Annual ATRIP Meeting Requests Expansion
of WIPO Worldwide Academy Activities
The Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP) held its annual meeting at the University of Montreal, Canada, from July 11 to 13, 2005. The WIPO Worldwide Academy was invited to attend the plenary sessions and make presentations therein, as well as the Executive Committee meeting which preceded it.
ATRIP, which was founded in 1981, currently has 270 members worldwide, consisting of intellectual property (IP) professors and researchers. The general objective of ATRIP is to contribute to the advancement of teaching and research in the field of the law of intellectual property.
The meeting, which was chaired by the current president of ATRIP, Dr. Ysolde Gendreau of the Faculty of Law of the University of Montreal, heard more than 40 papers and country reports, as well as panel discussions consisting of law professors, IP practitioners and a WIPO official. The theme for this years meeting was "Intellectual Property: Bridging Aesthetics and Economics." In order to facilitate the participation of developing countries, WIPO offered to finance five persons to attend the meeting, from Malaysia, Nigeria, Jamaica, India and Argentina.
Many participants called for increased collaboration between ATRIP and the WIPO Academy, including the incoming president, Professor Gustavo Ghidini of Italy. That enhanced collaboration was keyed into reviewing the Academy distance learning courses; linking the ATRIP and Academy websites; offering materials on Biotechnology and IP as a distance learning course; expanded pro bono legal assistance to developing countries; making case studies available; and refining the ATRIP annual meeting to focus on more current IP issues, and on research and teaching IP in developing countries.
The meeting also supported expanding the involvement of its law professor members in conjunction with WIPO Academy activities, including reviewing and commenting on Academy distance learning courses, and having them undertake short teaching assignments in developing countries where there is a lack of IP expertise.
The 2006 annual meeting of ATRIP will take place in Parma, Italy, from September 4 to 6, 2006, and the theme will be "IP and Market Power."
WIPO has a long history with ATRIP. However, a new and recharged spirit of cooperation has emerged, and it is foreseen that the WIPO Academy will seek to deepen the relationship and thereby more efficiently and effectively promote the teaching and research of IP throughout the world, with expanded involvement of ATRIP.
