[A2k] WIPO HOSTS COLLOQUIUM ON “FLEXIBILITIES IN THE PATENT SYSTEM”

[Robin Gross]

      WIPO Media Alert MA/2007/26:


      WIPO HOSTS COLLOQUIUM ON “FLEXIBILITIES IN THE PATENT SYSTEM”

On Friday, February 16, 2007, the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) is hosting the third in a series of colloquia on
patents that is scheduled to take place between October 2006 and
September 2007 at its headquarters in Geneva. The third is entitled
“Flexibilities in the Patent System.”

The main function of the patent system is to promote innovation and
encourage economic development. That said, in recent years, and more so
since the adoption of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), the potential economic
and social effects of the patent system have increasingly been
discussed. Questions such as whether the international patent system is
flexible enough to adequately address the situation of developing
nations and their national public policies needs, or how both nations
and individuals can use the flexibilities in the patent system and
simultaneously develop national intellectual property assets, are raised.

The two invited speakers – Professor Joseph Straus, Director, Max Planck
Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law and
Professor, and Dr. N. S. Gopalakrishnan, HRD Chair on IPR, School of
Legal Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kerala,
India - will address various issues related to the flexibilities
embodied in the national and international patent systems from different
angles and respond to questions from the audience.

The program is available at
http://www.wipo.int/patent/colloquia/en/2007/02/index.html. The event is
open to the general public and will be held at the headquarters of WIPO
in Geneva. Anyone interested in attending the meeting is requested to
complete the on-line registration form at
http://www.wipo.int/patent/colloquia/en/registration.html. Information
on the full series of WIPO patent colloquia can be found at:
http://www.wipo.int/patent/colloquia/en/.

For further information please contact the Media Relations and Public
Affairs Section at (+ 41 22) 338 81 61, 338 95 47 Fax: (+41 22) 338 82
80, E-mail: _ <MAILTO:publicinf@wipo.int>publicinf@wipo.int
<mailto:publicinf@wipo.int>_.