On August 26, 2008, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is organizing under its Life Sciences Program a Symposium that will explore intellectual property (IP) rights and their role in the development and transfer of technologies within the context of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). Many MEAs contain technology transfer provisions around which IP issues arise. The event will provide an opportunity for policy makers and other stakeholders to share their experiences and to explore the IP dimensions of technology transfer provisions contained in MEAs.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in cooperation with the International Digital Preservation and Copyright initiative (IDPC) is organizing a one-day workshop on July 15, at WIPO’s Geneva headquarters, to survey recent developments and trends at the intersection of digital preservation and copyright. The aim of the workshop is to contribute to the debate on how to develop and improve policies and practices that support the digital preservation of copyright-protected content.
Mr. Francis Gurry, who has been nominated by the Coordination Committee of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to become the next Director General of WIPO, emphasized, at the opening of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), on July 7, 2008, his commitment to the effective implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda, pledging to personally supervise this important initiative in the future.
A two-day Inter-Regional Forum on Development and Service-Oriented Intellectual Property (IP) Administration, organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on July 1 and 2, 2008, held intensive discussions on the intellectual property (IP)-related institutional and policy challenges, opportunities and reforms in the context of overall national development strategies with a view to making a positive and tangible contribution to social, cultural and economic development. The Forum was the first of its kind to take an in-depth look at the needs and expectations of IP administrations of all countries.
From July 3, 2008, the wealth of technological information contained in international patent applications, a prime vector for technology transfer and innovation promotion, will also be searchable in Japanese. The addition of Japanese as a search language is a result of further improvements made by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to its online search service, PATENTSCOPE®, a gateway to over 1.4 million Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications. Japanese is the sixth language in which full-text data search is possible, along with English, French, German, Spanish and Russian.
Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) attending the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) in Geneva from June 23 to 26, 2008, began a comprehensive review of issues relating to the international patent system. The meeting was attended by 85 member states and 24 observer delegations and was chaired by Mr. Maximiliano Santa Cruz of Chile.
The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Dr. Kamil Idris, met with the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Mr. Kurmanbek Bakiev, during an official visit to that country on June 16 and 17, 2008 to mark the 15th anniversary of the opening of the Kyrgyz State Patent Service. Dr. Idris also met with the Prime Minister, Mr. Igor Chudinov and a number of senior representatives from government and academia.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is hosting an Inter-regional Forum in Geneva on July 1 and 2, 2008, to explore possible strategies for intellectual property (IP) administrations in developing countries, least-developed countries (LDCs) and certain countries in Europe and Asia, to respond to the diverse and expanding needs and expectations of the IP user community. The Forum will focus on practical measures that may be taken to improve and expand the range of value-added services available to all stakeholders, including the public, to forge relations with the IP user community and to ensure that IP administrations are better able to support national development objectives. The Forum will take place at WIPO’s headquarters and will bring together heads of IP offices and other senior officials of countries from all regions and is open to all interested member states of WIPO.
The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Dr. Kamil Idris, welcomed the accession by the African Intellectual Property Organization (known by its French acronym OAPI - Organisation africaine de la propriété intellectuelle) to the Geneva Act of the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs on June 16, 2008. The Geneva Act is one of the three treaties that govern the Hague System for the international registration of industrial designs and offer businesses in all participating countries a simple, affordable and efficient way of obtaining and maintaining their industrial designs portfolios.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will launch in September 2008 a pilot program to assist indigenous communities to document their own cultural traditions, archive this heritage for future generations, and safeguard their interest in authorizing use of their recordings and traditions by third parties.