[Ip-health] A Trips-plus agenda at WIPO

[Sangeeta]

D Ravi Kanth: A Trips-plus agenda at WIPO
D Ravi Kanth /  July 21, 2009, 0:25 IST
Business Standard

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it=B9 is a timel=
y
reminder for key actors who are bent on pushing failed agendas. As
governments and multilateral institutions struggle to recover from a
pervasive crisis of confidence stemming from the current political and
economic climate, it is important to not make the same mistakes all over
again. But the tendency is to cock a snook at such warnings.

Of late, the so-called knowledge-based companies and pharmaceutical giants
in the western world =8B who faced public criticism when the HIV/AIDS epide=
mic
began in the 1990s =8B are staging a comeback. They are using the economic
crisis to strengthen the protection and enforcement of intellectual propert=
y
rights (IPRs) and are busy waging a battle against compulsory licensing.

It is against this backdrop, that the Geneva-based World Intellectual
Property Organisation (WIPO) convened a high-profile meeting to drive home
the message on innovation, creativity and transfer of technology. =B3We hav=
e
to acknowledge that intellectual property is not an end in itself, but an
instrument to promote innovation, creativity and the dissemination of
knowledge,=B2 said Maximiliano Santa Cruz, Chairman of WIPO=B9s Standing
Committee on Patents (SCP) that convened the conference.

The developing countries, however, remain sceptical about this new public
relations campaign of linking intellectual property (IP) with development.
The recent seizures of generic drugs on the high seas by the Netherlands
customs department and the sudden shortage of anti-retroviral drugs in the
five most-affected countries in Africa indicate that IP-holders and their
drivers at the multilateral institutions do not genuinely mean what they
preach.

Over the years, the WIPO=B9s overarching agenda has been somewhat dented
following the World Trade Organisation=B9s TRIPS agreement which became a
benchmark for nations. It is also gripped by a perennial crisis stemming
=8Cfrom opaque decision making, a pro-intellectual property (IP) outlook, a=
nd
an imperial management style (among others),=B9 says Carolyn Deere, the
director of the Global Trade Governance Project at Oxford.

So, when Francis Gurry, an Australian, took office on October 1, 2008 after
a series of crisis, expectations got raised and there was a hope that thing=
s
would change. Though Gurry won the final race just by one vote against a
Brazilian candidate =8B which, in a way, was a source of some mystery =8B
members, particularly from the developing world, decided to leave all the
controversies behind and get on with the job of addressing the policy and
institutional challenges.

Sadly, the new director general seems determined to embark on a TRIPS II
agenda, says a developing country envoy, suggesting that Gurry is now
adamant on upgrading the IP norm-setting activities to help the big pharma
and technological companies. Apparently, he wants to re-orient the
organisation to focus primarily on norm-setting tasks =8B more efficient
provision of IP-registration services and higher respect for IP through
enforcement. All these renewed activities are what the IP-holders want seek
on a war footing. Effectively, they want to kill the developmental agenda =
=8B
balancing IP-protection with broader and ameliorative public policy goals =
=8B
that the world needs in this hour of crisis.

Though IP and the patronage system do not go hand in hand, there are
allegations that plum jobs are being offered to developing country official=
s
at WIPO to silence opposition from them on developmental issues. Over the
last nine months, there has been little or no progress in addressing major
policy challenges. For example, the Inter-governmental Committee on
Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources and Folklore (the IGC) recently
ended with no decision on the renewal of the mandate of the IGC after five
days of acrimonious exchanges between developed and developing countries =
=8B
with the director general conspicuously absent from the scene when there wa=
s
an impasse, says a developing country official.

Internally, the abrupt removal of Ram Kishan Singh, a junior official, who
worked for nine years in the organisation with an outstanding record and th=
e
proposed reforms in the staffing pattern raise serious questions whether
developing country officials are specific targets in the onward march of a
renewed western IP agenda at WIPO!
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/d-ravi-kanthtrips-plus-agenda-a=
t
-wipo/364449/