World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

Policy Brief 8, June 2007

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…)

Research Paper 9, January 2007

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…)

Research Paper 8, August 2006

IP rights under investment agreements: The TRIPs-plus implications for enforcement and protection of public interest.

The proliferation of investment and IP agreements raises fundamental questions on the relationship between such agreements and the implementation of national policies for economic development. (more…)

Book by the South Centre, 2009

How Developing Countries Can Manage Intellectual Property Rights to Maximize Access to Knowledge

This book addresses the debate on access to knowledge in three parts. Part I describes some of the challenges for access to knowledge. Part II of the book provides an account of recent developments in multilateral forums. Part III of the book seeks to advance the strategic considerations that should be useful to developing countries in addressing the challenges with regard to access to knowledge. It is hoped that the analysis, conclusions and recommendations presented in this book will contribute to a better understanding of the challenges to access to knowledge and of how to frame development-oriented policies to address them. The book is intended to reach a broad set of readers: it provides guidelines for developing countries’ governments in participating in multilateral and bilateral negotiations as well as to design national IP regimes consistent with those countries’ development objectives. It may also be of value to scholars, teachers, and students whose interests cover such areas as law, economics, political economy, diplomacy, international relations and other social science fields.

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Analytical Note, October 2005

The Agenda for Transfer of Technology: the Working Group of the WTO on Trade and Transfer of Technology.

Technology transfer is a mechanism for the shifting of information across borders and its effective diffusion into recipient economies, thus involving numerous complex processes, ranging from innovation and international marketing of technology to its absorption and imitation. (more…)

Analytical Note, May 2005

Intellectual Property in Investment Agreements: The TRIPS-plus Implications for Developing Countries.

This analytical note examines, in particular, the implication of the emerging approaches relating to the fair and equitable treatment and the national and mostfavoured nation (MFN) treatment in investment agreements for the overall regimes for the protection and enforcement of IP in developing countries. (more…)

Analytical Note, September 2004

Establishing a ‘Development Agenda’ for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO): Commentary on Proposal by Argentina and Brazil.

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. The Assemblies will address various matters including issues currently under negotiation in various WIPO committees and bodies. (more…)

Analytical Note, August 2004

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…)

Analytical Note, March 2004

A Development Agenda for Intellectual Property Negotiations in 2004 and Beyond.

In 2003, activities in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) were fairly subdued, save for the negotiations relating to the implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health. (more…)