[A2k] FromGeneva: WIPO hosts enforcement beauty contest (aka Advisory Committtee on Enforcement)

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://fromgeneva.blogspot.com/2006/05/wipo-hosts-enforcement-beauty-contest.html


      WIPO hosts enforcement beauty contest (aka Advisory Committtee on
      Enforcement)

15 May 2006 (Monday)
Thiru Balasubramaniam
Morning Session


The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is holding a beauty
contest on enforcement, the third session of the Advisory Committee on
Enforcement (ACE) which takes place at the WIPO headquarters in Geneva
from 15-17 May 2006. For the first two days, presenters from Antigua &
Barbuda, Australia, Brazil China, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Romania,
Serbia & Montenegro, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka and Switzerland will
make interventions on "awareness raising, training and education in the
field of IP enforcement". In addition, two industry group NGOs, the
International Trademark Association (INTA) and the International
Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers (IFPI) are also on the
agenda. Although it may be too sweeping to label all the presentations
thus far as panegyrics to the enforcement of "intellectual property", it
would appear that the main purpose of the ACE is for WIPO Member States
to engage in an exercise of self-congratulation under the guise of an
information exchange on their respective enforcement, training, and
awareness raising activities

The morning panel included the following speakers (see links for written
presentations): (1) H.E. Mr. Ion Codescu
<http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/enforcement/en/wipo_ace_3/wipo_ace_3_7.doc>,
Secretary of State, Ministy of Justice, Romania, (2) Professor Dora N.
Akunyili
<http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/enforcement/en/wipo_ace_3/wipo_ace_3_9.doc>,
National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC),
Director-General, Nigeria, and (3) Dr. Karunaratna
<http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/enforcement/en/wipo_ace_3/wipo_ace_3_5.doc>,
Director of Intellectual Property, IP Office, Sri Lanka.

Among the nuggets of information gleaned from the morning session was
the fact that Romania ratified the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO
Performers and Phonograms Treaty in 2001 as part of its efforts to
harmonize its legislation above and beyond what is required by the TRIPS
Agreement even before it was ratified by 15 original Member States of
the European Union (Romania is the on the EU accession track). Professor
Akunyili from Nigeria noted that parallel importation of pharmaceuticals
was not permitted in Nigeria because it caused confusion in efforts to
stem counterfeiting. One would hope that further discussions of this
Advisory Committee on Enforcement do not further conflate the parallel
importation of legitimate patented products with the practice of
counterfeiting.