Title: Taking Stock of Global Developments on ABS and Intellectual Property
Date: 15 December 2016, 18:15
Venue: Youth Group Meeting Room, Sunrise Building, Second Floor
Organizer: The South Centre
Outcome of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization 2016
The fifty-sixth series of meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) were held on 3-11 October 2016. They concluded with no agreement among member States on key issues, such as whether to convene a Diplomatic Conference for adoption of the Design Law Treaty (DLT) and the establishment of new WIPO External Offices for the 2016/17 biennium. (more…)
South Centre Statement to the WIPO Assemblies 2016
The statement highlights that the greatest challenge for developing countries and LDCs in the area of intellectual property (IP) is the proliferation of regional and bilateral trade and investment agreements that impose IP obligations, together with the coercive external political and economic pressure to restrain from making use of the flexibilities in the IP system.
Innovation and Global Intellectual Property Regulatory Regimes – The Tension between Protection and Access in Africa
This paper discusses the participation of African countries in global intellectual property (IP) regimes centred on the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the implications of the expansion of the scope of IP regimes through bilateral trade and investment agreements. (more…)
This update provides a snapshot of the activities of the Development, Innovation and Intellectual Property Programme during the month of February 2016. (more…)
Title: Preventing Misappropriation of Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge: What is the Role of WIPO?
Date: 18 February 2016, 13:00-14:45
Venue: WIPO, Room NB 0.107
Organizer: South Centre (more…)
The WIPO Negotiations on IP, Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge: Can It Deliver?
There has been much expectation on what the Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) can deliver on intellectual property aspects of the protection of genetic resources (GRs), traditional knowledge (TK) and related traditional cultural expressions (TCEs). Results from fourteen years of extensive study, analysis and discussion have been distilled into three negotiating texts. But in July 2014, negotiations suffered a reversal. (more…)
The Nagoya Protocol: Main Characteristics, Challenges and Opportunities
The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity entered into force in October 2014. Its provisions clearly reflect the need for countries to set up access and benefit sharing rules and procedures for the Protocol’s implementation at the national level. (more…)
The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources: Analysis and Implementation Options for Developing Countries.
As is common knowledge, the Nagoya Protocol was rushed through in the final hours of COP10 in an attempt to secure a binding instrument on ABS. As a result the Protocol represents, at best, a partially negotiated instrument. In the process, transparency, legal certainty and balance seem to have been sacrificed. (more…)
Developing Biotechnology Innovations Through Traditional Knowledge.
This paper suggests that by using biotechnology, traditional knowledge holders may obtain economic gain, through innovation and research and development based on the traditional knowledge. It also explores what are the obstacles in the development of biotechnology-based traditional knowledge innovation. (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…)
Integrating Development into WIPO Activities and Processes: Strategies for the 2004 WIPO Assemblies.
The fortieth Series of Meetings of the Assemblies of Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will take place in Geneva from 27 September to 5 October 2004.1 The Assemblies will address various matters including issues currently under negotiation in various WIPO committees and bodies. (more…)
