Representatives from more than 35 countries discussed at an international conference here the potential of India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) – a database documenting centuries-old traditional medicinal treatments – to be emulated in their countries and concluded that such a mechanism can also fuel future innovation and benefit-sharing. There was widespread agreement about the value of TKDLs to protect against misappropriation of traditional knowledge (TK), as well as their potential as a resource for enabling further innovation, such as in public health.
Representatives from 35 countries are in Delhi this week to explore how the success of India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) - a landmark project which protects India’s centuries-old traditional knowledge (TK) from misappropriation – could be emulated by interested countries.
A new on-line tool launched by WIPO on March 4, 2011, will make it easier to search over 640,000 records relating to internationally protected trademarks, appellations of origin and armorial bearings, flags and other state emblems as well as the names, abbreviations and emblems of intergovernmental organizations. The Global Brand Database allows free of charge, simultaneous brand-related searches across multiple collections.
WIPO has responded positively to a request by a group of nine South American countries – Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay – to assist in their efforts to improve services to local and international users of the IP system, initially through sharing patent examination results and other intellectual property (IP) resources.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry today said that copyright needs to evolve to current technological realities or risk becoming irrelevant. Speaking at a conference hosted by Australia’s Faculty of Law of the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) on the future of copyright, Mr. Gurry said there is no “single magical answer” to the development of a successful policy response to the challenges facing copyright in the digital age, but a combination of “law, infrastructure, cultural change, institutional collaboration and better business models.”
International patent filings under WIPO's Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) increased by 4.8% in 2010, with strong growth from China (+56.2%), the Republic of Korea (+20.5%), and Japan (+7.9%), offsetting a mixed performance in European countries and a continued decline in the United States (-1.7%).
Over 800 delegates from intergovernmental organizations, national governments, enforcement agencies and business from more than 100 countries convened today in Paris to address the serious global impact of the growing trade in counterfeit and pirated goods and the need to build respect for intellectual property in a balanced and sustainable way. The Sixth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy, meeting on February 2-3, 2011, is organized under the High Patronage of the President of the French Republic.
The second in a series of joint - technical level - symposia organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) will be held at the WHO on February 18, 2011. This meeting, which will be opened by the Directors General of the three co-organizers – Mrs. Margaret Chan, Mr. Francis Gurry and Mr. Pascal Lamy – will be preceded on February 17, 2011 by a workshop at WIPO on patent searches and freedom to operate.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry will be joined by his counterparts at INTERPOL, Mr. Ronald K. Noble, and the World Custom’s Organization (WCO), Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, as well as France’s Minister of Economy, Mrs. Christine Lagarde, at the opening of the Sixth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy in Paris on February 2, 2011 to address the question of building respect for intellectual property in a balanced and sustainable way. A number of ministers from around the world are expected to attend the Congress, in addition to other top government officials and corporate leaders.