Israel joined the international trademark system following the deposit of its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks with WIPO Director General Francis Gurry this week. The Madrid System, which will become operational in Israel on September 1, 2010, offers trademark owners a cost-effective, user-friendly and streamlined means of protecting and managing their trademark portfolio internationally.
On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) on May 22, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry underlined the Organization’s commitment to ensuring that the intellectual property system plays a positive role in safeguarding biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
An on-line forum to promote an exchange of ideas and to build consensus on international measures to improve access to copyright-protected works in formats suitable for visually impaired persons and others with print disabilities (VIPs) was launched by WIPO this week. The Forum, (www.visionip.org/forum), which will remain open at least until June 20, 2010, is designed to stimulate debate, enhance understanding, and broaden awareness of the question.
On Saturday, June 5, 2010, which coincides with World Environment Day, WIPO will for the first time open its doors to the public at large. This will provide an opportunity for the Organization to showcase its activities and demonstrate how its work helps contribute to human and social progress.
The critical role of intellectual property as a tool for enabling innovation, the practical transfer of technology and industrial competitiveness were the focus of the remarks of WIPO Director General Francis Gurry to a key meeting of member states of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Vienna today.
WIPO member states made significant progress in advancing the work of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) this week. This first session of the IGC under its new mandate to conduct "text-based negotiations" to reach agreement on an international legal instrument (or instruments) that ensure the effective protection of traditional knowledge (TK), traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) and genetic resources (GRs), was chaired by Ambassador Philip Owade of Kenya. This session of the IGC met from May 3 to 7, 2010.
WIPO unveiled its new logo on April 26, 2010 – a date which marks the 40th anniversary of the entry into force of the WIPO Convention and the 10th anniversary of World Intellectual Property Day. The new logo forms the cornerstone of a new visual identity for the Organization, in line with the new directions being taken to keep pace with the rapid evolution of intellectual property in the 21st century.
This year’s World Intellectual Property Day on April 26, 2010, which also marks WIPO’s 40th anniversary, focuses on how innovation technologies have created an interlinked and global society.
WIPO’s Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) and the Format Recognition and Protection Association (FRAPA) are to join forces later this month in providing alternative dispute resolution services to address problems of format plagiarism or the unauthorized copying of television (TV) formats, such as those used for game, reality or talent shows and sitcoms.
WIPO is to launch the first in a series of seminars on “The Economics of Intellectual Property” on March 26, 2010. The event will feature leading economists from around the world and is designed to stimulate and inform international debate on the linkages between intellectual property (IP) protection and economic development.