Promoting the Development of the South in the Trade and Climate Regimes.
This South Centre Analytical Note stresses that addressing the challenges of development and climate change requires an integrated approach. Both the trade and climate regimes have a role to play. (more…)
Implementing the WIPO Development Agenda: Next Steps Forward.
WIPO Member States agreed to a new agenda to guide the organizations work on development and intellectual property (IP). The challenge now is to effectively implement the agenda to achieve concrete results and change. (more…)
The Changing Structure and Governance of Intellectual Property Enforcement.
Twelve years ago the TRIPS Agreement introduced global minimum standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement. To the extent that the substantive obligations under the Agreement have now been widely implemented in national legislation, developing countries are facing increased pressure to bolster intellectual property enforcement. (more…)
Who Should Bear the TRIPS Enforcement Cost?.
Establishing and strengthening the enforcement of intellectual property rights is a costly exercise both in terms of budgetary outlays and the employment of skilled personnel. It is particularly expensive for many developing countries, as economic benefits will go largely to foreign firms over the intermediate term. (more…)
Analysis of the role of the South-South Cooperation to promote governance on intellectual property rights and development.
The international regime on IP rights is currently made up of a patchwork of laws and institutions at the bilateral, regional, and multilateral levels with a growing number of players. The TRIPS Agreement of the WTO forms the core instrument with critical influence on the role of international actors and the scope of national policy making. TRIPS aim at reducing the North-South tension on IP rights protection through a multilateral system as one of its objectives. (more…)
Mandatory Disclosure of the Source and Origin of Biological Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge under the TRIPS Agreement.
The discussion on TRIPS and CBD in the WTO demonstrates the growing convergence on content, scope, relevance and effectiveness of an international mandatory obligation on disclosure of source and country providing biological resources and traditional knowledge. (more…)
Towards a Digital Agenda for Developing Countries.
The last two decades of the 20th century saw a revolution in the nature of information and the way that it can be created, used and transmitted. Vast opportunities have been opened up. Developing countries, that have insufficient capacity to generate, disseminate and effectively utilize educational information and knowledge, may finally be in a position to accelerate their development. (more…)
The Threat of Technological Protection Measures to a Development-Oriented Information Society.
The new digital environment offers both opportunities and challenges for developing countries. New international legal requirements with respect to the protection of technological measures that can be used by copyright owners to control access and use of their works can hinder the ability of developing countries to promote access to knowledge for development. (more…)
The Proposed WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting and Cablecasting Organizations.
Discussions for a new treaty to protect broadcasting and cablecasting organizations against signal theft at the WIPO are closely linked to the information evolution. Member States must carefully balance between granting increased protection to certain segments of broadcasting media to protect their commercial interests with safeguarding the public interest in access and use of the content that is broadcast. (more…)
Development and Intellectual Property under the EPA Negotiations.
The negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the African Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP) are likely to result in additional layers of intellectual property right protection, at least in the case of the agreement with Cariforum countries. (more…)
A Development Analysis of the proposed WIPO Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting & Cablecasting.
Since 1998, Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) have discussed the creation of a new international instrument for the protection of broadcasting organizations. It is possible that final negotiations on a treaty on the protection of broadcasting organizations, including cablecasting organizations, will be initiated and conclude sometime in 2007. (more…)
Internet governance for development.
This South Centre Analytical Note provides a brief discussion of the linkage between Internet Governance and development. It suggests that agenda topics of the 2006 Internet Governance Forum should focus on development, capacity building, and increasing the level of democracy and transparency of Internet Governance. (more…)
