WIPO Members Urge Action On Range Of Treaties 06/10/2015 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)World Intellectual Property Organization members called for swift adoption of new treaties at the outset of the organisation’s annual General Assemblies this week. In their opening statements, at the opening of the 55th WIPO General Assembly being held from 5-14 October, delegations highlighted the necessity to come to agreement on several pending treaty negotiations. For instance, a number of countries, such as Germany, South Africa, and Poland mentioned the importance of a new procedural design law treaty. Developed and developing countries alike supported the idea of a treaty. However, differences remain on the inclusion or not of an article in the body of the treaty on technical assistance, as well as an inclusion on disclosure of origin requirements in design applications. The issue is being discussed in the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) (IPW, WIPO, 20 March 2015). Also in discussion for a number of years in the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) is a treaty protecting broadcasting organisations. A number of countries supported the idea of the treaty. Differences have been around the signal to be protected, with some countries seeking to include new technologies, such as internet television in the treaty, and some others wanting to stick to the original mandate of the SCCR on the matter and protecting only signal-based transmission in the traditional sense, such as India (IPW, WIPO, 6 July 2015). The SCCR is also currently discussing exceptions and limitations to copyright for libraries, archives, education, research, and for people with disabilities other than visual impairment. Developed countries have said that the current intellectual property system already offers limitations and exceptions and the issue did not need another treaty. Developing countries consider it key to have a binding treaty, in particular to solve cross-border issues. A number of developing countries, such as Ecuador, South Africa, Brazil, Malaysia, and Pakistan, underlined the importance of a binding instrument in their opening statements. Most developing countries that took the floor also expressed the wish that the mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) be renewed and that one or several treaties be adopted to protect those resources. But there are variations on the way forward (IPW, WIPO, 6 October 2015). The Holy See representative, in his opening statement, remarked, “We recognise the value of intellectual property protection, the scope of those rights must always be measured in relation to greater principles of justice in service of the common good. However, nowadays, the fruits of scientific progress, rather than being placed at the service of the entire human community, are distributed in such a way that inequalities are actually increased.” New Observers Separately, the General Assembly approved this morning a list [pdf] of new WIPO observers, including one intergovernmental organisation: the European Public Law Organization (EPLO). Also on the list were five international non-governmental organisations (NGOs): the Archives and Records Association (ARA), the Confederacy of Patent Information User Groups (CEPIUG), the European Association for Bioindustries (EUROPABIO), the International Intellectual Property Commercialization Council Limited (IIPCC), and MALOCA Internationale. The General Assembly also approved three national NGOs: The Association of Spanish Attorneys before International Industrial and Intellectual Property Organization (AGESORPI), the Finnish Copyright Society, and the Nest Foundation. Civil Society and IGOs The intergovernmental South Centre, in its opening statement, said WIPO members should “guide the work of the organisation towards shaping a more inclusive and balanced international intellectual property system.” “One that promotes knowledge creation and diffusion, that accelerates transfer of technology and know-how, especially of essential technologies for global health, food sovereignty and to respond to climate change. One that promotes sharing of innovations developed with public financing,” the representative said. The Third World Network, taking the floor, called for WIPO, as a UN agency, to work proactively to help developing countries to implement the post-2015 Development Agenda and asked that WIPO and its member states “not shy away from addressing the barriers created by intellectual property rights … in promoting and facilitating technology transfer.” Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Related Catherine Saez may be reached at csaez@ip-watch.ch."WIPO Members Urge Action On Range Of Treaties" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.