[DMCA-Activists] Consensus Slips On WIPO Patent Harmonisation Talks

[Seth Johnson]

> http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index_test.php?p=26


10/3/2005


Consensus Slips On WIPO Patent Harmonisation Talks


by William New @ 1:02 pm


A key group of developing countries this week sent a potential
shockwave through fledgling efforts at the World Intellectual
Property Organisation to restart talks on the international
harmonisation of national patent laws.

The 14-member "Group of Friends of Development" issued a
statement on the outcome of a recent WIPO consultation in which
general agreement was reached to proceed with talks based on a
proposal evolving among the world's largest patent-producing
nations. Those "trilateral" nations - the European Union, Japan,
and the United States - have in recent weeks kicked off a
negotiation of their own toward harmonisation.

The developing country group offered tempered criticism of the
invite-only consultation that WIPO Director General Kamil Idris
convened on February 16 in Casablanca, Morocco. The group urged a
closer adherence to the mandate of last fall's WIPO General
Assembly, greater attention to the Development Agenda that
received approval at that assembly, and negotiations based on a
broader proposal than that offered by the trilateral nations.

The countries signing the new statement are the same as the
cosponsors of the original Development Agenda proposal:
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Egypt, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania
and Venezuela. Of the group, only Brazil was invited to
Casablanca. Brazil stated its disagreement with the outcome at
the time.

Without directly criticising WIPO, the statement could serve to
undermining the legitimacy of the Casablanca meeting, according
to a developing country official. "By reaffirming our position on
the Substantive Patent Law Treaty," the official said. "Our
statement effectively counters Casablanca and makes it clear that
the Casablanca statement does not represent any kind of a
consensus and has not taken account of our views."

Asked to comment on the new statement, a WIPO spokeswoman said
only that WIPO has received the statement from the permanent
mission of Argentina on behalf of the 14 countries, and that it
requests the secretariat to circulate it to all member states,
which the secretariat will do. She suggested that the Casablanca
statement was the product of the member states, and that they
should be the ones to comment on it. WIPO has been under pressure
from developed countries to get the talks back on track,
according to sources.

A spokeswoman at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office declined to
give the U.S. point of view, insisting that it was up to WIPO or
the Casablanca consultation chairman, R.A. Mashelkar, to field
questions on the get-together.

Mashelkar, the director-general of India's Council of Scientific
and Industrial Research with a reputation as a proponent of
intellectual property rights, could not be reached for comment.
It is unclear in the aftermath of the Casablanca gathering
whether he represented the Indian delegation at the consultation,
according to some diplomatic sources.

Mashelkar served last year as the vice-chairman of a commission
on intellectual property rights, innovation and public health set
up by the World Health Organization (WHO). The commission looked
at data and proposals collected from different intellectual
property and public health experts to find funding and incentive
mechanisms for the creation of new medicines for diseases that
affect developing countries, the magazine said. Mashelkar also
was named chairman of the scientific advisory board of APIDC
Venture Capital Ltd., which targets biotechnology, it said.

The new developing country statement says that an inclusive,
transparent process is key to an effective agenda addressing
developing country needs. It also asserts that the mandate of the
General Assembly was that the WIPO director general hold
consultations to determine the date of the next Standing
Committee on Law of Patents meeting, not address matters of
substance or establish a work programme, which are to be
addressed in mid-April inter-sessional meetings. WIPO's session
runs October to September.

The statement further calls for a reaffirmation of a commitment
to multilateralism, of a commitment to negotiating a draft treaty
as a whole, including all amendments tabled by member states.
Included in the treaty should be provisions on technology
transfer, anticompetitive practices, and safeguarding of
flexibilities for governments to act in their public's interest,
the countries said.

"Now, in the light of the statement of the 'friends of
development,' the WIPO Secretariat, definitely, can no longer
claim that Casablanca was a "breakthrough," the official said.
"The statement of the friends of development has now opened the
door for other developing countries to begin distancing
themselves from the Casablanca outcome."

  _____

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William New, the author of this post, may be reached at
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