New Act Protecting Geographical Indications Adopted At WIPO

Today, a small number of World Intellectual Property Organization members adopted a new Geneva Act of a treaty protecting appellations of origin and geographical indications. The Act is the revision of a previous treaty which only covered appellations of origin. This adoption was made to the dismay of other WIPO members, which despite efforts to accommodate their views could not reconcile being denied the right to vote in a United Nations body. They said the agreement among  a few members could affect all.

The Geneva Act [pdf] of the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications was adopted in plenary meeting this afternoon.

Earlier in the day, a draft text [pdf] of the new act was issued by the secretariat, as well as draft regulations [pdf]. Both documents were approved by committees in charge of conducting negotiations during the week to breach different approaches on the proposed revised agreement.

The Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of a New Act of the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration started on 11 May and was closed today. A signing ceremony is organised for tomorrow.

The stated aims of the revision were to modernise the Lisbon Agreement and to make it more attractive to new members, while preserving the principles of the current treaty. In addition, the revision sought to include geographical indications in the system and to allow intergovernmental organisations to become member of the new act.