[A2k] IP-Watch: Nations Clash On Future Of WIPO Development Agenda

[Carolyn Deere]

A new entry titled 'Nations Clash On Future Of WIPO Development Agenda'
has been posted to Intellectual Property Watch weblog.

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index_test.php?p=42


Nations Clash On Future Of WIPO Development Agenda

by William New @ 8:40 pm, 11/4/2005

Developed and developing countries faced off Monday over whether and how
the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organisation's mission should be
transformed to better address the needs of developing countries.

The basis for the three-day discussion ending Wednesday at the
Geneva-based WIPO is a developing country proposal to change WIPO into a
more typical U.N. organisation by raising the profile of development
concerns throughout its mission.

The United States, the United Kingdom and others say there is no need
for a new body within WIPO, but acknowledge that improvements could be
made to the existing system such as through better technical assistance
to developing countries. The United States argued for the creation of a
partnership database to improve developing country capacity to benefit
from intellectual property, and said the issue should be placed into the
existing Permanent Committee on Cooperation for Development Related to
Intellectual Property (PCIPD).

"We don't believe the U.N. needs another development agency," said the
lead U.S. delegate. "We do not support setting up new bodies." He cited
the U.N. Development Program and the U.N. Conference on Trade and
Development as the key UN agencies with specific development mandates.

The developing country proposal specifically argues against development
issues being limited to technical assistance and placed solely under the
PCIPD.

The United States also argued that WIPO should focus on intellectual
property protection, a point countered by several countries such as
Egypt that want a broader focus.

The U.S. delegate issued a potential threat to WIPO if it adopts a
stronger development focus. "We support WIPO. We would not want to
change WIPO in a direction that would diminish that support," he said.

The meeting Monday focused on procedural issues and proposals put
forward in recent weeks by several governments. At a February
consultation on patent harmonisation with mostly like-minded WIPO
members held by Director-General Kamil Idris, participants were
encouraged to submit proposals for this week's meeting, and three of
them did: Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States. The U.K. and
Mexican proposals generally argue for the status quo with improvements.

For this week's meeting, the so-called Friends of Development (fourteen
developing country co-sponsors of the original development agenda
proposal last fall), submitted an elaboration of their previous
proposal.

Guilherme de Aguiar Patriota, the lead Brazilian delegate, characterized
the proposal as an opportunity for a "substantive discussion" on
intellectual property and development. He urged that the discussion
focus widely and not be limited to technical assistance, but said the
proposal was written in "modular fashion" so that decisions could be
taken on a step-by-step basis.

He and others urged that development issues be considered in the setting
of norms and standards for intellectual property. "Obviously the time
has come to rectify the current situation," the delegate from Argentina
said.

Singapore, speaking on behalf of the Asian countries, welcomed the
Friends of Development proposal and said that intellectual property
protection is "not one size fits all." The Asian Group statement called
for balance, respect for national policies, as well as to take into
account the impact of policies on users of intellectual property. But a
statement also read by Singapore on behalf of the smaller Association of
Southeast Asian Nations did not specifically back the Friends of
Development proposal. It did, however, "welcome incorporating the
development dimension into all aspects of WIPO."

The so-called Group B of developed countries, represented by Italy, said
development issues are not new for WIPO, but called for an "urgent
stocktaking" of WIPO's activities to see if developing country needs are
being met and whether there could be better coordination with other
agencies.

The regional group for Latin America and the Caribbean, represented by
Jamaica, agreed that discussions should not be limited to technical
assistance. The African countries, represented by Morocco, reiterated
their support from last fall for the Development Agenda proposal.

During the day, India and Pakistan separately suggested that a
negotiating text be prepared.

This meeting, an "inter-sessional intergovernmental meeting," was agreed
to by the WIPO General Assembly in October 2004. Other similar meetings
may follow in the time before a July deadline to issue a report for
consideration by next September's General Assembly, diplomatic sources
said.

The first day began with a debate over whether the meeting chair, which
is Paraguay, had the right to determine the future of the development
issue based on the meeting. Argentina and Brazil, who launched the
original Development Agenda proposal, argued that the chair was limited
to a non-binding summary of the meeting. They were joined by a number of
developing countries who said the normal practice for WIPO meetings is
for governments to discuss and adopt a draft report of the meeting
prepared by the secretariat. Brazil reiterated the proposal to add an
agenda item to this effect unless there was specific opposition from
other governments. When no public argument was offered, the chair
affirmed that the agenda would be amended as proposed. A government
official said that the topic was, however, reconsidered in a closed
meeting later in the day.

Another key difference that arose during the day is whether development
issues should be moved to the PCIPD, which meets on Thursday and Friday
of this week. The United States and Group B favour the move while some
developing countries have vowed to resist it out of concern that
development cut across all aspects of WIPO activities and not be
relegated to one committee. The U.S. view was that if the PCIPD is not
sufficient, then it should be improved.

Another procedural matter at the meeting was the announcement at the
outset that seventeen "ad hoc" (not formally recognized by WIPO)
non-governmental organisations would be allowed to attend the meeting
after all. But the United States said the groups and their
representatives should be carefully scrutinized before being allowed to
attend any future meetings.


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