Member states of WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) – a cost-effective mechanism that facilitates the process of obtaining international patent protection – endorsed a series of recommendations to enhance the PCT’s contribution in improving the quality of granted patents and to make the international patent system more useful to developing countries. This came at the end of a round of discussions by PCT member states within the context of the PCT Working Group from June 14 to 18, 2010.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry concluded on June 8, 2010 a two-day official visit to Tunisia during which he met Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi to discuss the role of intellectual property (IP) in stimulating innovation and development and ways to strengthen cooperation between WIPO and Tunisia.
WIPO launched on June 1, 2010, WIPO GOLD, a free, on-line global intellectual property (IP) reference resource that provides quick and easy access to a broad collection of searchable IP data and tools relating to, for example, technology, brands, designs, statistics, WIPO standards, IP classification systems and IP laws and treaties.
Israel joined the international trademark system following the deposit of its instrument of accession to the Madrid Protocol for the International Registration of Marks with WIPO Director General Francis Gurry this week. The Madrid System, which will become operational in Israel on September 1, 2010, offers trademark owners a cost-effective, user-friendly and streamlined means of protecting and managing their trademark portfolio internationally.
On the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) on May 22, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry underlined the Organization’s commitment to ensuring that the intellectual property system plays a positive role in safeguarding biodiversity, the sustainable use of its components and the sharing of benefits arising from the use of genetic resources.
An on-line forum to promote an exchange of ideas and to build consensus on international measures to improve access to copyright-protected works in formats suitable for visually impaired persons and others with print disabilities (VIPs) was launched by WIPO this week. The Forum, (www.visionip.org/forum), which will remain open at least until June 20, 2010, is designed to stimulate debate, enhance understanding, and broaden awareness of the question.
On Saturday, June 5, 2010, which coincides with World Environment Day, WIPO will for the first time open its doors to the public at large. This will provide an opportunity for the Organization to showcase its activities and demonstrate how its work helps contribute to human and social progress.
The critical role of intellectual property as a tool for enabling innovation, the practical transfer of technology and industrial competitiveness were the focus of the remarks of WIPO Director General Francis Gurry to a key meeting of member states of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) in Vienna today.
WIPO member states made significant progress in advancing the work of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) this week. This first session of the IGC under its new mandate to conduct "text-based negotiations" to reach agreement on an international legal instrument (or instruments) that ensure the effective protection of traditional knowledge (TK), traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) and genetic resources (GRs), was chaired by Ambassador Philip Owade of Kenya. This session of the IGC met from May 3 to 7, 2010.
WIPO unveiled its new logo on April 26, 2010 – a date which marks the 40th anniversary of the entry into force of the WIPO Convention and the 10th anniversary of World Intellectual Property Day. The new logo forms the cornerstone of a new visual identity for the Organization, in line with the new directions being taken to keep pace with the rapid evolution of intellectual property in the 21st century.