WTO Secy -General Lamy briefs members on his intellectual property consultations
Talks on two intellectual property issues - geographical indications and proposals related to biodiversity - need to continue to focus on technical issues so that members can understand each others' concerns better and seek an outcome that is “practically achievable”, Director-General Pascal Lamy told WTO members.
Mr Lamy reported on four rounds of consultations he has held since March with a smaller group: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, India, Egypt (for the African Group), the EU, Japan, Mauritius (for the African Caribbean Pacific or ACP group), New Zealand, Norway, Peru, South Africa, Switzerland, Tanzania (for the least-developed countries or LDC group), and the US.
The Director-General was speaking in an informal meeting of the full membership called to brief delegations on the consultations, which are separate from the work of the Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Council).
The two issues are:
++ whether or not to extend the higher level of protection for geographical indications currently only required for wines and spirits.
++ how the TRIPS Agreement's provisions can and should promote the objectives of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Some countries want to amend the intellectual property (TRIPS) agreement so that patent applicants have to disclose the origin of genetic material and traditional knowledge (TK) used in the invention, to show that they have received permission to use the materials and knowledge, and to show that they are sharing the benefits with the original owners (“disclosure”). Others say these objectives are better served by other methods.