WIPO Committee On Development And IP Agrees On Work Programme

Delegates at the World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and IP (CDIP) ended a weeklong session agreeing on a programme of work for the next session including two future projects to be reconsidered. But this belies the degree of stasis and frustration in the committee.

The CDIP met from 9-13 November. Most delegations expressed disappointment at the little progress made during the week, but they did agree to extend a pilot project, and consider a revised version of two new projects at the next session of the committee in the spring 2016.

The latest summary [pdf] by the CDIP Chair Alberto Pedro d’Alotto of Argentina noted the following:

• The CDIP decided to extend the pilot project on IP and design management for business development in developing and least-developed countries for six months
• In the context of the evaluation report on the project on IP and technology transfer, the CDIP requested the secretariat to map WIPO’s existing activities in the field of technology transfer for consideration at the next session
• On the subject of the role of WIPO in the post-2015 United Nations Development Agenda, the WIPO secretariat is expected to prepare a follow-up document to the one presented at this session of the CDIP

New Projects, Back At Drawing Board

The CDIP failed to adopt two new projects presented by the secretariat. The first one was about the use of information in the public domain and economic development. The second one was about cooperation on IP rights education and professional training with judicial training institutes in developing and least-developed countries (IPW, WIPO, 8 November 2015).

In general, developed countries said they would be ready to adopt both projects but some developing countries requested further information. For example, on the second project, some countries asked to know which kind of training material would be used, to ascertain that such material would be development-oriented and mention the use of flexibilities included in the World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

It was decided that both projects would be further discussed at the next session of the CDIP.

External Review, Coordination

Also discussed further at the next session of the CDIP is the issue of the implementation of recommendations included in an external review of WIPO technical assistance in the area of cooperation for development, and the issue of the coordination mechanism of the WIPO Development Agenda, through which WIPO committees report on their development-related activities. Two committees presently are not covered by the coordination mechanism: the WIPO Program and Budget, and the Committee on WIPO Standards. Some developing countries also would like to have a standing agenda item on IP and development, which is deemed unnecessary by developed countries, as development and IP are the subject of the committee.

Future Work

In addition of the above decisions, the CDIP also agreed to consider the following:

• the WIPO Director General reports on the implementation of the Development Agenda
• an evaluation report of a project on strengthening and development of the audiovisual sector in Burkina Faso and certain African countries
• the second phase of the above project on the audiovisual sector in Burkina Faso and certain African countries
• a mapping of South-South activities, and of technology transfer