[A2k] WIPO SCP 12th session: Summary by the Chair

[James Love]

http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/scp/en/scp_12/scp_12_4_rev.doc

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SCP/12/4 Rev.
ORIGINAL:  English
DATE:  June 26, 2008
WORLD  INTELLECTUAL  PROPERTY  ORGANIZATION
GENEVA

Standing committee on the law of patents
Twelfth Session
Geneva, June 23 to 27, 2008
SUMMARY BY THE CHAIR

Agenda Item 1:  Opening of the Session

1=09The twelfth session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents
(SCP) was opened, on behalf of the Director General, by Mr. Francis
Gurry, Deputy Director General, who welcomed the participants.  Mr.
Philippe Baechtold (WIPO) acted as Secretary.


Agenda Item 2:  Election of a Chair and Two Vice-Chairs

2=09The SCP unanimously elected, for one year, Mr. Maximiliano Santa Cruz
(Chile) as Chair and Mrs. Bucura Ionescu (Romania) and Mr. Yin Xintian
(China) as Vice=E2=80=91Chairs.


Agenda Item 3:  Adoption of the Draft Agenda

3=09The SCP adopted the draft agenda as proposed in document SCP/12/1
Prov.


Agenda Item 4:  Accreditation of Observers

4=09The SCP approved the accreditation of the Institute for Trade
Standards and Sustainable Development, Inc. (ITSSD) as ad hoc observer
(document SCP/12/2).


Agenda Item 5:  Adoption of the Draft Report of the Eleventh Session

5=09The Committee adopted the draft report of its eleventh session
(document SCP/11/6 Prov.2) as proposed.


Agenda Item 6:  Report on the International Patent System

6=09The discussions were based document SCP/12/3.

7=09Many delegations recognized that that document was covering a wide
range of issues relating to the patent system and constituted a good
basis for discussion.  Mindful of the mandate given to it by the WIPO
General Assembly in 2007, and thus working towards a work program, the
SCP identified a non-exhaustive list of issues for further elaboration
and discussion in the future, which appears in the Annex to this
document.

8=09Following a proposal by the Chair, the Committee

=09(a)  agreed that document SCP/12/3 would remain open for further
discussion at the next session of the SCP and be open for written
comments to the WIPO Secretariat until the end of October 2008, which
would reflect those comments in footnotes or annexes to document
SCP/12/3;

=09(b)  decided that the list of issues referred to in paragraph 7 would
remain open for further elaboration and discussion at the next session
of the SCP;

=09(c)  asked the WIPO Secretariat to establish, for the next session of
the SCP, preliminary studies on four issues.  These four issues, which
are not to be considered prioritized over the other issues contained on
the list referred to in paragraph 7, are the following:

Dissemination of patent information (inter alia the issue of a database
on search and examination reports);
Exceptions from patentable subject matter and limitations to the rights,
inter alia research exemption and compulsory licenses;
Patents and standards;
Client-attorney privilege;

=09(d)  suggested that, in the framework of the SCP and, where relevant,
also with other WIPO bodies, the Director General consider including in
the revised Program and Budget for 2009, provision for a Conference on
issues relating to the implications, including public policy
implications, of patents on certain areas of public policy, such as
health, the environment, climate change or food security;

=09(e)  decided that the members of the SCP could submit suggestions on
the future work program of the SCP to the Secretariat.


Agenda Item 7:  Future Work

9=09The International Bureau informed the SCP that its thirteenth session
was tentatively scheduled to be held during the first quarter of 2009,
in Geneva.

10=09The SCP noted that the present document was a summary established
under the responsibility of the Chair and that the official record would
be contained in the report of the session.  The report would reflect all
the interventions made during the meeting, and would be adopted in
accordance with the procedure agreed by the SCP at its fourth session
(see document SCP/4/6, paragraph 11), which provided for the members of
the SCP to comment on the draft report made available on the SCP
Electronic Forum.  The Committee would then be invited to adopt the
draft report, including the comments received, at its following session.


11=09The SCP noted the contents of this summary by the Chair.


[Annex follows]
LIST OF ISSUES
(in the order of their appearance in document SCP/12/3)



Economic impact of the patent system

Transfer of technology

Competition policy and anti-competitive practices

Dissemination of patent information (including the registration of
licenses)

Standards and patents

Alternative models for innovation

Harmonization of basic notions of substantive patentability requirements
(e.g. prior art, novelty, inventive step, industrial applicability,
disclosure)

Disclosure of inventions

Database on search and examination reports

Opposition system

Exceptions from patentable subject matter

Limitations to the rights

Research exemption

Compulsory licenses

Client-attorney privilege

Patents and health (including exhaustion, the Doha Declaration and other
WTO instruments, patent landscaping)

Relationship between the patent system and the CBD (Genetic
resources/Traditional knowledge/disclosure of origin)

Relation of patents with other public policy issues


[End of Annex and of document]