Intellectual Property Law

The case for a World Innovation Policy Organisation

By Pamela Jones et al.

Good innovation policy requires understanding of the regulatory impact of each policy instrument individually, as well as knowledge about the interaction of different instruments. It is therefore necessary to look at the whole spectrum available within each instrument, as well as be aware of how other instruments may be empowered or invalidated through interaction. The future of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) will largely depend on how well it manages to incorporate the full spectrum of its own policy instruments into its operations, and how it manages to address the interaction with other fields.

From 27 April to 1 May, the 3rd Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP/3) will be convened at the WIPO headquarters in Geneva. As the years of discussions about the potential incorporation of a Development Agenda into WIPO have highlighted, these issues are important to the majority of the Member States. The resulting CDIP as well as WIPO's Strategic Realignment Program are now well under way, and the upcoming CDIP/3 is the right time and the right place to discuss how to incorporate these issues into WIPO. The way to achieve this is to bridge the communication gap within governments, and to involve all stakeholders.

Full post as published by Groklaw on April 19, 2009 (boomark / email).