WIPO To Host Open Forum On International Patent Law

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

24 February 2006

Questions relating to a broad range of patent issues including, in particular, the harmonization of substantive patent law will be discussed at an open forum hosted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva from March 1 to 3, the Organization announced this week.

The forum follows up on a decision by the WIPO General Assembly in autumn 2005 relating to the establishment of a work plan for the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) in respect of the draft Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT).

The program has been organized around five broad themes:

• Harmonization of Substantive Patent Law: Purpose, Approaches, Limits;
• Subjects of Patent Law proposed for Harmonization;
• Patents as a Source of Information and Innovation: Transfer of Technology and Licensing Practices;
• New Technologies and their specificities; and
• The Interface of the Patent System and other areas of public policy
  

WIPO explained in a statement that:

"Talks to conclude an international treaty that would harmonize substantive patent law have made headway since negotiations were launched in May 2001. However, a number of issues are still outstanding, and member states of WIPO have expressed divergent views on the future work plan of the SCP. It is expected that the forum will help to clarify the future of these negotiations."

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