At a meeting on July 28, 2009, WIPO Director General, Mr. Francis Gurry and the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, discussed issues relating to Asia’s growing importance in the international intellectual property system, WIPO’s capacity building activities in the South East Asian region, climate change and the role of intellectual property, and the role of balanced national intellectual property regimes in promoting development and growth. The Director General and the Prime Minister emphasized the fruitful cooperation between WIPO and Singapore, as evidenced by the recent strengthening of the WIPO Singapore Office.
An agreement signed by Mr. Francis Gurry, Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and Mr. K Shanmugam, Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs, has paved the way for the establishment of the Singapore Office of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center), which will officially open in January 2010. (Please refer to “Annex A” for a fact sheet on the WIPO Center.)
Ministers from least-developed countries (LDCs), senior government officials and heads of regional intellectual property (IP) organizations reaffirmed their commitment to integrating intellectual property (IP) and innovation strategies into their national development planning during a High Level Forum on the Strategic Use of Intellectual Property for Prosperity and Development organized by WIPO on July 23 and 24, 2009. The ministers also discussed the challenges facing LDCs in this area, in particular the difficulties for LDCs to obtain better access to technological information.
A new public-private partnership which aims to provide industrial property offices, universities and research institutes in least developed countries with free access and industrial property offices in certain developing countries with low cost access to selected online scientific and technical journals was launched at WIPO’s headquarters on July 23, 2009.
Ministers from least-developed countries (LDCs), senior government officials and heads of regional intellectual property (IP) organizations will meet in Geneva on July 23 and 24, 2009 to discuss IP policy implementation for wealth creation and development in these countries.
The WIPO Conference on Intellectual Property and Public Policy Issues wrapped up on July 14, 2009 with an acknowledgement of the ability of intellectual property (IP) to drive innovation, creativity and transfer of technology, while recognizing the need to ensure that the IP system produces social and economic benefit. Dialogue and collaboration between major stakeholders – international organizations, government, industry, and civil society – is necessary to address these questions.
The heads of five international organizations joined an international campaign this week to galvanize public support for a successful outcome to UN-sponsored climate change negotiations by signing a global petition addressed to world leaders.
Representatives of WIPO member states, reading-impaired organizations, publishers, and a technology consortium met on Monday, July 13, 2009 to discuss how the intellectual property system can best meet the needs of visually impaired people by improving timely access to copyright-protected content.
The role of intellectual property (IP) in promoting the development and diffusion of green technologies to combat climate change was at the heart of discussions on Monday July 13, 2009 at a two-day international conference on IP and public policy issues organized by WIPO.
The WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) concluded its 14th session on July 3, 2009 after an in-depth discussion on the best way to advance the Committee’s future work.