Original news and analysis on international IP policy
By Ahmed Abdel-Latif , Dick Kawooya, Chidi Oguamanam Note: this article first appeared as: WIPO African ministerial should embrace a pro-competitive and pro-development IP vision, 4 October 2015, BRIDGES AFRICA An African ministerial meeting, organised by the World Intellectual Property…
Discussions on the future of the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on traditional knowledge and genetic resources are heating up as some developed countries seek to delay normative work for the next biennium and favour information sessions, and developing countries are eager to go back to discussion on actual treaty texts.
The World Intellectual Property Organization has seen increased activity in its work on arbitration and mediation of disputes, including domain names, and has proposed new targets for the coming biennium.
Resale right, which refers to royalties that visual artists can claim on the resale of their work by art dealers, should be discussed at the World Intellectual Property Organization, according to an international association of authors. An international harmonised framework does not currently exist.
The World Intellectual Property Organization is a United Nations agency based in Geneva. At the time of the recent activity at UN headquarters in New York over the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, Minelik Alemu Getahun, WIPO Assistant Director General, took time to explain in a written Q&A what WIPO's involvement is in the SDGs and IP agency's evolving relationship with the UN.
A private sector panel at the World Intellectual Property Organization this week explored the collaborative relationships that develop between screenwriters, producers, and directors around the world as they bring a project from an initial idea to a finished film. The panel also looked at the role of copyright law in the various stages of this film-making process.
At mid-point of the annual World Intellectual Property Organization General Assembly, numerous items are unresolved, and several facilitators are in charge of finding consensus on draft decisions, in particular on norm-setting issues and the budget of the UN organisation.
The World Intellectual Property Organization governing body started examining the work of its committees yesterday, with the hope of solving some issues that those committees were unable to solve during the year. This included the work programmes of the committees on copyright and on trademarks and geographical indications.
At the World Intellectual Property Organization annual General Assembly this week, the financing of the Lisbon system protecting appellations of origin is the subject of intensive discussions cutting across several agendas. Attempts are being made by non-Lisbon members to separate the Lisbon system’s funding from other agreements, and in the course of the debate the broader WIPO budgetary system came under analysis.
World Intellectual Property Organization members called for swift adoption of new treaties at the outset of the organisation's annual General Assemblies this week.