WIPO Director General Francis Gurry today announced a project to build a common digital platform which will help streamline the identification of protected musical works across 11 West African countries, helping creators from these countries get paid for their work through a simplified and standardized rights registration system. U.S. firm Google will be WIPO’s technology partner in developing this new web-based system, which builds upon WIPOCOS (WIPO Software for Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights).
Construction work on a new conference hall for WIPO will begin later this summer following the signing this week of a contract with Swiss construction firm Implenia who has been selected by an international jury - composed of representatives of WIPO member states - to serve as general contractor. The conference hall is expected to be completed by mid-2013.
WIPO and the Paris-based International Council of Museums (ICOM) will collaborate in the management of intellectual property options, as well as the mediation of disputes in the area of cultural heritage and museums. This concerns in particular copyright, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, and digitization of cultural artifacts. A memorandum of understanding was signed by heads of both organizations at WIPO in Geneva on May 3, 2011.
This year’s World Intellectual Property Day on April 26 celebrates the role of design in the market-place, in society and in shaping the innovations of the future. Across the world, IP Offices, associations, businesses and technology institutions have announced –through the WIPO website or through the IP Day Facebook page - numerous activities to mark the day, including competitions, exhibitions and public discussions.
The two millionth international patent application under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) was filed recently by U.S.-based mobile technology company Qualcomm.
International design activity saw strong growth in 2010 with WIPO receiving 2,382 applications under the 57-member Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, or a 32.6% increase over the previous year. The number of registered designs that were filed by applicants from the following countries increased significantly in 2010 compared to 2009: Germany (+31%), Switzerland (+42%), Turkey (+108%), Austria (+48%), Spain (541%), and Luxembourg (+271%). Similarly, international design registrations grew by 31.8% with a total 2,216 registrations in 2010.
International trademark activity recovered in 2010 with WIPO receiving 39,687 applications under the 85-member Madrid system for the international registration of trademarks (“the Madrid system”), representing a 12.8% rate of growth. The largest growth was registered from the Republic of Korea (+42.2%), China (+42%), Italy (+38.7%), United States of America (+29.6%), European Union (+26.9%) and Japan (+20.2%).
In 2010, trademark holders filed 2,696 cybersquatting cases covering 4,370 domain names with the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center) under procedures based on the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), an increase of 28% over the 2009 level and of 16% over the previous record year, 2008.
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.