Intellectual Property Programme • Volume 13 • Number 34 • 7th October 2009
Chair of IP Talks Challenges Members to ‘Move Forward’
In a Friday-morning session that was open the full WTO membership, Ambassador Trevor Clarke of Barbados, the chair of the intellectual property talks, briefed delegates on the negotiations on the establishment of a register for geographic indications for wines and spirits. The chair explained that he was trying to set an appropriate pace for the talks - one that would be steady enough to allow the group to keep in sight the goal of concluding the Doha Round talks by the end of next year - an objective that was set out by G20 heads of state last month - but not so brisk as to make members uncomfortable.
“I would like to challenge you to consider options to move forward … when the time is right,” Clarke said. But, he added, “I’m not here to push you beyond the brink, especially those of you who cannot swim.”
The chair asked delegates to consider four questions for the next meeting: what minimum legal obligations would be acceptable for the register to facilitate the protection of GIs for wines and spirits; what significance national authorities should give the information in the register when making decisions on the registration and protection of trademarks and GIs; whether there are any other options for countries’ participation in the register, other than mandatory and voluntary; and what kinds of special and differential treatment could be built into a GI register.
Delegates have been debating this issue since the launch of the Doha Round in 2001, but the talks are still marked by deep differences of opinion. Historically, the main points of disagreement have been over participation in the register and the consequences and legal effects of registration. Members such as the EU want all WTO Members to participate. But others, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, and the US, argue that participation in the system should be voluntary.
Significant progress in the talks is certainly possible before the end of the year, one delegate told Bridges, but “the pace of the [IP] discussions depends on the overall pace of the Round,” he added. The negotiations on agriculture and industrial goods are widely considered the linchpins of a final agreement; without them, the talks would go nowhere.
Intellectual property negotiators will meet formally on 23 October and again five days later, after the conclusion of the TRIPS Council meeting, which is set for 27 and 28 October.
ICTSD reporting.