AGIPNEWS6417
14/10/2008 11:32 GMT
ag-IP-news
WIPO Director General Calls for Concrete Outcomes to Benefit Local
Communities
http://www.ag-ip-news.com/GetArticle.asp?Art_ID=6417&lang=en
GENEVA - The Director General of the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO), Francis Gurry, called upon WIPO's member states to
intensify efforts to develop concrete international outcomes on traditional
knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources.
According to a press release by WIPO, this call opened the 13th session
of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property (IP) Traditional
Knowledge, Genetic Resources and Folklore (IGC), WIPO's principal policy forum
working on these issues, on October 13, 2008.
Newly appointed IGC Chairman, Ambassador Rigoberto Gauto Vielman of
Paraguay, echoed the Director General's call for the Committee to accelerate
and focus its work with a view to delivering conclusive results.
Gurry stressed the need for progress in the IGC's work, in light of the
high priority given to these issues by many diverse countries and by indigenous
and local communities.
He called on delegations to "reflect on the progress that we have made
and where we are going in this process."
The Director General recalled the IGC's decision at its last meeting in
February 2008 to consider intersessional procedures to help accelerate the
IGC's work and to enable it to submit proposals to the WIPO General Assembly in
September 2009 in line with the Committee's current mandate.
Gurry underlined the importance of maintaining a holistic approach to
traditional knowledge, traditional cultural expressions and genetic resources,
in the light of their cultural significance for many indigenous and local
communities.
But he equally pointed to the need for practical steps that would lead
the Committee to areas of common ground on which solid progress could be made.
As incoming WIPO Director General, Gurry placed strong emphasis on seeing
the IGC move towards results.
In his acceptance speech upon appointment as Director General on
September 22, 2008, he stressed that ".it has become apparent that there is a
need to recognize explicitly the contribution to human society of collectively
generated and maintained innovation and creativity and to protect the artifacts
of that innovation and creativity.I believe that it is time to move this
process to concrete outcomes that will see WIPO embrace a broader base of
constituents and a more universal mission."
Ambassador Gauto Vielman said after seven years of "substantive and
lively discussions," the IGC was in a position to go further. He called on all
IGC members to work together to expedite the Committee's work and to achieve
specific results within the relatively short period of time available.
International expectations of this WIPO process continue to grow. The
recently launched Global Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation Partnership
(GIKIP), which groups some twelve former heads of state and government and
other eminent personalities, advocates greater global recognition of the
positive role of indigenous knowledge in development and is concerned with the
inadequacy of the existing IP system to integrate indigenous forms of
creativity and innovation.
This is the second formal session of the IGC in 2008. A first session in
February considered a variety of working formats, including inter-sessional
meetings and an expert group work, as practical steps to advance its work in
achieving a concrete outcome.
The IGC agreed to review formal proposals for enhanced and accelerated
working procedures at this week's session.
The IGC's work, which formally began in 2000 following a decision by WIPO
member states to establish the body, has been uniquely characterized by the
prominent contribution and role of indigenous and local communities.
The IGC is further characterized by a series of practical mechanisms to
ensure that these key communities have an active voice and remain at the center
of the Committee's work.
This session of the IGC was led off by a panel session in which seven
representatives of indigenous communities from across the globe shared their
practical experiences and concerns as well as lessons learned from the
Committee's work.
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