New Draft Text At WIPO On Protection Of Traditional Knowledge

The World Intellectual Property Organization committee on traditional knowledge today issued a revised set of draft articles of an international instrument aimed at protecting traditional knowledge against misappropriation.

The Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) is meeting from 23 March to 4 April.

The facilitators presented a first revision [pdf] of the week of the draft articles to member states. A second revision may be issued as soon as tomorrow, according to facilitators.

Committee members had been working from an initial document [pdf] inherited from an IGC session held on 22-26 April 2013.

This session of the IGC is focused on draft articles on traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions (folklore), and also identify cross-cutting issues that would avoid duplication of work.

IGC Chair Amb. Wayne McCook called this revision “is the first cut, so to speak.” He said facilitators had sought to take a “rather light touch.” Specific concerns will require further discussions, and “will not be resolved in one discussion.” he said. Such concerns include the nature and characteristics of TK, public availability, spread of TK, and the concept of public domain.

The facilitators said the document is a facilitators’ text prepared for the consideration of member states, with a view to simplifying the text and constructing a framework to move the text forward.

Compared to the original document, the policy objectives have been split into two sections, Nicolas Lesieur of Canada, one of the facilitators of the drafting group, said. The text now shows a “Preamble/Introduction” and a section on “Policy Objectives.”

The “Principles” section of the original document was deleted as it overlapped with the policy objectives, he said. A “Use of Terms” section was added.

On the articles, Lesieur said that only the first four articles have been modified so far. A second revision of the text is expected to be issued tomorrow.

On Article 1 (Subject matter of protection), he said that the drafting group tried to collapse the original definition and criteria for eligibility into more concise language. Language about a database was moved from the original Article 1 to a new Article 3bis, he noted.

On Article 2 (Beneficiaries of protection), paragraph 1 was restructured so it is now closer to the traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) draft Article 2, he said. The TCEs draft articles [pdf] are expected to be discussed next week. Paragraph 2 was reworked, he said. It indicates that “[member states] may designate a national entity as a custodian of the benefits of protection.”

A new Article 3bis has been added, he said “Complementary measures” seeks to group together measures that do not easily fit in the revised Article 3. Article 3 deals with the “Scope of protection,” where lies a number of prickly issues, such as widely known TK, public domain, and sacred TK.