Monthly Review of the WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION (WIPO) and the United International Bureaux for the Protection of Intellectual Property (BIRPI) 7th year - No. 1 JANUARY 1971 Contents WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION Page — The World Intellectual Property Organization in 1970 3 — Table of Member States as on January 1, 1971 4 — Membership of the Administrative Bodies 5 INTERNATIONAL UNION — State of the International Union on January 1, 1971 6 — Membership of the Administrative Bodies 7 — Table of Member States as on January 1, 1971 8 — The Berne Union and International Copyright in 1970 10 — International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phono- grams and Broadcasting Organisations. State of Ratifications and Accessions on January 1, 1971 12 CONVENTIONS NOT ADMINISTERED BY WIPO — Universal Copyright Convention: Hungary. Accession to the Convention (with effect from January 23, 1971) . 12 Mauritius. Notification concerning the application of the Convention as from March 12, 1968 12 State of Ratifications and Accessions as on January 1, 1971 13 — European Agreements. State of Signatures, Ratifications and Accessions as on January 1, 1971 14 BIBLIOGRAPHY — Book List 14 CALENDAR — WIPO Meetings 15 — Meetings of Other International Organizations Concerned with Intellectual Property 16 © WIPO 1971 Any reprodaction of articles and translations of laws, published in this periodical, is authorized only with the prior consent of WIPO WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION The World Intellectual Property Organization in 1970 Introduction Initial Entry into Force of the Convention On April 26,1970, the conditions specified in Article 15(1) The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Prop- being fufilled, the Convention Establishing the World Intel- erty Organization, signed in 1967, entered into force on lectual Property Organization entered into force. April 26, 1970. Its organs — the General Assembly, the Con- ference and the Coordination Committee — met for the first Ratifications and Accessions time in September 1970. The Assembly appointed the first On January 1, 1971, the States listed below had deposited Director General of the Organization in the person of Pro- instruments of ratification or accession with the Director fessor G. H. C. Bodenhausen, and the latter, with the approval General of the Organization, thereby becoming members of the of the Coordination Committee, appointed the first Deputy latter: Bulgaria, Byelorussian SSR, Canada, Chad, Czechoslo- Directors General of the Organization: Dr. Arpad Bogsch as vakia, Denmark, Finland, Germany (Federal Republic), Hun- First Deputy and Mr. Joseph Voyame as Second Deputy. gary, Ireland, Israel, Malawi, Romania, Senegal, Soviet Union, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukrainian SSR, United Kingdom, With these events, the decisions of the Stockholm Confer- United States of America, making a total of 21 members. An ence of 1967 concerning a new organizational framework instrument of accession has been deposited by the German have become a living reality. The main differences between Democratic Republic, but the possibility of the latter's acces- the old (" BIRPI ") and the new structures are the following. sion to the Organization has been contested by a certain In the old structure, the supervision of the international number of member States. secretariat was entrusted to one of the member States — Declarations (Fine-Year Privilege) namely, Switzerland. In the new structures, the tasks of estab- On January 1, 1971, the States listed below had deposited lishing the program and budget of the international secre- declarations in terms of Article 21(2)(a) of the Convention tariat — called " the International Bureau " —, supervising establishing the Organization, which enables them, for five that Bureau's activities and appointing its head, the Director years from the date of entry into force of that Convention General, are carried out by Assemblies of member States in (that is, until April 26, 1975), to exercise, if they so desire, which each State has the same rights as any other State. the same rights as if they had become party to the Convention: The Unions •— of which the Paris Union for the Protection Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Cuba, Daho- of Industrial Property and the Berne Union for the Protec- mey, France, Gabon, Greece, Holy See, Italy, Ivory Coast, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco, Netherlands, Niger, Nor- tion of Literary and Artistic Works are the oldest (1883 and way, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, 1886, respectively) and have the largest number of members United Arab Republic, Upper Volta, Yugoslavia, making a (78 or 79, and 59 or 60) respectively — are served by the same total of 29 States. secretariat, namely, the International Bureau of the World Organization. Official Texts of the Convention In accordance with Article 20(2) of the Convention estab- Thus, the cooperative efforts of States in the field of intel- lishing the Organization, official texts have been prepared lectual property have received an organizational structure and published in the German, Italian and Portuguese lan- which, in this second half of the 20th century, is the customary guages, after consultation with the interested Governments. one, the one regarded as the most efficient and the one which It should be noted that the Convention was signed in four best respects the sovereign independence and equality of languages: English, French, Russian and Spanish. member States. The new organizational structure is very similar to that of the Specialized Agencies associated with the Administrative Bodies United Nations. Although already maintaining close working The General Assembly, the Conference and the Coordina- relations with the United Nations and several of the Special- tion Committee of the Organization held their first ordinary ized Agencies, the Organization is not itself a Specialized sessions in Geneva from September 21 to 28, 1970. For the Agency associated with the United Nations. At least, not yet. composition and results of those sessions, see the Notes pub- lished in the November 1970 issue (pages 359 et seq.) of this But the organizational prerequisites for becoming one are Review. present. For translating this possibility into reality, converg- ing decisions by the General Assemblies of the Organization Appointment of the Director General and Deputy Directors and the United Nations are the conditions which remain to General of WIPO be fulfilled. See the beginning of this Note. COPYRIGHT — JANUARY 1971 Working Agreement with the United Nations Headquarters Building On the basis of authorization given to the Director General In 1969, the Interunion Coordination Committee set up a of the Organization by the Coordination Committee at its first subcommittee to advise the Director of BIRPI on the assess- session held in September 1970, a working agreement was ment of the needs of the Organization in respect of premises, concluded between the Organization and the United Nations on the choice of the best means of satisfying those needs and by an exchange of letters between the Secretary-General of on the financing of the construction of a new building. This the United Nations and the Director General of the Organiza- subcommittee met on two occasions in 1970. At its session in tion. The texts of those letters were published in this Review September 1970, the Coordination Committee of the Organiza- (see Industrial Property, November 1970, page 368). tion — which had replaced the old Interunion Coordination Committee — approved the subcommittee's findings concern- ing the characteristics of the new building, the financing of Headquarters Agreement its construction and the choice of project. It also authorized The Organization has concluded an agreement with the the Director General to proceed with the preparation of the Government of the Swiss Confederation. The agreement was necessary measures, on the understanding that the final plan signed in Berne on December 9, 1970. It entered into force for the financing of the construction would be submitted to with retroactive effect from the date of entry into force of the Coordination Committee for approval at a future meeting. the Convention establishing the Organization, that is, April 26, The planned building would be located alongside the existing 1970. building of the Organization. Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization as on January 1, 1971 State i Deposit of instrument 2 Entry into force Bulgaria P . R February 19, 1970 May 19, 1970 Byelorussian SSR R March 19, 1969 April 26, 1970 Canada P-B . A March 26, 1970 June 26, 1970 Chad P .... A June 26, 1970 September 26, 1970 Czechoslovakia P-B ... A September 22, 1970 .... December 22, 1970 Denmark P-B . R January 26, 1970 ..... April 26, 1970 Finland P-B ... R June 8, 1970 September 8, 1970 German Democratic Republic3 P 3-B3 . A3 June 20, 1968 April 26, 1970 Germany (Federal Republic) P-B . R June 19, 1970 September 19, 1970 Hungary P-B ... R December 18, 1969 April 26, 1970 Ireland P-B ... S January 12, 1968 April 26, 1970 Israel P-B ... R July 30, 1969 April 26, 1970 Malawi P .... A March 11, 1970 June 11, 1970 Romania P-B ... R February 28, 1969 April 26, 1970 Senegal P-B ... R September 19, 1968 .... April 26, 1970 Soviet Union P . R December 4, 1968 April 26, 1970 Spain B . R June 6, 1969 April 26, 1970 Sweden P-B . R August 12, 1969 April 26, 1970 Switzerland P-B . R January 26, 1970 April 26, 1970 Ukrainian SSR . R February 12, 1969 April 26, 1970 United Kingdom P-B . R February 26, 1969 April 26, 1970 United States of America P . R May 25, 1970 August 25, 1970 1 "P" means State having ratified or acceded to the administrative provisions of the Stockholm Act of the Paris Convention; "B" means State having ratified or acceded to the administrative provisions of the Stockholm Act of the Berne Convention. 2 "S" means signature without reservation as to ratification; "R" means ratification; "A" means accession; (see Article 14(1) of the Convention establishing the Organization).