15th September 2004
FUTURE OF WIPO DISCUSSED AT GENEVA MEETING
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The Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue organised a two day meeting from 13-14 September in Geneva to critically examine “The Future of WIPO”. At the very well attended event, the organisers managed to bring together WIPO secretariat employees, NGOs, IGOs, Geneva missions, academics and the media, looking into the future of what is arguable the most influential institution forming intellectual property (IP) policy. To do so, they examined a very diverse set of topics, ranging from information technologies, medical technologies, genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore, copyright, patents and technical assistance to provide analysis and make suggestions on what WIPO’s institutional role should look like in the future. This conference comes at a time in which WIPO is being repeatedly challenged for being not sufficiently development friendly, including by a Argentinean and Brazilian proposal to the upcoming General Assembly of WIPO at the end of September (see BRIDGES Weekly, 8 September 2004). While it remains to be seen what impact the event, without doubt it pushed forward a timely and fundamental debate on WIPO and what it could and should be in the immediate and long term future.
A report of the meeting will be available shortly at http://www.iprsonline.org/index.htm
The WIPO General Assembly is scheduled to meet from 27 September to 5 October.
ICTSD reporting.
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