The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Francis Gurry, called upon WIPO’s member states to intensify efforts to develop concrete international outcomes on traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources. This call opened the 13th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), WIPO’s principal policy forum working on these issues, on October 13, 2008. Newly elected IGC Chairman, H.E. Ambassador Rigoberto Gauto Vielman of Paraguay, echoed the Director General’s call for the Committee to accelerate and focus its work with a view to delivering conclusive results.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has added five new multilingual courses to the distance learning program offered by its Worldwide Academy. The new courses will cover Arbitration and Mediation Procedure, Patents, Patent Information Search, Basics of Patent Drafting, and Trademarks.
The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Francis Gurry, and his counterpart from the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), Mr. Gift H. Sibanda, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on October 2, 2008 in Geneva, to strengthen and expand cooperation between the two organizations. The MOU covers traditional areas of cooperation relating to capacity building, as well as a special project to boost ARIPO’s patent information capacity.
The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Mr. Francis Gurry, welcomed the ratification by the United States of America (USA) on October 1, 2008 of the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, an international treaty on trademarks that streamlines and modernizes certain trademark office procedures.
Topped by the appointment of Mr. Francis Gurry as the next Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the WIPO Assemblies concluded a day ahead of schedule, on Tuesday, September 29, 2008, following a review of activities over the past year and discussions on the Organization’s future work program. The WIPO Assemblies bring together the 184 member states of the Organization.
Designers from the sixteen member states of the African Intellectual Property Organization (known by its French acronym OAPI - Organisation africaine de la propriété intellectuelle) will, from January 1, 2009, benefit from a 90% reduction in fees prescribed under the Hague Agreement Concerning the International Registration of Industrial Designs, an international treaty administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that helps designers acquire protection for their designs in multiple countries. This decision was taken by WIPO member states who are meeting in Geneva from September 22 to 30, 2008 on the occasion of their annual Assemblies.
As of October 1, 2008, the terms of two key international copyright treaties will extend to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR). The Government of the People’s Republic of China has notified the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) that it has extended application of the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Phonograms and Performances Treaty (WPPT) – known as the “Internet Treaties” - to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. These treaties which entered into force in 2002 bring the international system of copyright and related rights more in line with the challenges of the digital age.
The General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) appointed by acclamation on September 22, 2008, Mr. Francis Gurry, a national of Australia, as Director General of WIPO for a six-year term that begins on October 1, 2008 and runs through September 2014. Member states as a whole congratulated Mr. Gurry on his appointment and highlighted his wealth of experience in intellectual property and the professionalism that he brings to this position.
The General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), meeting from September 22-30, 2008, opened today with the appointment by acclamation of Mr. Francis Gurry as Director General and the Director General-elect outlining his priorities for the Organization (please see PR/2008/564). Mr. Gurry joined the Chairman of the WIPO General Assembly, Ambassador Martin I. Uhomoibhi, who is also Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, as well as delegates in paying tribute to outgoing Director General, Dr. Kamil Idris, for his 25-year long career at WIPO.
In a bid to address the human resource needs of African countries in the field of intellectual property (IP), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in collaboration with the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO, Harare, Zimbabwe) and Africa University (Mutare, Zimbabwe) has launched a masters degree program in IP. Twenty students from diverse backgrounds (including law, engineering, business administration, information technology, library sciences and journalism) have enrolled in the postgraduate program which is the first of its kind in Africa. The students come from 12 African countries (Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). Similar programs are being tailored to the specific IP educational needs of other regions.