[Open-wipo] Financial Times: Development needs 'override intellectual property protection'

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/87d93e54-127e-11d9-863e-00000e2511c8.htmli


Development needs 'override intellectual property protection'
By Frances Williams in Geneva
Published: September 30 2004 03:00 | Last updated: September 30 2004 03:00

Five hundred scientists, academics, legal experts and consumer
advocates, including two Nobel laureates, called yesterday for a change
of course at the World Intellectual Property Organisation to put
development concerns ahead of stronger intellectual property rights.


The signatories of the so-called Geneva declaration on the future of
Wipo include Sir John Sulston, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for
medicine, and Burton Richter, the 1976 physics laureate. The declaration
also has the support of development groups such as Oxfam and ActionAid.

"A 'one size fits all' approach that embraces the highest levels of
intellectual property protection for everyone leads to unjust and
burdensome outcomes for countries that are struggling to meet the most
basic needs of their citizens," it says.

The declaration was launched ahead of a debate today at Wipo's annual
assembly on a proposal by Brazil and Argentina for a Wipo "development
agenda".

Their proposal includes the negotiation of a Wipo treaty to promote
developing-country access to knowledge and technology, and work on how
collaborative information-sharing mechanisms - exemplified by the
worldwide web and the human genome project - can stimulate innovation.

Although the two members have support from developing countries in Latin
America and Africa, the proposal is opposed by industrialised nations,
which argue that Wipo is already responding to development needs.

Wipo was established in 1967 to promote intellectual property protection
but in 1974, when it became a United Nations agency, the organisation's
mission was expanded to include "appropriate action to promote creative
intellectual activity" and the facilitation of technology transfer to
poor countries.

However, supporters of a "development agenda" claim that, under pressure
from industrialised nations, Wipo continues to give undue weight to
strengthening intellectual property rights such as patents, trademarks
and copyright, at the expense of the public interest and other means of
fostering innovation and creativity.

Developing countries complain that excessive intellectual property
protection denies them access to new technologies and research findings,
while many scientists and researchers argue that stringent intellectual
property rights threaten to become a drag on scientific and cultural
advance. www.wipo.org