Original news and analysis on international IP policy
How to handle the deadlocked negotiations on traditional knowledge remains a sticky decision at this year’s World Intellectual Property Organization General Assemblies, with four proposals on the table and informal meetings ongoing in advance of a formal discussion next week. Meanwhile, WIPO member governments this week agreed to fund a CHF64.2 million franc WIPO conference centre aimed for late 2012.
La Organización Mundial de la Propiedad Intelectual (OMPI) debe tener la capacidad de fijar normas para la innovación, desde los avances de la tecnología más recientes hasta los sistemas de conocimientos tradicionales, si desea conservar su reconocimiento en la formulación de políticas, expresó hoy el Director General en la apertura de la Asamblea General anual del organismo de las Naciones Unidas.
Participants at a recent United Nations conference on the role of new plant varieties and seeds in agriculture agreed that access to genetic resources and the protection of intellectual property rights are essential to sustain plant breeding. But key opponents not invited to the meeting claim that plant breeding will endanger biodiversity, sustainability and ultimately food security.
The World Intellectual Property Organization must be able to set norms for innovation, from the latest development in technology to traditional knowledge systems, if it is to retain its relevance in policymaking, said its director general at the opening of the UN agency's annual General Assemblies today.
A key decision on WIPO’s agenda this week is the future of its committee on the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources, where agreement has proved unreachable over the last year.
The influential United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) ended its 2009 substantive session on 31 July, after a month-long coordinating body meeting in Geneva which yielded resolutions on several topics such as public health, science and technology, human rights, environment and sustainable development issues.
With governments looking to close the long-stalled Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks in 2010, what will happen to remaining disagreements on intellectual property issues is still unclear. But proponents of amending the World Trade Organization intellectual property agreement reasserted the need to have them addressed.
World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy on Monday is expected to inform members that months of informal consultations on two key intellectual property issues on which a majority of governments would like a clear negotiating mandate have not yet resulted in an agreement. But proponents are hopeful the high-level attention to the subject will help start progress toward resolution in the future.
A conference at the World Intellectual Property Organization exploring and clarifying the connection between its work and several major public policy issues ended Tuesday with a look at public health and food security.
TERUEL, ESPAGNE – Les indications géographiques (IG), qui favorisent une croissance économique durable et offrent une garantie de qualité, servent à la fois les intérêts des producteurs et ceux des consommateurs. Telle est la conclusion d’une réunion à haut niveau…
The World Intellectual Property Organization committee on the protection of indigenous knowledge, expressions and genetic resources failed to reach consensus on future work Friday, putting the future of the committee in the hands of the WIPO General Assemblies in September.