Category Multilateral Fora

Does WIPO’s New Leadership Have the Vision to Shake Up Global Copyright Policy-Making?

[Brigitte Vézina] This change in leadership opens the way for bold new perspectives and a sharpened focus on much needed global copyright policy reform that has been urged for decades. With Tang at the helm, WIPO and its member states will have a unique opportunity to recalibrate an outdated, unbalanced copyright system, embrace on equal terms the views and opinions of civil society organizations, and create a new order where rules are fit for the digital environment in which we all learn, create, and share.

World Intellectual property Organization DG Addresses COVID-19; Statement on Patent Sharing Due this Week

Outgoing Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Francis Gurry, made two public statements this week addressing what he termed the “policy issues” raised by the COVID-19 pandemic. His initial response was that it is “far too early” to address access to medicine and other IP policy issues raised by COVID-19. But in a follow up briefing with the press he revealed that he favors a “special mechanism to share drug patents” and would be releasing a statement or policy on the issue later this week.

500+ Civil Society Groups and Individuals Endorse Letter to WIPO: IP Should Not Hinder Efforts to Fight Covid-19 & Its Consequences

[Last update, April 13, 2020, 9am EST] 149 organizations and 358 individuals have endorsed a civil society letter to WIPO Director General Francis Gurry urging the organization to "take a clear stand in favour of ensuring that intellectual property regimes are a support, and not a hindrance, to efforts to tackle both the Coronavirus outbreak and its consequences."

Rationale for Supporting Costa Rica’s Proposal for Emergency COVID-19 Technology IP Pool for All Countries

The world is behind in developing and being able to supply the diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, medical devices, and other well adapted medical supplies [medical technologies] needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic which is sweeping across the globe. Although scientific and medical urgency are building, we need to ensure that the needed medical technologies will be developed and tested urgently, efficiently, and ethically with maximum degrees of open data, open science, and collaboration in the development stage and maximum degrees of universal and equitable access thereafter to all people in all countries. We therefore support the creation of a voluntary emergency Technology Intellectual Property Pool [TIPP] that will accelerate scientific discovery, technology development, proof of safety/efficacy/quality, and broad sharing of the benefits of scientific advancement and its applications in furtherance of the right to health.

What We Hope for WIPO Under New Leadership: Neutrality, Fairness, and Transparency

[Teresa Nobre] ... it is of utmost importance that the new Director General’s stance on issues that have been key areas of concern for the organizations advocating for society-oriented reforms at WIPO clearly contribute to: ensuring full participation of civil society representatives and minimising discussions held behind closed doors; ensuring that WIPO’s work is based on solid evidence rather than the product of influence of private sector or other lobbies; guaranteeing that WIPO’s technical assistance activities are development-oriented and suitable to the national levels of development; and guaranteeing that WIPO and its staff are neutral and impartial sources of information and expertise.

WIPO Director General Election: A New Era For Global IP

As World Intellectual Property Organization members gather this week to nominate one candidate to lead the organization for the next 6 years, many are urging a look past politics to see candidates for the skills and abilities they bring. But with six highly qualified candidates, and the advantage for countries of holding what is seen as a plum global post, members are likely feeling pressure over their votes.

WIPO Elections: Member States Get Ready to Settle on a New Director General

[Juan Ramón Rangel Silva] As the sun sets on the second term of Australia’s Francis Gurry, WIPO’s 83-member Coordination Committee will elect the organization’s next Director General in less than a week. This is a hotly contested and high stakes election that initially began with 10 candidates. At the present time, only 6 candidates remain in the running. Based on articles published in specialized journals and magazines regarding the performance of the candidates during a closed interview session which took place with Member States on February 6 and 7, 2020, three candidates it appears are the likely front runners.

Joint Comment to WIPO on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence

[Joint comment to WIPO endorsed by 16 members of the Global Expert Network on Copyright User Rights] We submit this comment in response to the World Intellectual Property Organization request in relation to its work on the impact of artificial intelligence (Al) on intellectual property (IP)... We comment here only on the copyright related questions in section 13. Some of our comments with regard to the framing of the questions and defining the differences between AI, machine learning and text and data mining may apply more broadly to the entire document.

Policy Incoherence for Stagnation: How Richer Countries’ Position at WIPO Contradicts their Commitments to the Rest of the World

[International Federation of Library Associations] ... The European External Action Service runs many projects on education, culture and research. Yet in its position at WIPO, it works against these goals. For a start, blocking progress towards an international instrument removes a key impetus to carry out reforms that would allow key actors in culture, education and research to do their jobs in a digital age.

WIPO: Request for Comments on the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on IP

[World Intellectual Property Organization] WIPO is seeking to develop, through an open process, a list of issues concerning the impact of artificial intelligence (Al) on intellectual property (IP) policy that might form the basis of future structured discussions. Member states and all other interested parties are invited to provide comments and suggestions on the draft issues paper. Comments are welcome on any aspect of the IP system that is impacted by AI.

Medicines and Intellectual Property: 10 Years of the WHO Global Strategy

[Germán Velásquez] Abstract: The negotiations of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (IGWG) (2006-2008), undertaken by the Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO), were the result of a deadlock in the 2006 World Health Assembly where the Member States were unable to reach an agreement on what to do with the 60 recommendations in the report on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property submitted to the Assembly in the same year by a group of experts designated by the Director-General of the WHO.

Access to Knowledge? WIPO Not Ready to Decide

[Electronic Information for Libraries] ...During the SCCR/39 session, and at the International Conference, three core issues emerged from the discussions: 1) there was clear recognition that L&Es are intrinsic to a balanced copyright system; 2) there was wide acknowledgement that copyright laws in many countries are falling behind in the digital age, and 3) there was emerging consensus on the urgent need to support preservation and access to cultural heritage, a core public interest activity of libraries, archives and museums.