Thursday, September 18, 2008

Upcoming WIPO meeting of member states

The next meeting of the member states of WIPO will take place soon, from September 22 to 30. Major issues to watch include the appointment of the new Director General of WIPO and the report of the progress so far on implementing the WIPO development agenda.

The appointment of the new Director General is expected to take place on Sept 22. The WIPO Coordination Committee has nominated Francis Gurry of Australia to be the next Director General of WIPO, for a term of six years starting October 1 2008. Gurry has been Deputy Director General at WIPO since 2003 and has worked at WIPO since 1985. Although an insider, IP-Watch reported, upon Gurry's win of a close election in May, that he has "nevertheless crafted a reputation for relative independence from the existing administration". He has an honorary position at the University of Melbourne and sits on the advisory board of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law at Cambridge.

The report of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) is expected to be presented on Sept 23. The report, available online, asks the General Assembly to adopt a work program and to make available some human and financial resources to go along with it. At this point the work program focuses on the 19 development agenda items that were identified for immediate implementation. My summary of and comments on this plan are here.

Other reports will also be presented:
  • Report on the Work of the Advisory Committee on Enforcement (ACE), and the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights
  • Progress Report on the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore
  • Report on the Work of the Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), Including the Protection of Audivisual Performances and Protection of the Rights of Broadcasting Organizations
  • Progress Report on the New Construction Project
  • A report on Matters Concerning Internet Domain Names
  • Summary Annual Report of the Director of the Internal Audit and Oversight Division
  • Reports of the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Meetings of the WIPO Audit Committee
  • Report on the Work of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents

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