[Hague-jur-commercial-law] From Manon Ress: April 21 at The Hague

[Thirukumaran Balasubramaniam]

Dear Colleagues,

I'm at The hague for the Special commission on Jurisdiction and 
Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial matters. The 
meeting started today April 21 and will end on April 27. See agenda cut 
and paste below.

Today's summary:
The day started at 9:30 with a report on the IP and the Hague meeting 
that was held in Alexandria March 29-31, 2004. A full written report 
should be available soon. There were experts from 9 different 
delegations, EC reps, WIPO representative, Hague Secretariat, and 30 to 
40 "private sector experts".

Some delegations did not have an expert at the State department/USPTO 
meeting in Alexandria and were not sure about having to make a decision 
without having more time to read the documents (and consult their own 
experts) that were produced. A delegation asked for more informaiton 
about the exact status of the documents (are they "working documents"? 
in any way "official" proposals?). A delegation asked if there had been 
a discussion on GIs and plant breeders rights and whether there were 
included or not in the exclusion (for the validity).

One delegation stated that if there was to be a list of exclusion (and 
validity is on the list) infringement should be added. The delegation 
also asked whether copyright should be excluded and asked when a 
consensus had been reached to have copyright in the scope anyway.

2 other delegations stated that included copyright (and IP) was not an 
agreed fact.
IFPI (the recording industry) and MPA (hollywood) had difficulties 
hiding their impatience (what? the question is back?) They fully 
supported the proposed documents.

There was also several questions about a proposal to have a 
"declaration" (article z):
[Upon ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, or at any later 
time, a State may designate the rights referred to in Article 1 (3) (l). 
[Subject to required notification provisions in final clauses]].


Added to Article 1 (3)(l) in Alexandria, the article that excludes from 
the convention the validity "of other IPR, except copyright and related 
rights, the validity of which depends on or arises from grant, 
registration or deposit; [provided that such rights are designated in a 
declaration made pursuant to article z"

Delegations express need for clarification about how the declaration 
would work and how it would increase certainty.

At 3:30 the president decided that there were three issues left to discuss

1) Whether or not to exclude copyright?

2) Whether or not to add infringement to exclusions?

3) Should we have article(l)? If so, what formulation should there be 
and should there be a declaration to go with it? (US and Industry pushed 
proposal)

The president went on to say that delegates should look at the proposed 
texts from the meeting in Alexandria and since there was not enough time 
to determine whether or not there is a consensus on these three issues, 
the discussion will continue.

Those who want to influence these proposals, he said, should provide a 
working document – tomorrow morning or express their views from the floor.

The rest of the afternoon was spent discussing the federal issue (or 
rather the non unified legal system such as China which includes Hong 
Kongand Macau, Canada, UK and the US) and the disconnection clause 
(European Community proposal).

The well attended meeting was lively with active participation from the 
Russian federation, China, Switzerland, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, 
Canada, the US , Spain, France and INTA, IFPI and MPA.

More later,
Manon
Phone at the hague +31 (0)70 352 5354

Agenda:

*Draft Agenda for the Special Commission **on Jurisdiction, Recognition 
and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters*


The Hague, 21 – 27 April 2004

In general, it is proposed that the meetings shall be held from *9.30 
am** till **1.00 pm* and from* **2.30 pm** till **6.00 pm**,* except on 
Saturday 24 and Tuesday 27 April 2004 (see below). Breaks for coffee 
(morning) and tea or coffee (afternoon) will be from *11.00 am** till 
**11.20 am*, and from *4.00 pm** till **4.20 pm*.

*The suggested timetable will be followed with a certain degree of 
flexibility and modified in accordance with the requirements of the 
discussion. *

The following agenda items refer to the draft provisions as contained in 
the Proposal by the Drafting Committee which is contained in Working 
Document No 49 of December 2003 (Annex to Prel. Doc. No 25).*__*

*_ _*

*_ _*


/Wednesday 21 April 2004///

9.30 am – 1.00 pm Opening of the meeting by Mr A.V.M. Struycken, 
President of the Netherlands Standing Government Committee on Private 
International Law

/ /

Election of the Chair of the Commission

/Welcome and general remarks by Mr Hans van Loon, Secretary General/

*Report on the Informal Meeting on the Intellectual Property Aspects of 
the Project of a Convention on Exclusive Choice of Court Clauses, held 
in Washington D.C. on 29-31 March 2004 */[covering the chapeau of 
Article 1(3), (k) and (l), Articles 6, 7bis and Community IP rights ]/

/2.30 am – 6.00 pm// /*Articles 18, 19, 21* – Disconnection and Federal 
Clauses

/ /

/ /*Article 22*/ /– Regional Economic Integration Organisations

/ /


/Thursday 22 April 2004///

*_ _*

9.30 am – 1.00 pm *Articles 4(4), 5(f), 15* – Purely Internal Case

/2.30 am – 6.00 pm// /*Articles 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27* – Final Clauses

/ /


/Friday 23 April 2004///

*_ _*

9.30 am – 1.00 pm *Article 7(1)(c)* – Notification - Legal or Factual 
Approach

/2.30 am – 6.00 pm// /*Article 4(3)* – Internal Transfer of Cases

/
/

/ /


/Saturday 24 April 2004///

9.30 am – 1.00 pm Open issues revisited and second reading – Articles 1, 
2, 3, 6


/Monday 26 April 2004///

9.30 am. – 1.00 pm Open issues revisited and second reading – Articles 
4, 5, 7__

2.30 pm – 6.00 pm Open issues revisited and second reading – Articles 
10, 14, 15, 16__


/Tuesday 27 April 2004///

9.30 am – 1.00 pm Open issues revisited and second reading – Articles 
18, 19, 21

2.30 pm – 4.00 pm.* *Open issues revisited and second reading – Articles 
8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 22-27



-- 
Manon Anne Ress
Consumer Project on Technology
www.cptech.org
PO Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
manon.ress@cptech.org, voice: 1.202.387.8030, fax: 1.202.234.5176