WIPO Assemblies End

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

07 October 2004

The Assemblies of the member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) came to an end on Tuesday, October 5 following a review of activities over the past year and agreement on the agenda of the Organization for the next year.

The WIPO General Assembly (which brings together the 181 member states of the Organization) was chaired by Ambassador Bernard Kessedjian, Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva.

Delivering his closing remarks, Ambassador Kessedjian thanked delegations from WIPO member states for their active participation in the work of the General Assembly and welcomed the spirit of cooperation that characterized the talks. He welcomed initiatives taken by various member states, and referred, in particular to talks to enhance the development dimension in WIPO’s work.

He went on to add that that intellectual property is an integral part of sustainable development and "its benefits must be equally shared," whilst commending member states on the positive results that had emerged which, he said, had added renewed impetus to the future work of the Organization.

Ambassador Kessedjian went on to make especial mention of the submission made during the WIPO Assemblies by Brazil and Argentina, and supported by five hundred signatories from the legal, consumer, economic and scientific arenas which urged WIPO to relax its intellectual property laws, and accused the UN body of seeking to protect the rights of wealthy copyright holders at the expense of developing countries.

According to a WIPO statement on the issues discussed during the meetings:

"The General Assembly decided to convene inter-sessional intergovernmental meetings to examine the proposals originally submitted by Brazil and Argentina...A report on these issues will be presented to the General Assembly in 2005 for its consideration."

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