Non-traditional marks, such as holograms and scent marks, trademark opposition procedures, and questions relating to the registration of industrial designs topped the agenda of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) (19th session), which met from July 21 to 25, 2008. The meeting, attended by 82 member states, 4 intergovernmental organizations and 11 non-governmental organizations, focused on exploring ways to establish greater clarity on issues relating to the registration of trademarks and industrial designs.
The need to strengthen intellectual property (IP) management education and research, especially in developing countries, dominated discussions at a two-day international conference organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on July 17 and 18, 2008. The International Conference on Intellectual Property (IP) Management Education and Research, attended by over thirty academics, mainly from business schools, corporate executives and policy makers, from eighteen countries around the world, was the first of its kind to take an in-depth look at the state of global IP management education and research and to establish a road map for its future development. The Conference adopted a declaration which underlines the urgent need to include IP management education programs into the curricula of schools of business, engineering and law. The declaration further calls on WIPO to assume a leadership role in the development of this important and emerging discipline.
The Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), established by the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in October 2007, held its second meeting from July 7-11, 2008 and moved forward in discussing the implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda (summary by the Chair). The meeting, which was attended by 101 member states, 8 inter-governmental organizations and 37 non-governmental organizations, held detailed discussions on further developing a work program for implementation of the recommendations approved by the General Assembly.
A meeting jointly organized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Society for Economic Research on Copyright Issues (SERCI) in Geneva on 10 and 11 July, 2008 examined the economic importance of copyright and underlined the need for further research on the role of copyright in the creative industries.
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.