WIPO General Assemblies Open

Geneva, September 25, 2000
Press Releases PR/2000/241

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) opened the meetings of its General Assemblies in Geneva on Monday, September 25 with an appeal by Director General Dr. Kamil Idris for continued support from the Organization's 175 member states to meet the complex challenges of the future. Dr. Idris also reported on the Organization's work in the past year and its main achievements.

In a speech to the Assemblies, Dr. Kamil Idris, Director General of WIPO, flagged the main achievements of the Organization in the past year (text attached), which he said, "indicate that WIPO's agendas have greatly increased in complexity, breadth, depth and volume." "The agenda of your Organization has never been so inter-related, so pressing or so complex. It requires from all of us new ways of thinking, new tools and new commitment of political will".

"Let us continue to build an Organization that will view change as a friend - not change for its own sake, but change that permits us to do more good by doing better. We seek an Organization that is leaner, more focused, more flexible and more responsive to changing global needs," the Director General said, referring to the challenges ahead.

Mr. Marino Porzio, Chairman of the Assemblies and Principle Advisor on Intellectual Property to the Minister of External Relations of Chile, congratulated the Director General and WIPO staff on the achievements of the Organization in the recent past which he said, had clearly exceeded the expectations of member states and which served to bridge the gap between industrialized and developing countries in the field of intellectual property.

The Director General paid tribute to the staff of WIPO and commended them for their dedication and commitment. He called upon member states to recognize the contribution of the staff and the importance of improving staff welfare "to create a solid foundation for staff loyalty on which the Organization can rely and build for its future success".

Items to be considered by the Assemblies during their 10-day session will include:

• Further reductions in the cost of filing international patents applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT). It is proposed that as of January 1, 2001, applicants seeking protection for their invention in six or more countries will benefit from a 280 Swiss franc fee reduction. The Assemblies will also consider progress in the implementation of the PCT automation project, known as "IMPACT" and proposals on future reform of the PCT.
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• Proposals on a new policy on budget and surplus funds. If accepted, these proposals will fundamentally transform the budgetary and financial operations of the Organization. In the future, this will ensure that any surpluses generated will be incorporated into the regular budgeting process. This will ensure even greater financial transparency and accountability for the Organization whose income is largely derived from the services it provides to industry and the private sector.
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• Expansion of WIPO's program of activities to assist small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) worldwide to enhance their competitiveness through the effective use of the intellectual property system. The significant contribution of SMEs to national economies is increasingly recognized.
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• Reports on the work of the Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) and the Policy Advisory Committee (PAC). The establishment of these two independent advisory bodies was endorsed by WIPO member states in March 1998. The Chairman of the Policy Advisory Commission (PAC), HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is expected to present the PAC report to the Assemblies later this week, including the World Intellectual Property Declaration.
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• Proposal to establish the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore.
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• Proposal to develop a new WIPO logo in keeping with the perceived image of the Organization as dynamic, innovative, open and effective. The demystification of intellectual property is one of the key priorities of the Director General and the creation of a new corporate image for WIPO is closely linked to the success of this endeavor.
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• Proposal to introduce as an incentive to the staff an additional grade in the Professional category. This involves the proposal to establish an additional grade at P-6 level in the Professional category in order to further attract, motivate and retain staff with the high degree of specific competency and the necessary technical skills required to face the growing specialized activities of the Organization.
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• The Assemblies will review the Organization's work in the field of Internet domain names and intellectual property. Delegates will consider a report outlining the work of the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center in providing on-line dispute resolution services, particularly in the resolution of Internet domain name dispute. At the request of a number of member states, WIPO is to initiate a second series of broad-based consultations to address certain domain name and related intellectual property issues where continuing concern and uncertainty remains, such as bad faith, abusive, misleading or unfair use of personal names and geographical indications (see Press Release PR 2000/235).

WIPO will also inaugurate on Monday an exhibition on "Music in the Digital Age" (see Press Release PR/2000/239) as well as one featuring the work of seven prominent Arab artists (see Press Release PR/2000/240). The exhibition on music will run through August 2001. The works of the Arab artists will be on display until October 6, 2000.

For further information, please contact the Media Relations and Public Affairs Section at WIPO:

• Tel.: +41 22-338 81 61 or 338 95 47
• Fax: +41 22-338 88 10
• Email: publicinf@wipo.int

OPENING ADDRESS TO WIPO ASSEMBLIES

Dr. Kamil Idris

SEPTEMBER 25, 2000

Mr. Chairman,

Distinguished delegates,

It is my pleasure to extend to you a warm welcome. We have before us seven days for fruitful discussion and sharing of ideas on how to fine-tune the work of the Organization so that it corresponds even more closely to the needs of the international intellectual property community.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight briefly some of the main achievements of the Organization in the past year.

March this year saw the filing of the 500,000th PCT application. While it took 18 years to reach 250,000 applications, it took only four years to double that figure.

The Hague system, now even more flexible and user-friendly following the adoption of the new Geneva Act, registered its 50,000th application in February.

And a record nine States, including Japan, have adhered to the Madrid Protocol in the last 12 months, an indication of the growing realization of the benefits to be obtained from the Madrid system.

Activities in the WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center, have intensified since the beginning of this year. The WIPO Domain Name Dispute Resolution Service quickly proved its worth as a swift and cost-effective alternative to court proceedings in Internet domain name disputes, after its launch in December last year. To date, more than 1,240 cases had been received from complainants in 68 countries and over 500 decisions had been rendered. These cases have covered domain name registrations of many well-known enterprises and famous personalities, including Miriam Makeeba, Jimi Hendrix, Julia Roberts and Harry Potter. At the request of Member States, WIPO is launching a second Internet Domain Name Process to consider outstanding questions in this area, including personal names, geographical indications and trade names. This should lead to further improvement and expansion in domain name dispute resolution and increase confidence in the Internet as a place to do business.

The Center is also in the process of establishing a dispute resolution procedure to serve the needs of the application service provider industry, to be launched early next year.

Information on the full range of areas impacted by electronic commerce is available on the WIPO website. I would draw your attention in particular to the WIPO Digital Agenda and to the WIPO International Conference on Dispute Resolution in Electronic Commerce to be organized next November.

The Organization's commitment to information and communication technology is evidenced by several major projects. WIPOnet will create a global information network linking the world's intellectual property Offices with each other and with the WIPO Secretariat. Connectivity for 65 national offices, currently without Internet access, will be established by the end of 2001. These offices, along with 145 already connected, will then benefit from a range of central services, to be provided by this Organization by mid-2001. These include database collections, electronic mail, web-hosting, virus scanning, distance learning, and remote participation in meetings.

The IMPACT project, the single largest IT project ever undertaken by this Organization, is designed to fully automate the Patent Cooperation Treaty operations. Electronic filing is a central component of this project and technical and legal experts have already started developing the necessary standards.

Information technology has also fuelled the creation of several new on-line services, such as the WIPO electronic bookshop (illustrating electronic commerce at work within the Organization) and the Collection of Laws for Electronic Access database, which provides searchable on-line access to 900 legislative texts from 35 countries. Texts from a further 35 countries will soon be added.

Information technology is also being used to improve the workings of the WIPO Secretariat itself. The Administration Integrated Management System (AIMS) Project will transform how the Organization handles and presents financial and management data. This will help to further streamline the strategic, results-based budgeting, introduced earlier and in the current biennium.

There has also been great headway in the progressive development and codification of intellectual property law. Promotion of adherence to the WIPO Internet treaties, geared to ensuring copyright protection in cyberspace, has been a priority for the Organization.

A diplomatic conference on a possible new complementary instrument protecting the rights of audiovisual performers will be held in December.

Another diplomatic conference held in June resulted in the adoption of the new Patent Law Treaty, which harmonizes national and regional patent formalities leading to speedier and more cost-effective procedures.

Given the need to adapt to the rapid changes taking place in our increasingly technology-driven society, the Organization has also been implementing a "soft law" approach to certain issues, such as, the joint recommendation on well-known marks adopted last year and that on trademark licenses that will be considered during this session.

Activities in the cooperation for development sector have strengthened and deepened in scope and quality in many aspects and have also expanded, with the creation of the least-developed countries unit, the copyright collective management division, the infrastructure and innovation promotion division and the WIPO Worldwide Academy. Emphasis is on strengthening national intellectual property systems, creating institutions and an intellectual property culture at the national level that will create a lasting legacy. The demystification of the intellectual property system and raising of awareness of its importance are critical to social, economic and cultural development.

Cooperation with countries in transition is being strengthened in all fields of intellectual property and the Organization is sensitive to the special needs of the countries concerned.

New projects currently underway include the Caribbean Copyright Link, a proposed sub-regional system for collective management of copyright in the Caribbean.

The session of the Academy's distance learning due to start in October, has already registered a substantial increase over the first session. The distance learning program has great potential for expansion - especially when seen in the context of growing Internet connectivity and the WIPOnet project.

The Office of Global Communications and Public Diplomacy continues its campaign of public outreach and to this end is also moving at an ever faster pace towards making the best possible use of available information technology.

The WIPO website continues to attract growing attention, 25 million hits were recorded in the first six months of 2000 alone, compared with 29 million for the whole of 1999. An Arabic version of the website is also now available, and it is hoped that Chinese and Russian versions will follow soon.

The Policy Advisory Commission and the Industry Advisory Commission both continue to make a positive contribution to the vision of this Organization.

The new exhibition in the Information Center, entitled Music in the Digital Age, will open this evening. It shows how digital technology and the Internet have transformed the creation, dissemination, access and consumption of music today.

These glimpses of some of the Organization's activities are by no means exhaustive. However, they indicate that WIPO's agendas have greatly increased in complexity, breadth, depth and volume. To generate and maintain the energy necessary to drive these activities forward requires a staff that is dedicated to the Organization and committed to realizing the vision we have for it. Unfortunately, the capacity of human resources has not kept pace with the rapidly growing workload. So, in order to keep the momentum, the members of the Secretariat have had continually to absorb increasing levels of work. The enormous transformation of the Organization that has taken place over the last three years and that has ensured its place as the global leader in intellectual property issues would not have been possible without this sacrifice from the men and women who make it thrive; the staff of this Organization.

I applaud the staff of this Organization. I would like to pay tribute to the them and to send a clear signal that their contribution is recognized and appreciated. Such a message, also coming from you, would be a true endorsement of the effort they have put into maintaining the dynamism that is responsible for the Organization's current success and high international profile. I must admit that I am concerned about our ability to retain high-calibre staff and recruit others of the same quality given the current conditions of service. To a certain extent, attempts to improve those conditions are restricted by the fact that WIPO is part of the United Nations common system and therefore bound to a certain established framework. However, where there is the opportunity to offer some token of recognition to staff, this would demonstrate clearly that the owners of this global body are aware of and appreciate the work of the Organization. Such a step would also illustrate that staff welfare is of concern to you - a very necessary signal to give if you want to create a solid foundation of staff loyalty on which the Organization can rely and build for its future success. The agenda of your Organization has never been so inter-related, so pressing or so complex. It requires from all of us new ways of thinking, new tools and new commitment of political will.

Let us continue to build an Organization that will view change as a friend—not change for its own sake, but change that permits us to do more good by doing it better. We seek an Organization that is leaner, more focused, more flexible and more responsive to changing global needs.