt about the likelihood of the access and benefit sharing regime meeting its deadline of having full agreement by its October meeting next year in Nagoya, Japan.
For the first time in its history, a working group tasked with negotiating an international regime for access to genetic resources and the sharing of related benefits under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has agreed on a single negotiating text. But participants in the process say the text, while a comprehensive compilation of all divergent views on the regime, still has a way to go before becoming a consensus document.
The outgoing chair’s draft report on progress at the World Trade Organization toward establishing a mandated register for geographical indications praises recent work and sees hope for convergence on outstanding issues such as legal effects and participation, according to a copy obtained by Intellectual Property Watch. But it details key differences on the issues that remain.
The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) has denied two farmers’ advocacy organisations observer status to its governing Council on grounds that they have not demonstrated expertise relevant to the intergovernmental body’s work, stirring concern that opposition groups are being denied participation. Meanwhile, the functional head of UPOV will step down this spring after a decade of leadership, with several candidates in the running for his replacement.
Access to medicine and preservation of biodiversity topped the agenda at the World Trade Organization Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Council meeting this week, as a new alleged drug seizure in France, a concern over a largely-unused amendment to TRIPS intended to help developing countries gain access to medicine, and a renewed mandate on biodiversity at the World Intellectual Property Organization influenced the issues on the table.
Protection of traditional knowledge under intellectual property rights may have a time limit, though determining duration of protection measures will be more difficult than it is with Western scientific innovation, World Intellectual Property Organization Director General Francis Gurry said yesterday.
The economic, climate and food crises were on the lips of speakers at the 2009 World Trade Organization Public Forum last week. Suggestions for better global governance were sought from stakeholders who took the podium in different sessions, and trade in agriculture was a focal point of the event.
After a year of stalled deliberations on the issue of protecting traditional knowledge, genetic resources, and traditional cultural expressions, delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies on Thursday found a compromise text that gives the committee its strongest mandate yet.
Failure to resolve the deadlock over traditional knowledge at the World Intellectual Property Organization would call into question the organisation’s role, some member states said this week, as the chair of the General Assemblies tabled a text in an attempt to bridge major gaps that still remain. Meanwhile, the organisation adopted a commitment to approve the availability of documents in all its languages.
世界知识产权组织（World Intellectual Property Organization）总干事今天在该联合国机构的年度大会开幕式上说，如果世界知识产权组织要保持决策上的影响力，它就必须能够在无论是最新的技术开发还是传统知识体系领域为创新制定标准。