IP AND DEVELOPMENT MEETING

The UK Patent Office has made available the Communiqué from the Working Group of Industrialised Nations on Intellectual Property and Development, which met at the EPO in Munich on 21 and 22 March. The Working Group was established in February of this year and the meeting was attended by delegates from Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Commission, the European Patent Office, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

At the meeting the group backed WIPO’s work in development-related areas of IP and called for members to pay more attention to the need to efficiently meet the requirements of developing countries. Members, it said, should adopt a “demand driven” approach. Mere capacity building isn’t enough said the group. Instead, more attention should be paid to the relationship between IP and economic, social and cultural development. Existing proposals concerned the disclosure of the origin of genetic resources and traditional knowledge in patent applications were also discussed.

The outcome of these discussions sound sensible to the IPKat but, at the risk of appearing ignorant, the IPKat admits that he has never heard of this influential-sounding working group (though he thinks it might be this) and wonders whose (if anyone’s) auspicies it is under. Any information would be gratefully received.

More on IP and development here and here