GENEVA – DECEMBER 2008 – No.6 2 2008 WIPO ASSEMBLIES 10 CERN AND INNOVATION The heart of the matter 20 LISBON SYSTEM TURNS 50 Conference on Intellectual Property and Global Challenges International Conference Centre Geneva (CICG) July 13-14, 2009 – Save the Date! The Conference will address issues relating to the interface of intellectual property with other areas of public policy, notably health, the environment, climate change, food security and disability. Further information will be published in due course. o.int Conférence sur la propriété intellectuelle et les défis mondiaux Centre international de conférences Genève (CICG) 13-14 juillet 2009 – À noter dans votre agenda! p La conférence portera sur les questions relatives à l’interface de la propriété intellectuelle avec d’autres domaines d’intérêt général, notamment la santé, l’environnement, le changement climatique, la sécurité alimentaire et l’invalidité. Des informations supplémentaires seront publiées en temps voulu. Conferencia sobre la Propiedad Intelectual y los Desafíos Mundiales Centro Internacional de Conferencias de Ginebra (CICG) 13 y 14 de julio de 2009 – ¡Anote esta fecha! En la conferencia se abordarán asuntos relacionados con la conexión existente entre la propiedad intelectual y otras áreas de política pública, como la salud, el medio ambiente, el cambio climático, la seguridad alimentaria y los discapacitados. Se publicará más información próximamente. www.wi GENEVA, DECEMBER 2008 CONTENTS MEETINGS OF THE ASSEMBLIES OF 2 WIPO MEMBER STATES – 2008 REPORT 6 FRANCIS GURRY ADDRESSES WIPO GENERAL ASSEMBLY 9 BAN KI-MOON: WIPO CAN BE A CHAMPION BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE 10 CERN AND INNOVATION – THE HEART OF THE MATTER 15 IP AND SOFTWARE 18 THE THIRD ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE (A2K3) p CONFERENCE 20 BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA FOR THE LISBON SYSTEM 21 FAMOUS APPELLATIONS OF ORIGIN 22 SLEEPING QUEENS – OUR LIFE IN CARDS 23 AMMONIA SYNTHESIS – THE DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD COMMITTEE MEETINGS 24 IGC – CONSULTATIONS TO CONTINUE ON FUTURE WORK PROGRAM SCCR – KEY COPYRIGHT ISSUES UNDER REVIEW 26 IN THE NEWS BOOK REVIEW 28 TRADE MARKS AND BRANDS WIPO MAGAZINE ISSUE 2008/6 © World Intellectual Property Organization Editor: Sylvie Castonguay Acknowledgements WIPO Contributors Susie Chang (Communications and Graphic Designer: Sheyda Navab Richard Owens and Victor Vazquez Cathy Jewell (Media Relations and Public Outreach Division) p. 22 (Copyright and Related Rights Sector) Public Affairs Section) p. 10 Anuradha Swaminathan (Communications Cover image p. 15 Matthijs Geuze (Sector of Trademarks, and Public Outreach Division) p. 28 © CERN Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications) p. 20 2 DECEMBER 2008 MEETINGS OF THE ASSEMBLIES OF WIPO MEMBER STATES 2008 Report Topped by the appoint- The General Assembly ment of Mr. Francis Gurry approved the work pro- as the next Director gram for implementing General of the Organiza- the five costed recom- tion, the WIPO Assem- mendations from a list of blies met in September 26 requiring additional Photo: WIPO/Mercedes MartínezWIPO/Mercedes Dozal Photo: to review the past year’s resources. Member activities and discuss the States agreed to make Organization’s future work resources available to program. The General the Secretariat in line Assembly Chairman, with WIPO’s program Ambassador Martin and budget process. I. Uhomoibhi, Nigeria’s The General Assembly appointed Mr. Francis Gurry as Director General by acclamation on September 22. Permanent Representa- The General Assembly tive to the United Nations in Geneva, underlined approved the start of consultations for the con- the success of this year’s session in his concluding vening of a donor conference in 2009 to help mo- remarks, noting that Member States were united by bilize additional resources, by encouraging the the vision set out in Mr. Gurry’s acceptance speech establishment of trust funds or other voluntary (see page 6) of an Organization getting to grips funds, specifically for least developed countries with the big issues and fulfilling its role as the “pre- (LDCs), while continuing to accord high priority eminent forum for intellectual property discourse.” to financing activities in Africa. The aim would be to promote the legal, commercial, cultural and Appointment of the economic exploitation of IP in these coun- New Director General tries. The conference would also seek to improve the mobilization, coordination and management Mr. Gurry, an Australian, was appointed as Director of extra-budgetary resources at WIPO, through an General for a six-year term that began on October exchange of ideas and best practices. 1 and will run through September 2014. In unani- mously appointing Mr. Gurry, WIPO Member States Standing Committee put regional differences behind them to focus on on Copyright and Related the future health of the Organization and Rights (SCCR) achieved, in the words of Ambassador Uhomoibhi, “a seamlessly smooth, harmonious transition” that The General Assembly decided that the Mr. Gurry said “would provide a good basis to tack- November 2008 session of the SCCR would con- le all the challenges of the future.” tinue to discuss the protection of broadcasting organizations and cable-casting organizations, Committee on based on an informal paper by the Chair, outlin- Development and IP (CDIP) ing his understanding of the main positions and of the divergences to be addressed. Member States took stock of the work of the CDIP which, in the two formal meetings held in March At the March 2008 meeting of the Committee, and July, had considered 15 of the 45 recommen- Member States had expressed a willingness to dations in the WIPO Development Agenda and find a way forward on the protection of audiovisu- expressed the need for mechanisms to facilitate al performances. In light of this, WIPO had been re- coordination with other WIPO bodies so as to en- quested to prepare a summary of recent activities sure effective implementation. and the positions of the members of the SCCR. 3 WIPO had organized a number of national and re- Standing Committee on gional seminars in Africa, Asia and Latin America the Law of Patents (SCP) to promote progress on the issues at the levels of national legislation and international consensus- There had been a revival of discussions within the building. In preparing these events, WIPO had fol- SCP and, as requested by the General Assembly in lowed a flexible and balanced approach to the 2007, an overview of current international patent protection of performers at the national level in issues covering the different needs and interests practical areas such as contractual relations and of all Member States had been released by the collective bargaining, the exercise and transfer of Secretariat in April 2008. The June 2008 SCP meet- rights and remuneration systems. Similar events ing welcomed the report as a good basis for dis- are planned for the coming year and Member cussion and it remained open for written com- States agreed to keep the issue on the agenda of ments until the end of October 2008. It will serve the next General Assembly meeting. as the basis for the SCP’s discussions at its next meeting in early 2009, along with four additional Member States noted the status of discussions on preliminary studies on: dissemination of patent the question of exceptions and limitations to information (inter alia, the establishment of a copyright, in particular the Committee’s decision database on search and examination reports); to mandate a WIPO study on exceptions and lim- exceptions from patentable subject matter and itations for the benefit of educational activities, limitations to the rights (inter alia, research ex- including distance education and taking cross- emption and compulsory licenses); patents and border aspects into account. standards; and client-attorney privilege. Delegates endorsed a recommendation to convene a con- Advisory Committee on ference in 2009 on issues relating to the implica- Enforcement (ACE) tions of patents on certain areas of public policy, such as health, the environment, climate change The November 2007 session of the ACE had dis- and food security. cussed international, regional and national co- operation in the field of enforcement of IP Internet domain names rights, with a particular focus on criminal reme- dies. These discussions had paved the way for WIPO continues to take steps and to develop an update of the WIPO Casebook on the tools to ensure fair and transparent Uniform Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights, the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) second edition of which will be available short- procedures, which are administered by its ly. The General Assembly underscored the im- Arbitration and Mediation Center. Recent devel- portance of WIPO’s role in the enforcement of IP opments within the Internet Domain Name rights, and noted the growing number of System (DNS) had expanded opportunities for enforcement-related activities undertaken by mass registration of domain names, and conse- WIPO in the last year. quently increased the challenges for IP rights owners to enforce their rights. The Center is ac- Intergovernmental tively engaged with the Internet Corporation for Committee on Intellectual Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to bring Property and Genetic to its attention circumstances that may frustrate Resources, Traditional the intended functioning of the UDRP. WIPO is al- Knowledge and Folklore so engaged in efforts that aim to enhance the ob- (IGC) servance of principles of IP protection in the in- troduction of new gTLDs and in the introduction Member States took note of a progress report of internationalized domain names (IDNs: non- on the IGC’s analysis of gaps in the protection Latin script) at the top level, which ICANN fore- available for traditional knowledge and tradi- sees taking place in the course of 2009. tional cultural expressions/expressions of folk- lore. These gap analyses were developed and Article 6ter of the reviewed through an open commentary Paris Convention for the process in preparation for the IGC’s October Protection of Industrial 2008 session (see page 24).