13th April 2005
WIPO: INDIA REJECTS OUTCOME OF CASABLANCA PATENT HARMONISATION MEETING
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On 5 April Indian government circulated an informal note to Geneva-based Permanent Missions to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) rejecting the outcomes of a controversial WIPO meeting on patent harmonisation held in Casablanca in February (see , BRIDGES Weekly23 February 2005).
The meeting had come under heavy criticism for its lack of representation of developing countries in general, and the 14 proponents of the WIPO ‘development agenda’ in particular, with the notable exception of Brazil (see related story, this issue). Many developing countries had charged that WIPO had, in organising the meeting, sought to sideline countries that do not support developed country ideas on patent harmonisation. Brazil, as the only proponent of the development agenda invited to the Casablanca gathering, specifically rejected the final meeting statement.
In its ‘note verbale,’ India distanced itself from the outcomes of the Casablanca meeting, specifying that Dr. R. A. Mashelkar, Director-General of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of India, the country’s largest independent research and development institution, had not attended the meeting on behalf of the Indian government. In the note, India expressed its general support for the September 2004 proposal calling for a development agenda in WIPO.
ICTSD reporting; “WIPO Rekindles Patent Talks As Some Cry Foul,” INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH, March 2005.
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