[A2k] WIPO - LDCs Commit To Use IP For Development At WIPO; Use Of Exceptions, Flexibilities Omitted

[Barbara Stratton]

Intellectual Property Watch
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/07/27/ldcs-commit-to-use-ip-for-develop=
ment-at-wipo-use-of-exceptions-flexibilities-omitted/

LDCs Commit To Use IP For Development At WIPO; Use Of Exceptions,
Flexibilities Omitted

By Kaitlin Mara on 27 July 2009 @ 4:24 pm

Officials from least developed nations on Friday agreed to a strategy
for using intellectual property to encourage local innovation, protect
national cultural and genetic resources, attract foreign direct
investment, and spur development at a World Intellectual Property
Organization forum on the use of intellectual property for =93prosperity
and development.=94 But they did not appear to highlight other
IP-related options for development such as exceptions and limitations
to copyright or flexibilities they are permitted in applying IP laws.

In a ministerial declaration adopted at the end of the two-day
meeting, delegates at the high-level forum said the =93creation,
protection, management and use of intellectual property rights would
contribute to economic development by facilitating the transfer of
technology, increasing employment and creating wealth.=94

The declaration by mainly industry and economic ministers further
calls on WIPO to undertake several actions to aid least developed
countries (LDCs) in their efforts to integrate IP strategy with
development plans. Such actions include assistance in protecting
traditional cultural expressions, help in branding exportable products
from LDCs that can be protected by geographical indications or
trademarks, and help in promoting public-private partnerships and the
commercialisation of research products from LDC universities.

This document will be the =93blueprint for expanding and strengthening
WIPO=92s future cooperation with LDCs,=94 Narendra Sabharwal, WIPO deputy
director general on cooperation for development, told=A0Intellectual
Property Watch.

The=A023-24 July event=A0[1], titled the =93high-level forum on intellectua=
l
property for the least developed countries: the strategic use of
intellectual property for prosperity and development,=94 attracted top
political figures from least developed countries, including 10
ministers. Speakers from academia, government ministries, and
intergovernmental agencies presented ideas and experiences for the use
of IP rights in LDC settings.

Another outcome of the meeting was the launch of the Access to
Research for Development and Innovation Service (ARDI), a
public-private partnership between WIPO and an association of science,
technology and medical publishers, as well as the International
Publishers Association that WIPO Director General Francis Gurry said
will provide free access to least developed countries to a series of
journals whose subscription cost would normally total $400,000 a year.

An unofficial copy of the draft version of the ministerial declaration
is available here=A0[2]=A0[pdf]. A finalised copy is not yet available,
but is expected to include amended text =93underscoring the use of IP
for economic, social and cultural development,=94 according to
participants, and a call for the WIPO director general to make a
separate section in the biennial programme and budget for LDCs, among
other changes.

Gurry told the plenary he was =93delighted=94 with the declaration, which
he added would help WIPO=92s work programme in a number of ways.

Notably, the document does not contain specific references to
exceptions, limitations, or flexibilities in intellectual property
rights, which have been a common theme in other discussions on
development and intellectual property, including in the=A0WIPO
Development Agenda=A0[3].

Civil society organisations and other nongovernmental observers were
not invited to the forum.

New Initiative Attempts to Bridge Knowledge Gaps

=93The majority of innovations are made by those with substantial
education in science and technology,=94 said Dilip Barua, the minister
for industries in Bangladesh. Access to information in scientific
journals is therefore extremely important, he added, while introducing
the=A0new ARDI project=A0[4].

Currently ARDI provides access to 50 journals to all LDCs as well as
58 developing countries who have an access price of $1,000 annually,
its website says, though Gurry said negotiation is ongoing and new
titles are being added.

=93This represents a commitment on the part of this organisation to the
Millennium Development Goals as well as the WIPO Development Agenda,=94
said Gurry, adding it also =93represents our desire to open this
organisation to the rest of the UN system, and ensure that we play a
part in the rest of the UN system.=94

=93We often focus on developing countries as receivers of know-how but
with the right tools they are also significant potential producers of
knowledge,=94 said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, director general of the UN
Office in Geneva, adding that ARDI will be one such practical tool.

This is the second LDC forum that WIPO has held. The first, in
December 2007, concluded that =93IP can help LDCs attain their
development targets, contribute to wealth generation, and propel them
in achieving the Millennium Development Goals,=94=A0according to the press
release=A0[5].

IP for Development: Problems and Opportunities

=93When we organise invention and technology fairs, we discover that
there is much talent,=94 said Ahmadou Abdoulaye Diallo, Mali=92s minister
for industry, investments and trade, speaking at the event=92s opening
plenary. The problem is, he added, =93once the awards are handed out, we
don=92t know where to go=85 we do not know how to implement the inventions
that have been designed.=94

Tanzania =93faces challenges, especially in budgetary constraints to
support research and development in research universities,=94 said Mary
Nagu, minister for industry, trade and marketing.

Consequently, she added =93the output is limited as far as delivering
technology for industry,=94 and these inadequacies =93allow extreme
dependence on imported technology,=94 reducing the country=92s bargaining
power and representing a major barrier to development.

But patent documents contain a wealth of information that is freely
available, and enables anyone skilled in the art of a technology to
use it. This can be, said Nagu, a great advantage for LDCs, in which
many patents are not protected.

However, =93only when [intellectual property] is fully integrated into
national strategies can we benefit from it,=94 said Juneydi Saddo,
Ethiopia=92s minister for science and technology, highlighting a
particular need for capacity building.

Designing IP systems for LDCs is a complex issue, however. =93The
optimal system won=92t be the same in all countries,=94 said Keith Maskus,
associate dean for social sciences at the University of Colorado (US).
Systematic evidence of the effects of IP in LDCs is scarce, he added,
and contains causality problems, such as whether =93the availability of
stronger IP rights improve innovation, or the other way around,=94 he
said.

Some ideas for such strategies were presented. Getachew Mengistie, an
IP consultant and attorney and the former director general of the
Ethiopian IP Office, talked about the use of trademarks to protect
Ethiopian coffee growers. Ethiopian coffee, he said, was selling for
over US$20 a pound (Harar beans for $24 in 2004 and Sidamo for $26 in
2005) while only 5-10 percent of the money was making it to Ethiopia,
and only 50 cents was going to the actual coffee growers. The country
is trying to capture more of the market by trademarking Ethiopian
names.

Paulin Edou Edou, director general of the African Intellectual
Property Organisation (OAPI), said OAPI is looking into the use of
geographical indications to boost revenues from agriculture, which is
practiced by large percentages of the population but contributing
little to GPD - for example in Senegal, 70 percent of the population
farms, but only 11 percent of the GDP is from agriculture; in Mali the
figures are 73 percent and 40 percent.

IP might also be used to protect traditional knowledge, genetic
resources and traditional cultural expressions from misappropriation,
said a panel of speakers from WIPO, the African Regional Intellectual
Property Organisations and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in South
Africa. However, the WIPO committee charged with finding a way to do
so has had trouble reaching agreement over its decade of existence.

Anecdotal evidence, said Maskus, suggests that patent reforms do not
raise local innovation in the short term, but can improve technology
transfer and can help reduce the reliance on trade secrets to protect
ideas.

There is evidence that weak IP can also damage local markets more than
foreign markets, Maskus said, citing two studies. The first, from
India, found that traditional apparel artisans were selling to a
two-tier market: one abroad, with IP protection, where designs are
high-end; and one locally, where there is no such protection and the
artisans are low-income. The second, from Senegal, showed the same
trend for musicians, where =93rampant local piracy limits incomes=94
except for the small handful of artists who are selling and performing
abroad.

At the conference, a question was also raised to the heads of the OAPI
and ARIPO on the status of a proposal to set up a Pan African
Intellectual Property Organization.

Separately, a concern also was raised about whether development can
bring challenges such as the possible loss of flexibilities afforded
to LDCs. Mohamed Rasheed, the Maldives minister for economic
development, said his country is expected to graduate from LDC status
in December 2010, which will necessitate the implementation of a host
of obligations under the World Trade Organization Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.

=93This will have a big impact =85 [as it will] mean we have to be in full
compliance with TRIPS by end of 2010,=94 Rasheed said. This =93provides
challenges for a small and vulnerable economy like ours.=94

An official from Bangladesh in a Thursday press conference with Gurry
said that countries like Bangladesh find it difficult to accept
measures that go beyond TRIPS. =93It is up to us to decide how far we
can go, and when we exercise our flexibilities,=94 he said. Part of the
usefulness of meeting as LDCs is to =93come together on what we want,=94
he added. But this may not be reflected in the draft declaration.

Robinson Esalimba, an intern with Intellectual Property Watch, and
William New contributed to this report.

Categories: Copyright Policy, Developing Country Policy, Development,
Education/ R&D/ Innovation, English, IP Policies, Language, News,
Patent Policy, Technical Cooperation/Technology Transfer, Themes,
Trademarks/Geographical Indications, Venues, WIPO
________________________________
1 Comment (Open=A0|=A0Close)

1 Comment To "LDCs Commit To Use IP For Development At WIPO; Use Of
Exceptions, Flexibilities Omitted"

#1 Pingback=A0By=A0GenevaLunch =BB Blog Archive =BB LDCs agree on IP issues=
 in
Geneva: exceptions downplayed=A0On 28 July 2009 @ 10:06 am

[...] Narendra Sabharwal, Wipo deputy director general on cooperation
for development told Intellectual Property Watch, a Geneva-based
newsletter that closely tracks IP [...]

________________________________

Article printed from Intellectual Property Watch:=A0http://www.ip-watch.org=
/weblog

URL to article:
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/07/27/ldcs-commit-to-use-ip-for-develop=
ment-at-wipo-use-of-exceptions-flexibilities-omitted/

URLs in this post:

[1] 23-24 July event:
http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2009/article_0026.html

[2] is available here:
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/ldcs-ministerial-=
declaration-july-2009.pdf

[3] WIPO Development Agenda:
http://www.wipo.int/ip-development/en/agenda/recommendations.html

[4] new ARDI project:=A0http://www.wipo.int/ardi/en/

[5] according to the press release:
http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2007/article_0087.html