CDIP discusses IP & competition

This week's meetings of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property wrap up at WIPO today. While the first two days focussed on financial and human resources aspects of implementing the development agenda, Wednesday focussed on the interface between IP and competition policy. The development agenda includes recommendation no. 7, that WIPO should

"[p]romote measures that will help countries deal with IP related anti‑competitive practices, by providing technical cooperation to developing countries, especially LDCs, at their request, in order to better understand the interface between intellectual property rights and competition policies."

There are calls for a workshop on the issue to be held in Geneva and for WIPO to develop a nuanced approach to the interface between competition policy and IP.

IP and competition policy is an area of the development agenda in which Canada has shown a particular interest, having hosted a workshop on that issue last summer at WIPO as a side-event to the development agenda discussions. It would make sense, therefore, if Canada were to be in the loop as positions continue to be developed at WIPO.