WIPO MEMBERS CREATE NEW FORUM TO DISCUSS DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

Members of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have agreed to establish a "Provisional Committee" to continue discussions on proposals to mainstream a 'development agenda' into all of WIPO's work. The WIPO General Assembly (GA) specified that this committee would hold two one-week sessions and report any recommendations to the next GA in September 2006. The new forum's ability to influence WIPO policy, however, is yet to be determined.

The 26 September - 5 October GA also decided to continue discussions on the draft Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT) and a basic proposal for a treaty on the protection of the rights of broadcasting organisations.

Initial discussions focus on copyrights

The GA decided to keep the ongoing consultations on the protection of audiovisual performances under review in 2006. Proponents of a treaty in this area argue that performers in the audiovisual industry need a clearer legal basis for the international use of their works, particularly with respect to protection against unauthorised use and the transfer of their rights to producers.

Discussions became more controversial when the GA turned its attention to the protection of the rights of broadcasting organisations. Existing international instruments such as the WTO Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the Berne Convention allow states to limit the protection of broadcasts to the authors of copyrighted subject matter. This has motivated broadcasters to lobby for an additional layer of protection to be granted specifically to them, independent of existing copyrights. Critics of such protection warn that it might make it harder to digitise and redistribute broadcast materials. The issue before the assembly was whether and when a diplomatic conference for the adoption of a broadcasting treaty should be scheduled.

Most WIPO member states resisted a US-backed initiative to include the protection of webcasts in any broadcasting treaty, since doing so would have serious implications for the availability of internet-based materials.

Following closed informal discussions, countries finally came to a carefully-worded compromise. They agreed to hold two additional meetings of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) that "shall aim to agree and finalise a basic proposal for a treaty on the protection of the rights of broadcasting organisations in order to enable the 2006 WIPO General Assembly to recommend the convening of a Diplomatic Conference in December 2006 or at an appropriate date in 2007." These meetings will discuss a revised consolidated draft text (SCCR/12/2 Rev. 2) and working paper (SCCR/12/5 Prov.). Some delegations have interpreted the phrase "aim to" to mean that WIPO members will have to agree on a draft treaty text before a diplomatic conference can be held.

'Development agenda,' patent treaty saved for last

The GA then turned to the three interrelated items that had raised the most interest prior to the meeting: the proposed 'development agenda for WIPO,' the organisation's Permanent Committee on Cooperation for Development Related to Intellectual Property (PCIPD), and the future of the draft Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT).

Since the September 2004 GA, a fourteen-country group known as the 'Friends of Development' (FoD) has been calling for a pro-development agenda to be entrenched in all WIPO bodies. Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania and Venezuela convinced the WIPO membership to hold a series of 'inter-sessional inter-governmental meetings' (IIMs) to discuss the proposal's call for wide-ranging changes to the mandate and functioning of the organisation (see BRIDGES Weekly, 6 October 2004 and BRIDGES Weekly 13 April 2005). Following IIMs in April and July, WIPO members had to decide if, where, and how to continue talks on the development agenda.

In closed informal meetings, delegations disagreed on whether to continue the discussions in the high-level IIM that reports directly to the GA, or to confine them to the PCIPD, a body of minor importance. For the first time, the FoD group, led by Brazil, expressly linked the development agenda to the SPLT process, refusing to discuss the latter in the absence of progress on the former.

Negotiators eventually reached a last-minute compromise, drawing on submissions from India and the group of industrialised country WIPO members. In essence, they will create a new "Provisional Committee" to continue, in two one-week sessions, discussions on the development agenda. In the interim, the PCIPD will cease to exist. Delegates differ in their interpretations of the significance of the new committee, particularly as to whether it will enjoy the high status of the IIM.

On the SPLT, delegations focused particular attention on how developing country concerns would be reflected in the discussions, especially with regard to issues such as public interest flexibilities, genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and competition. In an effort to address these concerns, the GA agreed to hold, in early 2006, a three-day, informal open forum in Geneva on all issues related to the SPLT. The open forum will be followed by a three-day, informal session of the WIPO Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) to agree on an agenda for a five-day formal meeting later in the year, which will in turn report to the 2006 GA.

WIPO Members also discussed several other issues. They accepted Singapore's offer to host a diplomatic conference in March 2006 on a revised treaty on trademark law. Notably, they extended the mandate for the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), and admitted a wide range of new civil society observers, such as the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, Third World Network, and Consumers International.

ICTSD reporting; "New Committee For WIPO Development Agenda; Patents Reinvigorated," INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH, 3 October 2005; WIPO "Negotiators Agree On Way Forward For Broadcasting Treaty," INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH, 3 October 2005; " WIPO General Assembly Calls For Action On Financial, Personnel Concerns," INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH, 2 October 2005.