World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) The WIPO (World Intellectual Property Rights Organization) was established in 1970 with the signing of the WIPO Convention in 1967.[1] It is one of the specialized bodies of the United Nations with a mandate to promote the protection of the intellectual property throughout the world, by way of facilitating cooperation between member states and other international organization. Currently WIPO has a membership of 184 countries and almost all the UN members have the membership of WIPO, with its secretariat based in Geneva. The establishment of WIPO was preceded by BIRPI, the French acronym for the United International Bureau for the Protection of Intellectual Property that was set-up in 1893 for the purpose of administration of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Artistic Works and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Along with these two conventions, WIPO also administers 22 other treaties and agreements spanning an entire range of intellectual property protection and classification services. The strategic direction of WIPO is determined by its member states that approve all the decisions and oversees its overall functioning. The primary decision making body is the WIPO general assembly, the WIPO Conference and the WIPO Coordination Committee. This trio along with the member states of each of the Unions[2] are the main decision making bodies of the WIPO. WIPO is unique amongst the UN institutions in two very significant ways. First, its wide mandate that ranges from promotion of a balanced system of intellectual property protection while realizing the developmental protection to that of providing global IP protection services like the international registry. In this regard WIPO provides services arbitration and mediations services, hosts the international registration systems for the various IP systems under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), Madrid and Hague and the WIPO Academy through which it builds capacity of IP personnel from member countries. Second, unlike most UN organizations, WIPO is largely financially self-sustained, primarily because of the commercial services it provides through the registry[3] and the through the arbitration and mediation centre. Recent Development: WIPO Involvement in Climate Change Issues, the Singapore Treaty and the Development Agenda In October 2008, Dr. Francis Gurry took over as the Director General of WIPO. He has undertaken a process of strategically realigning WIPO's institutional structures for ensuring efficacy in service delivery. A further internal measures is the launch of the WIPO Carbon Neutrality Project which is an attempt to reduce the organization's carbon footprint.[4] He is also pursuing the realignment externally in order to respond to emerging global public policy challenges. In December 2008, the assemblies of the member states of WIPO approved the revised program and budget for the 2008/09 biennium[5]. This document specifies nine strategic goals for WIPO:
One of the most important steps in this process of role redefinition has been the engagement of WIPO with the issue of climate change. It participated in a side event on the issue of technology transfer, the IP system and climate change at the UNFCCC Poznan conference in December 2008.[7] In its presentation, the focus was on the use of patent information, especially the PATENTSCOPE® portal as a tool for policymakers in the climate change field[8]. It also introduced a background paper for the negotiations focusing on the key issues that link climate change with the international system for IP protection and regulation.[9] The Director General underlined the importance of rapid diffusion of climate-friendly technologies across the global economy as a pre-requisite for tackling climate change. In this WIPO would play a role in providing for an open innovation platform, which would enable companies to disclose their green technologies with a view to entering into research collaboration on a commercial basis, or to licensing them on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.[10] The Director General also participated in a side event themed "International Cooperation on Technology Transfer: Time for Action," at the Copenhagen Summit.[11] He interacted with the executive heads of other UN agencies in discussing mechanisms for increasing coordination and linkages between UN agencies on the issue of climate change[12]. Another important step forward in the international arena for WIPO has been the entry into force of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, in March 2009.[13] This is the culmination of the process which started in 2006 with the Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of a Revised Trademark Law Treaty. The new treaty is the first time non-traditional marks have been recognized in a multilateral treaty. The Singapore Treaty establishes a multilateral framework for the definition of criteria concerning the reproduction of hologram, motion, color and position marks and of marks consisting of non-visible signs on trademark applications and in trademark registers. This treaty recognizes that non-traditional trademarks are increasing in usage across the world. The treaty does not create any new international obligations for the registration and protection of these non-traditional marks, but is essentially aimed at harmonization in terms of offering members the opportunity to develop standards relating to non-traditional trademarks in a multilateral setting. In November 2009, the fourth session of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) discussed the implementation of a number of WIPO Development Agenda recommendations. A projects based approach had been adopted by the CDIP with a total of nine projects are already underway and six more have received preliminary approval.[14] The most contentious issue has been the coordination mechanism between the CDIP and the work of the other WIPO bodies. The developing countries have supported the role of the CDIP in overseeing the mainstreaming of the Development Agenda recommendations in all areas of functioning of WIPO. The developed countries on the other hand have vetoed this suggestion on the grounds that the CDIP stands in equal footing with other WIPO committees and therefore should not be given an overseeing role as this could lead to duplication in governance mechanisms. In its last session the CDIP decided to postpone discussion on this issue to its next session in early 2010. **** The Singapore treaty, development agenda and the climate change issue reflects the efforts made by WIPO to both extend and consolidate its areas of influence in global policymaking. Especially in the area of climate change, WIPO has made special effort to address new developments and to invest resources in exploring ways in which it can play a productive role by contributing its expertise to international developments. Nupur Chowdhury Associate Fellow The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) January 2010 Footnotes: 1 Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, 14 July 1967 (as amended in 28 September 1979) http://www.wipo.int/clea/en/text_html.jsp?lang=EN&id=4046. 2 Madrid System for the International registration of marks, Hague System of registration of industrial designs, Lisbon System for the protection of appellations of origin and their international registration. 3 Under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Madrid System, Hague System and Lisbon System, international registration is provided by the WIPO that allows simultaneous application for IP titles in all the member countries where IP protection is required. 4 For further information see WIPO General Assembly, Progress Report on the Carbon Neutrality Project, 38th Session, October 1-22, 2009, Geneva, WIPO Doc. WO/GA/38/11, available at www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/govbody/en/wo_ga_38/wo_ga_38_11.doc. 5 WIPO, REVISED PROGRAM AND BUDGET FOR THE 2008/09 BIENNIUM, Approved by the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO on December 12, 2008, 5-6, available at http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/about-wipo/en/budget/pdf/rev_prog_budget_08_09.pdf 6 Id., at 7. 7 A. Taubman, IP and Climate Change Negotiations: From Bali to Copenhagen, Via Poznan, WIPO MAGAZINE (March 2009) available at http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2009/02/article_0001.html. 8 For a summary see The climate of IP; and IP of climate: an overview of the policy issues, Side Event, UNCCC COP-14, December, 2008, available at http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/patentscope/en/lifesciences/pdf/poznan_event.pdf. 9 Taubman, supra note 4. 10 Talking to the Director General, WIPO MAGAZINE (February 2009) available at http://www.wipo.int/wipo_magazine/en/2009/01/article_0001.html. 11 UNFCCC, Conference of the Parties (COP), Fifteenth session and Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) December 7-18, Copenhagen, further information available at http://unfccc.int/2860.php. 12 WIPO outlines how it can help meet the challenges of climate change, December 16, 2009, available at http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2009/article_0060.html. 13 Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, March 27, 2006, entry into force, March 16, 2009, available at http://www.wipo.int/export/sites/www/treaties/en/ip/singapore/pdf/singapore_treaty.pdf. 14 Full details on the work of the CIPD is available at http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/topic.jsp?group_id=241. |
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