Recent years have witnessed a proliferation of fora dealing with IP issues. From food security to climate change and access to medicines, IP has become a cross cutting issue with important public policy implications. As a result global IP negotiations have significantly gained in complexity. Countries, particularly developing ones, are faced with numerous challenges such as coalition building, articulating coherent national positions to address complex issues and coordinating these positions across different fora. How do countries achieve this? What are the practical difficulties facing country negotiators in global IP negotiations?
On the other hand, academics and experts play and can play an important role in providing empirical research and inputs to better inform global IP negotiations. From the debate on patents and public health to the WIPO Development Agenda, contributions by leading IP academics have played an important role in advancing international discussions on these issues. In this context, how can IP teachers, particularly from developing countries,  contribute towards addressing the most salient issues and challenges facing global IP negotiations and the achievement of more balanced and development friendly global IP system?
These are some of the questions that are to be raised in this dialogue which brings together a group of IP teachers, mainly  from developing countries, with a group of Geneva based IP negotiators.  

Programme
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12h15    Welcome Remarks and Introduction, Pedro Roffe - Senior Fellow, ICTSD
 
12h20    Dynamics of IP negotiations in Geneva                
Mohamed Gad- Permanent Mission of Egypt 

12h35    Coordination and Coherence in Global IP Negotiations 

a) The experience of the European Union

           Sergio Balibrea – EU Delegation     
        
b) The experience of Brazil

            Jose Estanislau do Amaral – Permanent Mission of Brazil
 
13h00   Challenges facing Small Size Delegations in Global IP negotiations    
          
Makiese kinkela Augusto – Permanent Mission of Angola

Edouard Bizumuremyi – Permanent Mission of Rwanda

13h15    Open Discussion and Exchange of Views

13h40    Concluding Remarks - Ahmed Abdel Latif, IP Programme Manager- ICTSD
                                                         ________

As negotiations on a draft access and benefit sharing (ABS) protocol to be adopted at the 10th CBD Conference of the Parties (COP) in Nagoya (18 to 29 October 2010) enter their final stage, the relationship with other international processes dealing with  traditional knowledge and genetic resources continue to raise questions and fuel disagreements.

In this context, negotiators, policy makers and different stakeholders are struggling to ensure greater ‘coherence’ and ‘mutual supportiveness’ between these discussions in the biodiversity, trade intellectual property and even health regimes within their respective objectives, principles and rules. How can this coherence be achieved? What does ‘mutual supportiveness’ concretely mean?

These are some of the main questions that the panel will seek to address.

The WTO Public Forum is open to all interested individuals.

For attendance, please ensure you are registered at (https://meetings.wto.org/Forums/Registrant/SymposiumRegistration.aspx?Language=E).

This workshop will bring together a number of delegates, experts, representatives of international organizations and civil society to discuss, in an informal setting, the challenges facing the implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda.

The objectives of the workshop are the following:

· Determine and evaluate progress implementing the Development Agenda since the adoption of recommendations in 2007.

· Construct and analyze various scenarios related to the possible futures of the Development Agenda, and back-cast to determine appropriate strategic courses of action.

· Establish the groundwork to publish a series of policy-oriented research papers exploring the possible futures of the Development Agenda, and proactive strategies for achieving positive results.

· Scope and discuss options for funding and executing a sustainable second phase of the EDGE Network and its partners’ research project focused on monitoring and aiding implementation of the Development Agenda.

Objective
The aim of the dialogue is to examine possible linkages and synergies between the WIPO Development Agenda implementation process and the Right to Development in the context of the wider nexus between intellectual property and human rights.

Background
The WIPO Development Agenda is a landmark initiative to ensure that IPR are addressed within the broader context of economic, social development and the public interest. It also aims to ensure that WIPO, in manner consistent with its status as UN agency, fully integrates the development dimension in all its activities.
From this perspective, the implementation of WIPO Development Agenda (DA) has enormous potential for advancing the implementation of the right to development (RTD) which was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1986 in the Declaration on the Right to Development (UN GA resolution 41/128).
However, this connection remains relatively unknown. The WIPO DA implementation process is not closely followed by the human rights community and the relevance of the RTD framework is often not well understood in the IP community.

Achieving greater coherence to bridge this gap, in the context of the wider nexus between intellectual property and human rights, requires a sustained effort of dialogue, information and policy analysis and research.
The review by the High Level Task Force on the RTD of the WIPO DA within the framework of its work plan for 2008-2010, established by the Working Group on the RTD, could provide a valuable opportunity for this purpose. The Task Force will use the framework criteria it proposed in 2009 to assess the WIPO DA as a partnership for development.
More broadly, how can a human rights based approach be used to ensure an effective implementation of the WIPO DA? Recommendation 35 of the WIPO DA - requests WIPO “to undertake, upon request of Member States, new studies to assess the economic social and cultural impact of the use of intellectual property system in these states.” At the first session of the CDIP, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) encouraged Member States and the Committee to consider the use of human rights impact assessment in developing a work program for implementation of the recommendation bearing in mind, the internationally recognized human rights in the economic social and cultural fields. Yet not much has been done since then to heed this call.
The Dialogue aims to address these questions with the aim of contributing in a constructive manner to the WIPO DA implementation process.

Programme

Introduction

UNCTAD and ICTSD

Speakers

Ayuush Bat-Erdene, Officer-in-Charge, the Right to Development Unit, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) - topic “Mainstreaming the RTD: the UN debate and mandate of the OHCHR”

Professor Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Member of the High Level Task Force on the Right to Development – topic “The High level Task force on the RTD and the WIPO Development Agenda”
Commentator

Mr. Mohamed Gad, Permanent Mission of Egypt

Mr. Carlos Mazal, WIPO

Exchange of views with participants

A light lunch will be served

In 2007, the WIPO General Assembly adopted 45 recommendations with a view to integrating this development dimension in all of the Organization’s activities. A number of these recommendations deal with the public domain, as they call, for instance, for the preservation of the public domain and for support to norm-setting processes that promote a robust public domain. They also invite WIPO to initiate discussions on how to further facilitate access to knowledge for developing countries and least developed countries in order to foster creativity and innovation.

With a view towards operationalizing these recommendations, Dr. Uma Suthersanen (School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London) has prepared this Policy Brief for ICTSD’s Programme on IPRs and sustainable development entitled: A2K and the WIPO Development Agenda: Time to List the Public Domain.

In this brief, Dr. Suthersanen argues that the WIPO Development Agenda is an opportunity, not only for developing countries and public interest organizations, but also for more developed countries to place the notion of the “public domain” at the centre of the intellectual property debate.

She underlines that access to the public domain should not be limited to the existing body within a particular jurisdiction, but should be extended to an international list of “public domain” materials. She further highlights that countries, particularly developing countries and LDCs, should be able to rely on an international and mature listing of public domain material in order to boost their local innovation, as innovation and creativity depend, to a very large extent, on viable access to existing public domain sources.

From this perspective, Dr. Suthersanen proposes the creation of an international register for “public domain matter”. Selection criteria for public domain material in this register could benefit from the work carried out by UNESCO in listing world heritage since the adoption of the landmark Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (1972).

This working paper was prepared for the EDGE (Emerging Dynamic Global Economies)Network, hosted by the University of Ottawa and funded in part by the International Development Research Centre.

 But the agreements or “living results,” of international committees and conferences are necessarily linked to the “organizational structures” that facilitate them.3 They are interdependent, even reflective of each other4. Without these processes and procedures, international organizations, and and procedures, international organizations, and the agreements they create, would not be able to carry out their function. This paper is in part a modest attempt at reclaiming the processes, procedures and “organizational structures” from the archives. It situates both in the center of the debate considering one such consensus: the Development Agenda [DA], currently taking form in the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property [CDIP] at the World Intellectual Property Organization [WIPO]. 5

The Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), established by the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in October 2007, held its second meeting from July 7-11, 2008 and moved forward in discussing the implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda (Summary by the Chair).  The meeting, which was attended by 101 member states, 8 inter-governmental organizations and 37 non-governmental organizations, held detailed discussions on further developing a work program for implementation of the recommendations approved by the General Assembly. 
The second meeting of the CDIP built on the achievements of its inaugural session in March 2008 (PR/2008/540) and agreed on the indicative figures for human and financial resource requirements associated with the implementation of adopted recommendations 2, 5, 8, 9 and 10 in the list of 26 recommendations. The CDIP also discussed implementation of adopted recommendations 20, 22 and 23 in Cluster B of the list of 26.  They agreed that the proposed activities, as modified following discussions, would be sent to the secretariat to assess associated human and financial resource requirements and submitted to member states prior to the CDIP’s third session. 
 
The CDIP also discussed adopted recommendation 1 in the list of 19 recommendations earmarked for immediate implementation by the General Assembly in 2007, and agreed to the proposed activities outlined in document CDIP/2/2 with some modifications, (see Annex I of Summary of the Chair).  Further, the CDIP discussed implementation of adopted recommendations 3,4,6,7 and 11 and agreed to the proposed associated activities, as contained in Annex I. 
 
The CDIP reviewed and commented on activities being implemented under adopted recommendation 12 in the list of 19.  It was agreed that the secretariat would make the necessary modifications and would provide the next session of the CDIP with a progress report on the implementation of these 19 recommendations.  The Committee also noted that there was need to coordinate the CDIP’s activities with other relevant WIPO bodies in implementing the adopted recommendations.  To this end, the CDIP decided to begin discussions on a mechanism to monitor and assess such coordination at its next session.
 
The draft report of the second session of the CDIP will be posted on WIPO’s website for comment by member states and observer organizations and will be formally adopted at the third session of the CDIP in 2009.  A report outlining the deliberations of the CDIP sessions will be presented to the September 2008 WIPO General Assembly.  The report will recommend adjustments to the revised program and budget for 2009 to allow implementation of agreed recommendations. It will further call on the General Assembly to make resources available in a manner consistent with WIPO’s program and budgetary processes.
 
During the opening of the session, at the invitation of the Chair of the CDIP, Ambassador Trevor C. Clarke, Mr. Francis Gurry, who has been nominated by the WIPO Coordination Committee to become the next Director General of WIPO, emphasized his commitment to the effective implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda, pledging to personally supervise this important initiative in the future.  He said the development dimension must be taken into account horizontally across the Organization.  Mr. Gurry said the Development Agenda represented a major opportunity to address the role of intellectual property in development and the contribution of intellectual property in narrowing the knowledge gap and the digital divide (PR/2008/558). 
 
Background:
 
A proposal for a development agenda for WIPO was first launched at the 2004 WIPO General Assembly. At that time, member states agreed to hold a series of inter-sessional intergovernmental meetings (IIMs) to examine proposals originally submitted by Brazil and Argentina as well as additional proposals of other member states. Accordingly, three sessions of the IIM on a Development Agenda for WIPO were organized in 2005 in which eight papers containing wide-ranging proposals were presented.  As part of that decision, WIPO also hosted an international seminar in May 2005 on intellectual property and development, which was open to all stakeholders, including NGOs, civil society and academia.  In order to accelerate and complete discussions on the submitted proposals, the 2005 session of the WIPO General Assembly, agreed to establish a Provisional Committee on Proposals for a WIPO Development Agenda (PCDA).  The PCDA process culminated in agreement on a set of 45 proposals which were adopted by the WIPO General Assembly in 2007 which further recommended the establishment of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP).
 
The 45 recommendations adopted by the General Assembly in 2007 are divided into six clusters, namely: Cluster A: Technical Assistance and Capacity Building; Cluster B: Norm-setting, Flexibilities, Public Policy and Public Domain; Cluster C: Technology Transfer, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Access to Knowledge; Cluster D: Assessments, Evaluation and Impact Studies; Cluster E: Institutional Matters Including Mandate and Governance; and Cluster F: Others.  These include 19 recommendations for immediate implementation by WIPO and 26 for which the CDIP is required to develop a work program.  Full details of the adopted recommendations are available at http://www.wipo.int/ip-development/en/agenda/cdip_recommendations.html. 
 
The CDIP is also mandated to monitor, assess, discuss and report on the implementation of all recommendations adopted, by coordinating with relevant WIPO bodies and to discuss IP and development-related issues as agreed by the Committee and decided by the General Assembly. The Committee is made up of member states, and is open to all accredited intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

Geneva, June 27, 2008
UPD/2008/304

Member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) attending the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) in Geneva from June 23 to 26, 2008, began a comprehensive review of issues relating to the international patent system. The meeting was attended by 85 member states and 24 observer delegations and was chaired by Mr. Maximiliano Santa Cruz of Chile.
Following a decision of the WIPO General Assembly in autumn 2007, discussions in this week’s meeting of the SCP focused on a report on the international patent system prepared by the WIPO Secretariat to facilitate the process of establishing a work program for the SCP. The report provides an overview of current international patent issues, and attempts to cover the different needs and interests of all Member states. Consisting of ten chapters, the report touches on three broad areas, namely, the economic rationale of the patent system and its role in innovation and technology dissemination, legal and organizational aspects of the patent system and issues that are particularly relevant to broader policy considerations and development concerns.
 
Many delegations recognized that the report covered a wide range of issues relating to the patent system and constituted a good basis for discussion. Mindful of the mandate given to it by the WIPO General Assembly in 2007, and thus working towards a work program, the SCP identified a non-exhaustive list of issues for further elaboration and discussion.
 
The Committee agreed that the report should remain open for written comments until the end of October 2008 and for discussion at the next session of the SCP in early 2009.
 
The SCP also requested that the WIPO Secretariat prepare preliminary studies on four issues for discussion at its next session. The studies, which are not to be considered prioritized over the other issues identified in the above-mentioned non-exhaustive list include: dissemination of patent information (including, inter alia, the establishment of a database on search and examination reports); exceptions from patentable subject matter and limitations to the rights, inter alia, research exemption and compulsory licenses; patents and standards and client-attorney privilege.    
 
The Committee also recommended that the Director General consider including provision in the revised Program and Budget for 2009 for a Conference on issues relating to the implications, including public policy implications, of patents on certain areas of public policy, such as health, the environment, climate change and food security.