Recent Research on Piracy and IP Enforcement In Developing Countries: Issues and Lessons

Tuesday 3rd November 2009 13:15-15:00, WIPO Main Building, 34, Chemin des Colombettes, 1211 Geneva, Room B

3rd November 2009 • Co-organised with SSRC

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The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) are pleased to invite you to a dialogue on: Recent Research on Piracy and Enforcement in Developing Countries: Issues and Lessons, Tuesday 3rd November 2009, (13:15-15:00) Room B, WIPO Main Building (34, Chemin des Colombettes, 1211 Geneva).

The aim of the dialogue is to present the findings of recent research on piracy and intellectual property (IP) enforcement in a number of developing countries and consider their possible implications for international discussions on IP enforcement.

Background
The enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRs) has gained prominence in recent years in the global trade and IP agenda. A number of initiatives at the global, regional and bilateral level aiming at the strengthening of IPRs enforcement carry far-reaching implications for the regulation of the knowledge economy.

However, many of these initiatives - and the discourse underpinning them – are mostly confined to a legalistic and repressive approach. The meeting of the WIPO Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE) offers an opportunity to address piracy and IP enforcement from a broader social and economic perspective taking into consideration recommendation 45 of the WIPO Development Agenda, which underlines the need “to approach intellectual property enforcement in the context of broader societal interests and especially development oriented concerns,” in accordance with Article 7 of the TRIPS Agreement.

In addition, under Strategic Goal VI of WIPO, the objective of Program 17 (Building Respect for IP), is namely “Informed and empirically well-founded policy discussions at the international level to support the creation of an enabling environment that promotes respect for IP in a sustainable manner and strengthened capacity in Member States for the effective enforcement of IP rights in the interests of social and economic development and consumer protection.”

In this context, recent research published by the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) in 2009 has focused on the economic dimension of enforcement and has been made available to fifth session of the ACE as one of its documents.[1]

At the same time, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is undertaking an important project – the Media Piracy Project- to investigate music, film, and software piracy in a number of developing economies. The project is built around studies of piracy and IP enforcement efforts in India, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, Mexico, and Bolivia, and framed by a wider examination of IP policymaking and enforcement at the international level. Six institutions and twenty-five researchers have been involved in the 2-year research project. Some preliminary results of these studies will be presented at the Dialogue.
The Dialogue aims to foster a constructive debate on IP enforcement by providing new perspectives on its economic and sociological dimensions in a development context and consider lessons which could be useful for international discussions and efforts in this area.

Draft Programme

Introduction

ICTSD

Speakers

Joe Karaganis, Social Science Research Council (SSRC), New York
Pedro Mizukami, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), Rio de Janeiro

Commentators

Exchange of views with participants

A light lunch will be served.

Pre-registration by Monday November 2nd 2009 is required due to space and security requirement. Please contact Hannah Leone (hleone@ictsd.ch).
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[1] Enforcing Intellectual Property Rights: An Economic Perspective, by Carsten Fink, document (WIPO/ACE/5/6) originally published by ICTSD as part of Issue Paper 22, The Global Debate on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights and Developing Countries, ICTSD Programme on IPRs and Sustainable Development (available at http://ictsd.net/i/publications/42762/).