WIPO Director General Visits Spain

Geneva, February 5, 2001
Press Updates UPD/2001/121

The Director General of WIPO held an intensive round of talks with senior Spanish government officials in Madrid on January 30, 2001. Dr. Idris met with senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry for Education, Culture and Sports, the Ministry for Science and Technology, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office and the Ministry for Agriculture, Fishing and Food.

Dr. Idris praised efforts by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (SPTO) to provide practical training programs for intellectual property professionals from Spanish-speaking countries responsible, in particular for patent application procedures. The SPTO is undertaking an initiative to fund the participation of patent examiners from Spanish-speaking Latin American countries in its on-the-job training programs. The SPTO project aims, in particular, to promote use of the WIPO international patent registration system (PCT system) in Latin America. To this end, the on-the-job training will focus on PCT procedures and phases such as international search and receiving office functions and the role of designated and elected offices. The Director General welcomed this initiative which is designed to reinforce the human resource capacities of all Spanish-speaking countries and to encourage greater use of the international intellectual property system in Latin America.

Senior SPTO officials also announced plans to strengthen the position of the Spanish office to become a focal point in promoting technology transfer to the Latin American region. It was foreseen that the SPTO would consolidate its position as a PCT (Patent Cooperation Treaty) International Search Authority to become a PCT International Preliminary Examination Authority (IPEA) serving all Spanish-speaking countries by 2004. This initiative is in harmony with the project, outlined above, to foster training and participation of Latin American patent examiners in the PCT-related activities of the SPTO. This is expected to result in greater use by Latin American countries of the PCT system.

The Director General welcomed efforts by the Spanish Government to promote the use of Spanish particularly in international patent and trademark procedures as this would promote more widespread use of the international intellectual property registration systems in the Spanish-speaking world.

At the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, officials underlined the commitment of the Spanish government to support WIPO's ongoing efforts to ensure entry into force of the WIPO "internet treaties" which set out minimum standards of copyright protection in cyberspace. Thirty countries need to ratify the treaties before they become effective. At present, 21 and 18 countries have ratified the WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Phonograms and Performances Treaty (WPPT) respectively. Officials also supported efforts by the Organization to work towards the successful adoption of an international instrument concerning the Protection of Audiovisual Performances.

The Director General also met with Ambassador Jorge Alberto Lozoya, Secretary of the Secretariat for Ibero-American Cooperation (SECIB) to discuss WIPO-SECIB cooperation. In particular, Ambassador Lozoya outlined SECIB's plans to promote greater understanding of the role and importance of intellectual property among its members through the organization of workshops and seminars. These issues are also to be discussed at the next Summit of Heads of State and Government of SECIB members in Peru in early 2002.

WIPO and SECIB signed a cooperation agreement in November 2000 to enhance policy dialogue and foster closer collaboration in the field of information exchange and technical cooperation. SECIB was created in 1999 during the IX Ibero-American Summit in Havana, to strengthen cooperation between its member countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela. SECIB has observer status within WIPO.

The Director General's visit to Madrid was also marked by the signing of a cooperation agreement between WIPO and the Spanish Publishers' Society (SGAE) to foster the development of collective management societies in Latin America.

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; E-mail: publicinf@wipo.int