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Press Room Archive 2009

WIPO Director General Stresses Role of Innovation in Addressing Global Challenges at WTO Ministerial (PR/2009/619)

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry, speaking at the opening of the World Trade Organization (WTO) seventh ministerial conference in Geneva on November 30, 2009, underlined the importance of innovation in dealing with some of today’s most pressing global challenges – economic recovery and climate change. He further pledged the Organization’s commitment in assisting countries to develop national innovation strategies.

WIPO Launches Enhanced Patent Information Service (PR/2009/618)

WIPO has launched an enhanced online patent information service that will improve public access to information on patents filed and granted around the world. WIPO’s PATENTSCOPE®, which currently hosts data on more than 1.6 million international patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), has been extended to include several collections of national and regional patent information.

International Conference Calls for Concrete Outcomes on TK, GRs & TCEs (PR/2009/616)

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry, joined by India’s Secretary, Department of Industry and Commerce, Mr. Ajay Shankar, opened on November 13, 2009 an international conference by highlighting the importance of developing a balanced international legal framework for the effective protection of traditional knowledge (TK), genetic resources (GRs) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs).

WIPO Director General Pledges Support for India’s Visually Impaired Community (PR/2009/615)

WIPO Director General Francis Gurry met representatives of India’s visually impaired (VIP) community at a conference on the “Right to Read of persons with print disabilities and copyright challenges” organized by the VIP community in cooperation with the Government of India in New Delhi on November 11, 2009, and reaffirmed WIPO’s commitment to supporting international attempts to improve access to copyright protected works by visually impaired persons (VIPs). “Let me assure you that this is a priority area for the World Intellectual Property Organization,” Mr. Gurry said.

International Forum Opens with Emphasis on Need for Balance in IP Systems (PR/2009/614)

The need for a balance in the intellectual property (IP) system between effective incentives for innovation and the diffusion of the benefits of innovation, as well as the interface between IP and public policy objectives, such as the environment and public health was emphasized by India’s Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma at the opening of the 5th International Forum on Creativity and Inventions - A Better Future for Humanity in the 21st Century, on November 11, 2009 in New Delhi. WIPO Director General Francis Gurry also underlined the need for balance and outlined the challenges and opportunities facing the IP community in a rapidly evolving economic and technological environment.

WIPO & Donor Community to Explore Ways to Enhance use of IP for Development (MA/2009/52)

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is hosting an international conference in Geneva on November 5 and 6, 2009 to help improve understanding among the donor community of the key developmental role of IP, to encourage their support for intellectual property-related development projects and improve access by developing countries, particularly least developed countries (LDCs) and countries in Africa, to donor funding for such projects.

WIPO Marks 10th Anniversary of UDRP (PR/2009/613)

WIPO marked the tenth anniversary of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) on October 12, 2009 with a conference that brought together over 200 stakeholders from around the world. The conference sought to take stock of the UDRP experience and draw lessons with a view to informing other processes relating to the future of the Domain Name System (DNS) and in the broader context of intellectual property.

WIPO Director General Applauds Lebanon’s IP Efforts (PR/2009/612)

At a meeting on October 12, 2009 in Beirut, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry and President Michel Suleiman of Lebanon discussed the pivotal role of balanced national intellectual property (IP) regimes in promoting development, as well as WIPO’s capacity building activities in Lebanon.

WIPO Assemblies Provide Direction for Next Biennium (PR/2009/611)

WIPO member states, at their annual Assemblies from September 22 to October 1, 2009, signaled strong support for the Organization’s strategic realignment with the endorsement of a program and budget for the 2010/11 biennium that boosts WIPO’s development-related activities, emphasizes the need to advance the Organization’s normative work, and further upgrades its services to the private sector. The member states also agreed to renew the mandate of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Traditional Knowledge, Folklore and Genetic Resources (IGC).