WIPO Director General Francis Gurry undertook an official visit to Beijing on November 18-19, 2010 during which he met Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan to discuss a range of issues relating to intellectual property. During his visit, Mr. Gurry also opened a major International Copyright Forum and Expo on music at which he addressed the challenges confronting the music sector in the digital environment. These events were organized by WIPO in cooperation with the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC).
WIPO’s top copyright negotiating body this week continued discussions on limitations and exceptions to copyright law, as well as updating the rights of broadcasting organizations and the rights of performers in their audiovisual performances. The Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), meeting from November 8-12, 2010, took stock of the status of discussions in each of these three key areas and agreed on a road map for future negotiations.
WIPO’s Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) met from November 1 to 4, 2010 and made progress on work relating to industrial design law and practice, in addition to matters relating to the Internet and trademarks.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry and Harvard University professor Lawrence Lessig will open a meeting hosted by WIPO in Geneva on November 4 and 5, 2010 on copyright licensing that will feature a range of eminent speakers from government, business and civil society. The global meeting on “Facilitating Access to Culture in the Digital Age” will explore different approaches to licensing creative content in the rapidly evolving on-line marketplace and in view of the proliferation of new forms of on-line distribution.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry concluded a two-day official visit to the Republic of Serbia on October 26, 2010 during which he met a number of high level Government representatives, including Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković. Mr. Gurry and the Prime Minister signed an agreement laying out a framework for collaboration between WIPO and Serbia.
An unprecedented initiative to facilitate access to published works by the visually impaired and the print disabled was announced on October 23, 2010 in New Delhi, India at the 5th meeting of WIPO’s Stakeholders’ Platform, which was set up in January 2009 to explore the specific needs, and concerns, of both copyright owners and reading impaired persons and brings together representatives of the visually impaired persons (VIP) community as well as publishers. The Platform approved the launch on November 1, 2010 of TIGAR - the trusted intermediary global accessible resources project – which will enable publishers to make their titles easily available to trusted intermediaries. These intermediaries will create accessible formats and share them amongst each other and with specialized libraries.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry concluded on October 18, 2010 a two-day official visit to Algeria during which he met with Government Ministers to discuss the role of intellectual property (IP) in stimulating innovation and development and ways to strengthen cooperation between WIPO and Algeria.
The WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) agreed on late Friday at the close of its week-long session from October 11-15, 2010 to include a number of key substantive issues relating to patent law and practice in its future work. Delegations from 86 countries, 5 international organizations and 25 non-governmental organizations participated in the session of the Committee, which was characterized by a very positive and constructive atmosphere among member states that resulted in significant progress in the Organization’s substantive agenda with respect to the further development of the international patent system.
Ministers and delegates from WIPO’s 184 member states, meeting at their annual Assemblies in Geneva from September 20 to 29, 2010, endorsed reforms led by Director General Francis Gurry and welcomed the new Medium Term Strategic Plan (MTSP), which sets the broad direction for the Organization through the next five years. The Assemblies had opened with an impassioned call from the legendary singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, urging government representatives to reach agreement on enhanced accessibility of copyright content for persons with physical disabilities.
WIPO has launched IP Advantage, a new database which profiles the intellectual property (IP) experiences of inventors, creators, entrepreneurs, and researchers. This tool aims to promote a better understanding of how IP is created and protected, and how inventors, creators and society at large benefit from the IP system.