[DMCA-Activists] WIPO GA Development Agenda

[Seth Johnson]

(Two items below.  -- Seth)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [A2k] Agenda item on Development Agenda has been decided
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 21:30:39 +0200
From: Thiru Balasubramaniam <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden, address@hidden

The WIPO General Assembly decided to adopt the following agenda
item on the Development Agenda by consensus.

-------------

ITEM 13   OF THE CONSOLIDATED AGENDA


Considering the need to make progress in integrating the
development dimension in WIPO broadly so that concrete and
practical results can be achieved in the most timely and
efficient manner, the General Assembly hereby decides:

-   To constitute a Provisional Committee to take forward the IIM
process to accelerate and complete the discussions on proposals
relating to a WIPO Development Agenda and report with any
recommendations to the General Assembly at its September 2006
session.

-   In the interim, and without prejudice to the provision of
technical assistance, the PCIPD will cease to exist.

-   The work of the Provisional Committee shall not prejudice the
activities of the other WIPO bodies in discussing all matters
relevant to development.

-   The Provisional Committee shall have two one-week sessions,
and the deadline for submission of new proposals shall be the
first day of the first session of the Committee.

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---


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [A2k] IP-Watch: New Committee For WIPO Development
Agenda; Patents Reinvigorated
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 17:55:27 -0400
From: address@hidden
To: address@hidden,
address@hidden,address@hidden

Link directly to this story at
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-trackback.php/97

New Committee For WIPO Development Agenda; Patents Reinvigorated

by William New @ 10:44 pm, 2/10/05

Member governments of the World Intellectual Property
Organisation tonight overcame a flare-up in tensions to reach
agreement on the future of a proposed WIPO development agenda and
the future work of a key patent committee.

The final texts of both, which represent the last two sticking
points for the 10-day WIPO General Assembly, will be adopted in a
plenary session on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday, the last day of
the meeting, all agreements will be formally adopted.

The development agenda was originally proposed by the Friends of
Development Group led by Brazil and Argentina at the 2004 General
Assembly. That assembly created an Intersessional
Intergovernmental Meeting (IIM), a high-level, temporary forum to
examine the proposal, and the Friends of Development sought to
continue that forum.

The Group B industrialised countries led by the United States
sought to move the issue to an existing but revitalized Permanent
Committee on Cooperation for Development Related to Intellectual
Property (PCIPD).

The agreed text states:

- Considering the need to make progress in integrating the
development dimension in WIPO broadly so that concrete and
practical results can be achieved in the most timely and
efficient manner, the General Assembly hereby decides:

- To constitute a Provisional Committee to take forward the IIM
process to accelerate and complete the discussions on proposals
relating to a WIPO Development Agenda and report with any
recommendations to the General Assembly at its September 2006
session.

- In the interim, and without prejudice to the provision of
technical assistance, the PCIPD will cease to exist.

- The work of the Provisional Committee shall not prejudice the
activities of the other WIPO bodies in discussing all matters
relevant to development.

- The Provisional Committee shall have two one-week sessions, and
the deadline for submission of new proposals shall be the first
day of the first session of the Committee.

Several officials asked afterward gave varying interpretations as
to the significance of a ?provisional committee,? which does not
appear to be a standard WIPO classification. One official hinted
that it might be considered a stepping stone to a permanent
committee, while another said the committee might have the same
high-level status as the IIM, which reports directly to the
General Assembly.

It was also noted that the PCIPD only ceases to exist while the
provisional committee is operating.

New Work Programme For Patent Committee

On the work programme of the Standing Committee on Patents, which
has been sought by the United States along with the European
Union and Japan, agreement was reached to hold a five-day meeting
and report to the 2006 General Assembly.


The committee meeting will be preceded by a three-day, informal
open forum in Geneva in the first quarter of 2006 on all issues
related to the draft Substantive Patent Law Treaty. Contributions
to the forum will reflect a ?balance of geographical
representation and perspectives, and technical expertise,?
according to the latest version of the chair?s draft. The WIPO
Director General will prepare a programme for the forum in
consultation with member states.


Then a three-day informal session of the SCP will follow to agree
on a work programme for the committee, taking into account the
discussions of the open forum.

Tensions Crescendo Before Accord

According to some participants, the closed, informal session of
the annual WIPO General Assembly broke abruptly after Switzerland
on behalf of the Group B industrialised countries declared they
would not recognise a proposal on the future of the development
agenda put forward by the assembly chair. Some officials said the
chair then reacted by suggesting to proceed to the patent
committee, the only other outstanding agenda item of the
assembly.

But countries of the Friends of Development Group led by Brazil
said they would not agree to discuss the patent issue without
discussing the development agenda issue first. As one developing
country delegate put it shortly afterward, to suggest that
patents could be discussed outside of the context of development
is to demonstrate a lack of understanding about development
issues. They argue such issues cut across many areas of WIPO.

A U.S. official noted outside the meeting that Brazil had moved
to link the development agenda with the patent issue, something
no country had done overtly in WIPO before that point.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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William New, the author of this post, may be reached at
address@hidden

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